Components of Film Narrative Form Mise en Scene Cinematography Editing Sound Tuesday, 11 December 12
Narrative Form Narrative - “An account of a series of events, facts, etc., given in order and with the establishing of connections between them; a narration, a story, an account.”
Oxford English Dictionary
Narrative Form - The overall storytelling framework in which information about characters and events are presented
The distinction between story and plot is referred to by Russian Formalists (an influential school of literary criticism in Russia from the 1910s to the 1930s) as Fabula and Syuzhet Fabula refers to the chronological narrative. Syuzhet refers to the re-organised version of events as shown to the viewer
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Three / Four Act Structure Three Act - Aristotle •Act 1- Exposition leads to turning point •Act 2- Complications lead to climax •Act 3- Denouement - Action leads to resolution Four Part Structure - proposed by Kristen Thompson 1.Exposition leads to turning point. 2.Complicating action leads to major turning point 3.Development: Struggle towards goal leads to climax 4.Epilogue
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Narrative Form Tzvetan Todorov saw conventional narrative structure as composed of five stages: Stage 1 - A state of equilibrium is defined. Stage 2 - Disruption to the equilibrium by some action or crisis. Stage3 - The Character(s) recognition that there has been a disruption, setting goals to resolve problem. Stage4 - The Character(s) attempt to repair the disruption, obstacles need to be overcome to restore order. Stage5 - Reinstatement to the equilibrium. Situation is resolved, a conclusion is announced. Tuesday, 11 December 12
Mise en scene The staging of a scene through the arrangement of everything that the audience sees. Includes Setting - What does it tell us, era, lifestyle etc Human Figure - Does the actor bring certain qualities, look, reputation style Lighting - Used to draw attention, set mood, as metaphor Composition - What is framed and how, balanced, symmetrical etc
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Mise en scene Lighting - 3 point
high key
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low key
Mise en scene Colour Can create mood- warmth, relaxing, somber Can have connotations - sex, death, purity Often tells part of story or helps viewer- Traffic, memento, amelie http://www.outside-hollywood.com/2009/03/color-theory-for-
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Mise en scene Composition - What is framed and how, lines can be used to draw the eye across a scene
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Cinematography “a creative and interpretive process that culminates in the authorship of an original work of art rather than the simple recording of a physical event. Cinematography is not a subcategory of photography. Rather, photography is but one craft that the cinematographer uses in addition to other physical, organizational, managerial, interpretive and imagemanipulating techniques to effect one coherent process.” John Hora, The American Cinematographer Manual, 9th Edition
IncludesCamera work Lenses, Focus and Filters Film Stock - Both Film size and speed (ASA or DIN) Special Visual Effects
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Cinematography Camera work Camera Angle Camera is generally level Low Angle - Subject is shot from below, may a give the impression of power, strength etc. High Angle - Subject shot from above which may make them appear weak, powerless etc Dutch Angle - Subject is shot at an angle may signify imbalance, tension etc. Birds eye shot - Shot from directly above subject, can be used to establish scene or portray insignificance of subject Tuesday, 11 December 12
Cinematography Camera work Camera Distance Close up - Shows importance of subject, provides intimacy. Medium shot - Shot from waist up, shows body language but less intimacy than CU Long Shot - Shows subject in full and provides link to setting. Extreme Long Shot - Shot from a distance can make subject appear small often used to set scene http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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Cinematography Camera work Camera Movement Pan - The camera turns in the tripod often used to show scenery Tilt - The camera tilts up or down, used to emphasise or isolate subject. Zoom - The camera is focused from a close to long shot either revealing the surroundings of the scene or magnifying and emphasising details. Dolly / Tracking shot - Camera is mounted on wheels or tracks allowing the camera to move smoothly across, towards or away from subject. http://vimeo.com/40689260 Dolly Zoom - Unsettling effect where camera dollys in whilst zooming out, subject remains the same size but background appears to change. Tuesday, 11 December 12
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Cinematography Lenses and Focus Different Lenses change the field of vision and the depth of field. Normal - A normal lens is similar to the field of vision and perspective of the human eye. Wide-angle - Provides a wider angle of view and exaggerates depth making characters in the foreground appear larger and characters in background smaller. Fish-eye lens - An extreme wide angle lens allows a very wide angle of view dramatically distorts distorts images so straight lines appear curved. Telephoto - Provides a narrow angle of view, compresses distance between foreground and background and gives shallow depth of field. Rack Focus - A change of focus from one plane of depth to another
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Editing “film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling shots into a coherent whole”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editing
“editing is in actual fact a compulsory and deliberate guidance of the thoughts and associations of the spectator” Pudovkin in Film a Critical Introduction by Prammagiore and Wallis
“film editing is the art of filmmaking” Rothschild in On Film Editing
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by Dmytryk
Editing - Juxtaposition Kuleshov Kuleshov formed the the worlds first film school, the Moscow Film School and was one of the first theorists to write about Soviet Montage Theory
Kuleshov Experiment The same shot of an actor is intercut with various images (a casket, a bowl of soup, and so on) viewers claim to see different emotions in actor illustrating how editing changes viewers' interpretations of images.
Kuleshov Experiment Not content which defines the narrative but the arrangement of content http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCAE0t6KwJY
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Editing - Continuity Editing The Hollywood standard in editing which most viewers are familiar with is known as Continuity Editing. Continuity editing uses a range of techniques to make the edits as invisible as possible, presenting one seamless film rather than thousands of fragmented cuts.
Continuity Editing relies on two main strategies Systematic order for sequencing shots - establishing shot, shot reverse shot, 30 degree rule, cross cutting Consistency of direction on screen - 180 degree rule, eye line match http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xauSCz1mEk
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Editing - Soviet Montage Eisenstein aimed to guide viewer, believing montage could be used as a way to strengthen the feelings and ideas conveyed by the film rather than to advance the plot. Eisenstein described 5 methods of montage. 1. Metric - Cuts are determined by specific duration of time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOQH_OG1tJA 2. Rhythmic - Cuts determined by time and visual content 3. Tonal - The use of the emotional meaning of content 4. Associational - A combination of the above for a more complex and often abstract effect 5. Intellectual - The use of combined images to create meaning http://www.youtube.com/watch? Vertov used montage to create the feeling of a story line that is left to the interpretation of the spectator. With the authority of the filmmaker removed the audience must participate in production of meaning rather than simply spectate Tuesday, 11 December 12
Further Reading PRAMAGGIORE, M. & WALLIS, T., 2008. Film A Critical Introduction. 2nd ed. London: Laurence King WOLLEN, P., 1998. Signs and Meaning in the Cinema. Expanded ed. London. British Film Institute http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/ http://www.davidbordwell.net/ http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/gramtv.html
DMYTRYK, E. On film editing: an introduction to the art of film construction - http://books.google.co.uk/ books?id=fY5DxkTeD_4C&lpg=PP1&ots=yjthDdbfaD&dq=film %20editing&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_montage_theory
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