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Objective:
Certain scenes from films and television shows
stay in our memories vividly. Have you ever wondered why?
This chapter will help you understand the strategies
producers and directors use as they connect viewers with the production.
Genres:
To best analyze a film or television show,
first identify and understand its genre.
There are several genres including:
- Action: A production that emphasizes high-energy sequences
- Adventure: Similar to action films, a high-tension story that often chronicles new experiences
- Comedy: A light-hearted film that is meant to cause laughter
- Documentary: A fact-based story about a life or an event
- Drama: A serious story that describes a realistic circumstance
- Horror: A frightening story designed to scare, often coupled with science fiction
- Musical: A film that uses music and choreography to tell its story
- Romance: A production centered on two people falling in love
- Science Fiction: A story highlighting futuristic experiences and characters
Basing an analysis on a work’s genre
is helpful because each genre emphasizes
different techniques. In an action or horror
film, for example, strong special effects are a
strength; the same effects are likely to be a
distraction and a weakness in a drama.
Also, it is important to understand that some genres
may be combined. For instance, a film or television show
that has romantic and comedic elements is a romantic comedy.
If a film has elements of a documentary and a drama, the
genre is a docudrama. Use the qualities of the component
genres to help you analyze this kind of film and television show.
Film Analysis
Because there is much to think about when analyzing visual media,
watch the piece several times, focusing on a different aspect every
time. A few things to consider in the first viewing are:
- Directing: Directors are responsible for the
entire project, but their roles are most prominent in production
(filming) and post-production (editing, adding special effects, etc.)
Because directors are so intimately involved, the resulting film or
show reflects a lot of the director’s style or “touch.” Learn more
about the director to help you analyze his or her work. What is the
director’s style? How does this director relate to the actors? Does
the director serve any other roles in the film (i.e., producer,
choreographer, etc.)? Learning about the director can make it easier
to understand the film’s style.
- Storyline or plot: Many writers analyze a film’s storyline
(plot) because this is what most viewers remember about the film.
Analyzing a plot is similar to analyzing the plot in a work of literature,
since most works follow the same progression of a novel (see below.)
Plot consists of:
- Exposition: This section provides the background
information about the story and/or introduces the characters.
During the opening credits, sometimes a narrator provides background
information for the story, while other times a flashback scene can
fill in the viewers. What does this background information tell
viewers about the characters or storyline? Why is it essential
to have this background information?
- Rising Action: This part of the plot is where the real
story begins; here, complications arise in the lives of the characters, and these complications build to the climax. Why do the complications
make viewers want to continue watching?
- Climax: The climax is the highest part of the plot;
it is likely the part where viewers are on the edge of their seats,
wondering what is going to happen to the characters. How do the
filmmakers create the high tension of the climax? What camera angles, music, sound effects, special effects, character dialogue, or other
strategies are used to heighten the tension?
- Falling Action: When the action begins to fall,
the storyline is coming to an end. Filmmakers want to keep the viewers
interested; what strategies or techniques do they use to make
individuals continue watching?
- Resolution: While the word "resolution" hints that
all is well or “resolved,” the resolution of a plot is not always a happy
ending. For instance, a character that viewers get to bond with might
suffer a setback in life. Also, the resolution may leave the viewers
not knowing what happened to a particular character or something that
this character knew and loved. A resolution is simply the end of the
crisis or conflict that led to the story’s climax. Screenwriters and
filmmakers use many different strategies to end a story, so when
analyzing a film, think about why the screenwriter or filmmaker
ended the film in this way.
There are many other components of films to analyze, including:
- Camera Angles: When watching a film, examine the
camera angles. Are you, the viewer, looking up, looking down, or
looking straight at a scene? How does this affect the viewing of
the scene? For example, if a camera appears to be sitting on the
ground, pointed up at a tall man, this man becomes even taller and
more powerful. Had the camera been mounted on a tripod and at
eye-level of the man, he would not look as intimidating. Why would
a director want to make a character seem bigger?
A camera’s
movements may also be significant. For example, when a camera
begins with a wide shot and then zooms in to the characters, the
director shows the scene’s setting but then draws attention to the
characters. If a woman is peering into a man’s house and that element
is important to the understanding of the story, the camera shot may
begin outside and move inside to where the man sits. The way a
camera moves plays a role in the story, too, whether the motion is
sharp, choppy, smooth, and so on. In essence, the camera can begin
to become its own "character."
- Lighting: Lighting can help to tell the story.
Filmmakers play on human emotions, including a natural fear of the
dark. If a stalker is hunting in broad daylight, it is not nearly
as frightening as if the hunt occurred at night. The lighting of
such a scene might focus solely on the individual being stalked and
leave the stalker in shadows, letting us see only the whites of his
eyes, for example.
Lighting might also be symbolic, as well.
If someone is remembering a time in his life when he felt happy, the
lighting might be brighter, and if he is depressed, the lighting may
be dimmed to present an atmosphere of uncertainty or sadness. Changes
from full-color to black-and-white filming can indicate a flashback.
- Acting:
Whether the actors are world-famous or hardly known
is irrelevant, but their performance is important. In what ways do
the actors make their characters come alive? What, in particular,
allows them to make their characters come alive? How do they use their
voices and gestures to create the scene? How does the character (not
the actor) fit into his or her role in the storyline? How does the
actor’s portrayal of the character affect the way viewers understand
the story? Consider the character of Charlie Brown: what would change
if he were played as a depressed quitter and cynic instead of a
determined kid who just can’t win?
- Symbols: Like literature, films also include symbols.
(See Writing About Literature for more information about symbols.) In film,
symbols take a wide variety of sounds and shapes. A song might be symbolic
of the character’s life at the moment. An item, such as the Ring in The
Lord of the Rings, may also have symbolic meaning. By looking closely at
the sights and sounds in the film, you will likely notice at least a few symbols.
- Sound Effects: Some may think that sound effects are
not very important outside of cartoons, but sound effects play a significant
role in almost every visual production. Many sounds heard in a film (a
door slam, a football sack, a cheering crowd, etc.) are added in
post-production, after the film is shot. How do these sound effects help
viewers better understand what is happening in the story?
- Special Effects: Special effects push viewers to
accept the extraordinary, but these effects must follow the laws of
science to be realistic. There are many types of special effects—freezing
a scene and rotating the camera around a character, or placing us in a
computer generated universe, just to name a few. When looking at the
special effects, see how they adhere to the laws of science. Also, are
they effective or ineffective in the film? What reason(s) are there to
support that claim?
- Music: Usually, the music in a film or television
show works into the storyline so well that the audience does not pay
attention to it. However, the music helps to promote a particular aura.
If the music is slow, it makes the viewers feel calm, but if it offers
tension like the music in Jaws, the viewers know to expect something
terrible. When watching the film, pay careful attention to the music.
Is it instrumental, or does it have a chorus and verses? How does the
music help to set the stage in the movie or television show?
In
musicals, music plays a more prominent role, as the actors will break
into song at various points during the show. Usually, these songs
provide important information: how the character feels about a situation,
background information about what is happening in the character’s life
or elsewhere, and so on. Determining the reason why a particular piece
of music is inserted into that section of the film is especially important
for a musical.
- Comparison to a Literary Work: Some filmmakers have
chosen to develop famous novels or other stories into films or television
shows. Comparing the film to the print version is good analysis topic.
In addition to focusing on the similarities and differences between the
novel and the film, think about why the filmmakers had to make these
changes. Which version, the film or the printed one, is better and why?
Summary
Being aware of the strategies that filmmakers use offers
insights as to why certain productions receive rave reviews
while others barely receive a nod. The information presented
in this chapter will help you identify the techniques used
to produce films and shows, understand why they were used
and how they affect the final piece, and analyze an
audience’s reaction to a given work.
  
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