LECTURE 10
Techniques of Analysis
While the Prague school was interested largely in language, the idea has wider application. It has been applied for example to music and here we will try to apply it to the art of film. In order to do this we need to define domains which have variables within them, and which can not co-occur, while the domains themselves can. For example, a shot may be a close-up or a medium or long shot but it can not be all of them at once. Similarly a shot may have deep focus or not, but it can not have both at the same time. However, one can have any kind of distance with any kind of focus. The term “domain” is used here to refer to the collection of things which contains a set of variables which can not co occur with one another, while the domains can co occur. Last time we discussed the kinds of “domains” in which variation can take place as regards film. Some of the things we discussed were:
Structuralism sets up binary oppositions
Content analysis
All of theese make use of looking at variables which are any feature in film making that can be changed.
Photography:
Composition in the frame
Lighting
Color or shades of black and white
Movement (panning, zooming, dolly shots)
Exposure
Quality of the media (film- with all the variations of speed and pushing, video tape)
Lenses (telephoto, wide angle etc.)
Editing
Rhythm (one serious problem with pan and scan is it loses the rhythm of the film)
Parallel cutting
Form cuts
Transitions: dissolves, fades etc. wipes
Films as code
Messages are sent in some sort of code. Language is a classic example. If the person sending a message encodes it in a language the hearer doesn't understand, then the hearer can not decode the message.
Films code in a kind of "language" hence the course is called the language of film. The items mentioned in photography and editing are part of the language.
Genre and Sub Genre
These are two terms which are used often in discussing film. Defniitions are important but they do not come from God nor are they carved in stone. One can make up definitions if it seems useful to do so. Such definitions are sometimes known as "operational defintions.
Often genres have certain expectations to them. People who go to see films expect certain kinds of things when they go to Westerns, horror films or whatever. In a horror film, the first appearance of the horrific is somethng audiences wait for. If the horror does not "work", then the film is often a failure. We might refer to this idea of the expectations an audience hads for a specific genre as "genre expectation".
Some catagories like "drama" "comedy" may be even larger than "genres". The tone of the film is important but no film can be without one. Many of course may mix them so that comedy-drama is possible,
What is a "genre"? What is a "sub genre"?
Genre is a "kind" or "type". It is often part of a taxonomic or classifactory system. The Linnean classification system is one of the most famous. It gives every animal a genus and species. A species is a sub division of a genus the way a sub genre is a subdivisino of a gnre. Lions and tigers are both kinds of cat (Felis leo, Felis tigris). Genres and sub genres in films are harder to relate. Are monster movies a sub genre of horror films? Are murder mysteries a sub genre of mysteries?
Genres are not only plot lines and locations, but often have visual representations as well. Sci-Fi films need "gadgets"; certain kinds of Westerns (i.e. sub genres) have showdowns and so on. These are important aspects of the film and how they are handled is crucial to the film.
Noir is a genre which has certain thematic elements: fatalism; good man makes wrong turn; femme fatale. There are images of entrapment (frames in frames, bars across people etc.) and of duplicity (mirrors, photographs). There is also the use of chiaroscuro lighting. AFilm is usually black and white.
What are mixed genres?
Mixed genres occur when aspects normally associated with one genre merge with those of another. Oklahoma is both a Western and a Musical.
Genres have history
Genres develop over time. Noir goes from young femme fatale to and older one.
Noir generally seems to end with Sunset Blvd. After that comes neo noir.
Narratives
Narrative often refers to the way in which the story is structured. Is it linear? That is does it move in a straight time line or not? Some filmes (Rope, High Noon) are not only linear, but run the same length of time as the action on the screen. Other films may be in order in terms of time but the time period overed in the film is much longer than the running time of the film. Other films have flashbacks and so on which means that sequences which occur in the film are not shown in chronological order.
Film styles
The way in which the film is photographed. Is there a kind of lighting associated with the film? Are the sets of a specific style, etc.
Set pieces
These are particular shots that are set to make a strong impression. Norma Desomande's descent down the stairs at the end of the film; King Kong breaking through the gate to the village; the shower scene in Pyscho, the prehistoric ape hitting the skeleton with the bone in 2001: A Space Odyssey The scenes are often (but not always, since films may have many) at a climactic moment of the film - many times in a scene that defines the genre.
Notes on Sunset Blvd.