J340 Japanese Cinema

How Should we Read and Analyze Films?

Adapted from Prof. Michael Goldberg

The film critic Christian Metz has written that "A film is difficult to explain because it is easy to understand." We are used to sitting back in the dark and viewing a film uncritically; indeed, most Hollywood films are constructed to render “invisible” the carefully constructed nature of the medium. Further, because a film is constructed of visual, aural, and linguistic components that are manipulated in numerous ways, it is a challenge to take apart the totality of the film experience and to interpret how that experience was assembled.

Below you will find brief explanations of ways to analyze the language of film. While this list is not exhaustive, it does contain a lot of information. If film interpretation is new to you, you will not be able to keep track of all these elements while viewing the film—this is an acquired skill. Concentrate at first on a few things that seem to offer the most opportunity for critical reading.

 

If viewing the film only once, try to take notes in shorthand while watching the film. Arrows can be used to note camera angle and camera movement; quick sketches can be used to note shot composition and elements of mise-en-scene. As soon as possible after viewing the film, write out your impressions of the film, noting the most important elements. If you will be writing on the film and will be seeing it again, take minimal notes the first time through (although do note important scenes you will want to return to) but still maintain a critical distance.

 

When analyzing a film as a historical document, keep in mind the film's contemporary audiences or authors. Your own personal reaction to the film may serve as a starting point, but you need to convert these impressions into historical analysis—how are you different and similar to the historical audiences/authors? What has changed and what has stayed the same? Remember too the technological changes that have taken place, and keep in mind what audiences would have expected, and how film makers used the technology at their disposal. It is especially important to consider substantial changes in the manner of presentation if you will only be watching the film on a television.

 

MEANING

Themes/tropes—The broad ideas and allusions (themes) that are established by repetition of technical and linguistic means (tropes) throughout the film (such as alienation, power and control, transcendence through romantic achievement, etc.)

 

Intent/Message—Sometimes, as with a film like JFK (the Kennedy assassination was the result of a massive government conspiracy) or Wayne's World (adolescence is a goofy time that provides plenty of laughs), this is obvious. (Just because the message is obvious, doesn't mean that the film is simple, or that there is not a contradictory subtext). Sometimes, however, the filmmakers aren't sure of their message, or the intended message becomes clouded along the way. At other times, the filmmakers (principally the producer, director, actors and actresses) are at odds over the intent. At other times, the film makers intend one message and many in the audience interpret the film differently.)

 

Metaphor and metonymy/symbolism—Similar to literary interpretation, only consider all aspects of the film—linguistic, visual, aural. Metaphors are elements that represent something different from their explicit meaning (for example, the rose petals in American Beauty).

Metonyms are elements that are similar or the same (for example, in the final scene of The Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad represents the lonely battle of activists and Ma represents the resilience of "the people"; or when a part of the whole—such as a close-up of a woman's leg—represents women as sexual objects). Metaphors and metonyms only gain relevance if they are repeated in significant ways or connected with the larger meaning of the film. (Avoid simplistic equations such as the white table symbolizes A; the high angle shot of a character symbolized B).

Subtext—The often numerous messages a film conveys beneath the surface; sometimes intended, often unintended, and sometimes conveying a different or contradictory message than the intended message. Look especially for ironies, contradictions, interesting juxtapositions, or if something initially doesn't seem to “make sense.” Subtext is usually developed through the use of figurative elements like metaphor and metonymy.

 

BASIC ELEMENTS

1. Title/opening credits—Titles are chosen carefully—consider alternatives and why this title was chosen; consider ambiguities in the title (“His Girl Friday,” a film with a strong, independent female protagonist). The opening credits establish a tone, and often are used to foreshadow events, themes, or metaphors—pay careful attention from the beginning.

2. Story/Plot/Narrative—The narrative provides the basic structure by which a feature film is understood. (Most documentaries also have narratives.)

--The narrative consists of the story and the plot. --The story consists of all of the information conveyed by the film (either directly or by inference) assembled in chronological order to communicate the overall sense of what occurred in the film.

--The diegesis is the entire world of the story. A film's diegesis may have a different logic than the "real" world, but as long as their is proper motivation (see below) it will make sense to the viewer.

--Diegetic elements are found explicitly or implicitly in the world of the story; non- or extra-diegetic elements (the soundtrack, the title, a voice-over, an audience's expectations of a star's persona) are outside the story.

--The plot provides the cause and effect relations that cue the audience and create suspense, surprise, and fulfill expectations. While dialogue provides a good deal of information, pay attention to all the other audio and visual clues that convey information about the narrative.

--In considering the narrative structure, note whether the film follows a standard chronological narrative or not and how time is used. What are the key moments and how are they established? What are the climaxes and anticlimaxes? What propels the story forward?

--What is the pace of the narrative? How do earlier parts of the narrative set up later parts?

--Where are the key emotive moments when the audience is frightened, enraged, enraptured, feeling vindicated, etc., and how has the narrative helped to establish these feelings?

--Note when there is a change of knowledge (when characters or the audience become aware of new information) which shifts the hierarchy of knowledge (the relative amount of knowledge characters and the audience have). Does the narrative have a coherent unity, or does it leave the audience feeling unfulfilled or confused? (Sometimes the latter is the mark of an unsuccessful film; sometimes its either an intentional effect to challenge the easy "Hollywood ending" or else the result of the mixed intentions of the various authors.)

 

3. Motivation—"Justification given in the film for the presence of an element. This may appeal to the viewer's knowledge of the real world, to genre conventions, to narrative causality, or to a stylistic pattern within the film." (Bordwell, Thompson) Failure to provide proper motivation challenges the sense of "cinematic realism" in a film. (If a character's personal motivation is explained in a film as a reason for his/her action, that falls under "narrative causality." Do not confuse character motivation as revealed through narrative with your own expectations you bring to the film. Characters are not real people, and do not make choices outside of what is conveyed narratively.) Hollywood films tend to stress perfectly motivated narratives so that every element has a purpose. Discovering the underlying motivation of the narrative often helps explain why audience expectations are fulfilled (or if poorly motivated, unfulfilled.)

--For example, in the Western Unforgiven, the close-up, eerily lighted shot of Morgan Freeman's/Ned's scars from whipping by Gene Hackman/Little Bill motivates Clint Eastwood's/William Money's slaughter of Hackman and various townsfolk. The shot thus cues the audience's desire for revenge through violence (note the metonymic symbolism of the scarred black body and the whip), despite the supposedly anti-violent theme of the film.

 

5. Motif—The repetition of an element in ways that acquire symbolic meaning for the element. An motif can be a technical feature (a shot angle, a lighting set up), a sound or piece of dialogue or music, or an object.

 

6. Parallelism—Two or more scenes that are similar to each other but which gain meaning because of their differences.

 

7. Characterization—Who are the central characters? How are minor characters used? Are characters thinly or fully drawn, and why? Who in the audience is meant to relate to which characters, and what sort of emotion (fear, pleasure, anxiety) are audience members meant to feel because of this identification? Is there a clear or ambivalent hero or villain? What values do the characters represent, and do they change during the film? Are the characters meant to play a particular “type” and do they play against type at any time?

 

8. Point of view—Is the film in general told from a particular character's point of view, or is it “objective”? Is the film's perspective primarily intellectual or emotional, visionary or “realistic”? Within the film, is a particular shot viewed from a character's point of view ("subjective shot"), and how does the camera technically reinforce the point of view? Who is the audience meant to be focusing on at a particular moment?

 

9. MISE-EN-SCENE = "visual storytelling"

A VERY IMPORTANT ELEMENT. It pertains to everything going on within the frame outside of the editing and sound.

What elements do you see in the scene that help to tell the story?

--Keep in mind that what you see in the scene is not the entire location but only what the director has decided to show you.

--Ask yourself why the director chose to show this part of the location and not another? This works equally well for scenes shot on a sound stage rather than on location, because the set will only comprise a part of the location it represents.

--Note which characters and objects are in the center of the scene and which are in the background or periphery.

--Study which parts of the scene are out of focus and whether this changes during the scene.

--Pay attention to how the scene is lit. Note whether it is brightly lit or in shadow and whether the light has a particular hue. Think about how the scene might play if the lighting is changed.

--Setting and sets—is the scene shot in a studio sound stage or “on location”? How is the setting integrated into the action, both the larger background and particular props?

--How is the setting used in composing the shot (verticals and horizantals, windows and doors, the ever popular slats of shades, mirrors, etc.)? How do particular settings (vast mountain ranges, cluttered urban setting) function as signs in order to convey narrative and ideological information? How are colors used?

See also this PDF here.

 

10. Acting style

—more obviously mannered (“classical”);

--intense and psychologically driven (“method”); --less affectations and more “natural”?

--Do particular actors have their own recognizable style or type, and how do the filmmakers use the audience's expectations, either by reaffirming or challenging these expectations? What expectations do "stars" bring to their roles? Do they fulfill or challenge these expectations (playing against type)?

 

11. CINEMATOGRAPHY—The camera work that records the mise-en-scene between edits. Each shot represents many choices made by the film makers. Why have they made these choices? What do these choices represent?

12. CAMERA SHOTS

--A typical scene can include dozens of shots, from close-ups on a character's face to extreme long shots showing the entire scene from a great distance. There are also shots during which the camera moves, tracking the movements of a character or zooming in on an object. Each is meant to serve a purpose in telling the story.

--Note whether the camera is acting as the eyes of a character or is simply watching the scene being shot.

--Try to determine why the director choose each shot, and what the effect of each shot is.

--Pay particular attention to unusual camera shots, such as slow motion, tilted shots or shots where the camera is allowed to shake. For example, a tilted camera shot is often used to suggest that the character represented by the camera is drugged.

--Think about how the camera shots affect the pace of the scene.

 

TYPES OF SHOTS:

--Tracking, Panning, and Tilt

—Tracking shot moves the camera either sideways or in and out. The camera can be mounted on a "dolly," "handheld" to create a jerkier effect, mounted on a crane and moved in all directions within a limited range, or in a helicopter, train, car, plane, etc. for other effects.

--Panning swings the camera horizontally,

--Tilt swigs it vertically. These effects are often used simultaneously.

--Angle of View/lens—The angle of the shot created by the lens. A wide angle lens presents broad views of subjects, and makes possible a large depth of field (many planes of action) as well as a deep focus shot. A normal lens (35 mm) can only focus on one plane at a time. A telephoto lens has a very narrow angle of views which acts like a telescope to focus faraway subjects and flattens the view.

--Focus—"Shallow focus" uses sharp focus on the characters or things in one area of the shot and soft (blurred) focus in the rest.

"Deep focus" brings out the detail in all areas of the shot. "Focus In" gradually "zooms" in on the subject, "focus out" gradually "zooms" out (these are known as “focus pulls”).

--Shot distance

—Full shot, three-quarters shot, mid- or half-shot, close-up and extreme close-up for shots of bodies; (extreme) long-shot, mid-shot, (extreme) close-up to describe more general. Can be used to create sense of isolation (extreme long shot of character in a desert) or great pain, anger or joy (extreme close-up of character's face).

--Choice of lens (see above) can create strange effects (wide angle close up extends and distorts image at the edges, like a funhouse mirror; telephoto lens used in long shots flatten distances and putting background out of focus.

--Frame—the border that contains the image. Can be “open” (with characters moving in and out); “moving” (using focus, tracking, panning); “canted” (at odd angles, unbalanced shot composition).

--Shot composition—The relation of the elements of mise-en-scene to the frame. Small frames used with close-ups can create sense of claustrophobia, often enhanced by the set (low ceilings, numerous props and furnishings) and lighting.

The set can also be used to frame the shot in other ways (lamps, flags, etc. on either side; a bed out-of-focus at the bottom of the frame) as can characters (as signs of intimidation, marginality, support, etc.) These types of shots are unbalanced. Look also for shots that are perfectly symmetrical.

--Tone—bright, sharp colors; grainy and black and white: hazy? If black and white when color was available, why would the film makers make this choice?

--Film speed—slow or fast motion used? film speed reversed?

--Camera Angle—The angle at which the camera is pointed at the subject: low (shot from below), high (shot from above), or eye-level (includes extreme low and high angle shots). This creates the angle of vision—the point of view—for the audience, and is often used to establish character's level of power and control (high angle shots can make character seem diminished), but there are many other uses as well.

 

13. MONTAGE - another key element

—Editing (“cuts”) within scenes and in the film in general, creating continuities and discontinuities, juxtapositions, and narrative structure. The standard Hollywood practice is to make cuts “invisible,” and thus they are often difficult to pick up within a scene.

--"Montage" is also the term used for a series of quick cuts from a variety of locations that cohere narratively or thematically (the baptism scene in The Godfather I is a good example). "Accelerated montage" is what it sounds like (the prison escape scene in His Girl Friday).

--Editing pace—within a sequence, from long takes (the opening credits of The Graduate) to “accelerated montage” (the chase scene of --Establishing shot—Initial shot in a scene that establishes location, characters, and purpose of the scene.

 

SOME OF THE STANDARD SHOTS:

--Shot/counter shot—standard device used during dialogue between two characters; often starts with a “two-shot” of the two characters, then moves back and forth. Combined with camera angle, shot distance, and pace to establish point of view. Note when this standard device is not used, and for what purpose. Note when the person speaking is not viewed, or only back is viewed.

More on the "Shot-Reverse-Shot" or Continuity Editing System ("invisible" editing)

 

Film historian David Bordwell defines the film technique “wherein one character is shown looking (often off-screen) at another character, and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer unconsciously assumes that they are looking at each other.” (Bordwell)

The primary elements of a shot/reverse shot sequence are derived from the three-camera set up. The shots you should have for a basic shot reverse shot are: a two-shot of the characters usually in wide or medium shot; an over the shoulder shot on character A; and an over the shoulder shot on character B. The diagram below should give you an idea of the set up. 

 

 

This technique is instrumental for Hollywood’s classical editing style, as it typically provides continuity in conversation with characters filmed at eye-level. It is meant to immerse audiences in the dialogue – and thus the story – instead of directing their attention to the visual style. Shot reverse shot originally served this type of “invisible editing,” never calling attention to itself and staying within the bounds of continuous time and space. But filmmakers have also discovered ways of dramatically enhancing shot reverse shot, through stylistic means that are a little more pronounced.

Adapted from: http://www.aotg.com/index.php?page=shotreverseshot 

See also: https://sites.google.com/a/colgate.edu/fmst-terminology/shot-reverse-shot 

And see here, too.

But, for this class, we would do well to consider what Noel Burch points out: these D.W. Griffith or "Hollywood Codes" grow out of a mode of representation that favors a certain type of narrative style, one that gives prioity to a Linear Mode of organization. It libes up or organizes all the signifiers so that they make sense in terms of telling a story in linear time. According to Burch, Japanese did not share this Western need to create a "psuedo-linguistic montage"; in fact, he suggests that it wan antithetical to most "Japanese art, literature and language." (See To the Distant Observer, pp. 97-98) The purpose of these codes was to create the "illusion" of seamless continuity but Burch argues that Japanese were relatibvely indifferent to illusionism. In other words, they did do care if the reader or film viewer saw quite clearly what the writer or director was doing. Ozu, for example, loves returning to static, establishing or "pillow shots," which implicitly breaks the diegetic flow. since the shots are usually of "scenery," temples, buildings or even trains, we can argue that they contest anthropocentrism and place humans as only among the "players" in a greater nature, not the single most important ones. As such, they have a "de-centering" effect. But they also do NOT contribute to the forward progress of the narrative either so they create or occupy a space outside the diegesis, "a pictorial space on another plane of 'reality', as it were....[and so they] also imply exteriority." (161-162) This, then, can be a jarring rupture in the "normal" (western-style) narrative flow as embodied in the Hollywood codes, and this reminds us that these condesmay not be as central to the worldview of Japanese filmmakers.

--Reaction shot—Quick cut to pick up character's reaction to an event. Likewise, the lack of reaction shot when it seems logical should be noted.

--Jump Cut—A cut that occurs within a scene (rather than between scenes) that removes part of a shot. This shot is often done for effect by making the cut obvious and disrupting the invisible editing of Hollywood style.

--Freeze Frame—A freeze shot, which is achieved by printing a single frame many times in succession to give the illusion of a still photograph. Used very effectively by Francois Truffaut to end The 400 Blows.

--Crosscutting—A shot inserted in a scene to show action happening elsewhere at the same time.

--Cutaway—A cut within a shot to a location that links the action of the shot and condenses time (for example, a reaction shot of a woman watching a man climb some stairs, cutting out a flight in between the shots).

--Match Cut—A cut in which two shots are linked by visual, aural, or metaphorical parallelism.

--Scenes—An end of a scene is usually marked by a number of possible devices, including fade-ins and fade-outs (which may include a quick cut or a fade to black—note the length of time the blackout is maintained, which often implies significance of preceding scene, or else a long passage of time); wipe (a line moves across the screen, usually used in older films); dissolve (a new shot briefly superimposed on an old shot), often used to express continuity or connections (for example, the “stump scene” in Shane).

--Sequence—A series of scenes that fit together narratively or representationally

--Accelerated montage—a series of quick cuts that relate a variety of shots from different locations into a coherent story or within the film in general, to establish overall tone.

Since the “natural” state of a Hollywood film movement, long takes coupled with a still camera can be used to increase intensity of a shot, make the audience uncomfortable, etc.

 

14. SOUND—Sometimes non-dialogue sound is the hardest element to pick out and analyze, yet is often extremely important and subject to just as much of the film makers focus as other elements. Note how sound is used—to underscore emotions, to alert the audience to an upcoming event, as an ironic counterpoint, etc. Carefully created and edited sounds (including the use of silences) creates a rich aural images the same way that mise en scene, shot composition, and montage create visual images. Note that sound is both part of the mise-en-scene and is a separate category of editing (since the audio track is separate from the video track).

--Dialogue—Is it overlapping, mumbled, very soft or loud?

--Sound effects—both the effects themselves (a doorbell ringing) and the manipulation of the sound (stereo effects which move sounds across the sound spectrum, or balance sounds on one side or the other; filtering and manipulating sounds).

--Score—the background music used throughout the film. The score often maintains and manipulates a similar theme at various times (especially in older films), and is often used in relation to the narrative structure. Particular motifs or themes may be used in relation to particular characters.

--Sound Bridge—Connects scenes or sequences by a sound that continues through the visual transition.

--Directsound refers to sound that is recorded at the time the scene is shot (usually dialogue, although audio inserts are possible. All audio inserts would be post-synchronous sound.).

--Postsychronous sound refers to sound that is recorded and placed on the film audio track after the scene is shot (virtually all scores). Most non-dialogue sounds are inserted after production (for example, footsteps), as well as a fair amount of dialogue that is either inserted when characters are not shown speaking onscreen, or simply pasted over sections that the are deemed to need improvement.

--Diegetic sound is heard within the film's diegesis (dialogue, a shot from a gun on screen).

--Off-screensound appears within the film's diegesis but not within the frame (extending off-screen space).

--Non-diegetic sound is heard outside of the film's diegesis (such as film scores and voice-overs). A pop song that seems to be part of a the soundtrack but is found to be coming from, say, a car radio, is a diegetic sound and is an element worth noting.

--Simultaneous sound is heard at the same time the action happens on screen.

--Non-simultaneous sound is heard before or after the action happens on-screen.

For links to definitions used in film theory, CLICK HERE.

List of Essential Film Terms from Bordwell and Thompson, Film Art, CLICK HERE.

Bibliography:

• David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art, 6th Ed. (McGraw-Hill)
• Monaco, James. How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory of Film and Media. Revised Edition (Oxford U. Press: 1981).
• Stephen Prince, Movies and Meaning: An Introduction to Film
• Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing About Film. Second Edition (HarperCollins: 1994)

 

 

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