Film Analysis: Reading Film Language & Creating Meaning

Camera Shots and Lighting Guidance On Blog

There is a glossary of camera shots with sketches available on the 'Shot and Lighting Page' under the blog banner so that you can confirm shot types. There are also helpful tutorial videos for framing, camera movement and lighting. Use these resources if you are unsure of any of the key terms when analysing your film clips.

There is also an 'Editing & Sound Page' under the blog banner for guidance concerning other aspects of analysis.  

Editing/Mise-en-scene

Mise en scene

View more presentations from J Thrasher

'Control': A Guide to Scene Analysis

Here is a sample essay to use as a guide to the essay structure, content and analytical approach you should adopt for your first assignment. It is by no means perfect, but if you follow the technique it will give you a solid basis on how to integrate film language, description and the interpretation of meaning for your coursework essay. 

How does the use of cinematography in a key sequence from ‘Control’ convey a sense of isolation? 

The film Control is a music biopic unlike many others in the genre, it is shot exclusively in black and white throughout and conveys the representation that the media projected of Joy Division from the late 70’s. The film often rejects the normal conventions of a biopic, whereby an artist’s life is fantasised, choosing to focus upon the harsh reality of a day-to-day existence of the subject matter it portrays. The isolation of Ian’s character from the rest of the world is portrayed through films use of the shadows that the characters are hidden by in high contrasting lighting, or using a shot reverse shot technique to show just how far apart the main characters interaction are becoming. The scene I am choosing is scene 11 where Ian Curtis goes to see his wife Debbie. The scene starts with Ian entering the house. The camera doesn’t follow him in as it is shot using a mid shot, it allows the audience to see him enter the house and turn on the light. This separates Ian’s character immediately from the audience; he becomes isolated from any other characters when he discovers that he has epilepsy. It may also represent the fact that this is no longer Ian’s house and the camera is suggesting that he is almost waiting to be invited in. The sound moves from diegetic sound to non diegetic as the character goes into the house, as the audience can no longer see what he is doing but can still hear it. The scene remains silent in the background apart  from the diegetic sound of the television and Ian drinking. The diegetic sound is a technique the director uses to manipulate the audiences perceptions to making everything appear normal, but the way that the camera focuses upon Ian’s character in mid-shot isolating him from the house that he used to live in. It then cuts from the scene where Ian’s character is sitting smoking, to a close up of the bottle of spirit that we saw him drinking earlier. The audience had learned previously in the film that Ian is not supposed to drink because of his condition, and so drinking the large amount of alcohol that is in front of him could bring on another epileptic fit. Because of the cameras ability to isolate the character through a mid-shot then close up the audience sees that there is no one else in the house;  bringing about a kind of danger to Ian’s actions. This could relate to the fact that he almost has no ‘Control’ anymore and that he’s not of sound mind. The non-diegetic music takes on a more sinister tone with quite strange music, which then become diegetic. The music is taken from the film that Ian Curtis last watched. The plot of the story is a man that goes to America to fulfil his dream, and his whole life actually falls apart. This not only falls inline with the events of Ian Curtis’ life, but also add meaning to the narrative event of Ian’s anticipation in going to America, and what could inevitably happen if he did. The camera shifts to a close up to allow the audience to see what is on the television. Ian’s character is then zoomed into with a close up where the audience can see that he is almost in a trance like state. Ian’s character is being passive, and almost looks like he has no plan, so he’s just doing nothing. This links back to the film’s title, the issue of control or lack of, and also a reference to the character’s epilepsy. The camera focuses on this to give the audience an insight into what the character is thinking- not very much. When the television cuts out a close up is used so we can see and hear the diegetic buzzing of the television and see the character turn it off. People generally relate the white noise of a television set to being quite sinister almost; this subtly highlights an element of danger to the audience and suggests that Ian may be 'switching off' or cutting out any influence from the outside world or reality.

There is then a straight cut to Debbie arriving outside using a long shot, so we can see the whole scene in the frame, and the only sound we can hear is the diegetic sound of the old car engine. We then cut to the house from the inside to show the character coming in through the door, rather than waiting for the character to come in like it did with Ian’s character. This may also represent that Debbie owns the house in total freedom and can enter when she wants. There then becomes a divide in the frame, it is split into light and darkness. Ian’s character is framed in the dark, and steps outside of the light, whereas Debbie’s remains totally in the light. The characters are framed on opposite sides of a spectrum, they no longer relate to each other, one is positive and one is negative. The use of shadows is used as a sort of convention to Film Noir; this is where the director will have got the idea to keep Ian’s character shaded to reflect his intentions as being clouded or concealed. The Big Sleep shows examples of this throughout the film; with mise-en-scene such as plants and blinds casting shadows not only on the scene but also the characters. The camera doesn’t follow their conversation with a shot reverse shot; instead it allows Debbie’s voice to be out of the scene whilst we just focus on Ian’s reactions and speech. The director does this because previously there have been elements to hint danger, and surely enough Ian’s mood changes instantaneously to show how fragile his moods seem to be. We then see the conversation from behind Ian’s character in an over the shoulder shot as he remains in the shadow/dark and we focus on Debbie’s reaction in shallow focus. At this point, because of the contrast between the focus of the characters it shows another divide, whether it represents their divide in character and how their marriage has split, or it might represent their state of mind at the time. Debbie’s character seems to be getting on with life and coping whereas Ian’s character has become less focussed, and evidently isn’t. The scene then cuts a side viewpoint, and not quite behind Debbie’s character, the door frame is another divide in the frame, showing the diversity in the characters and the divide between them after their split, and a divide in their intentions. At the beginning of the film, there isn’t this divide between them but after they become married framings seem to change, and here it is evident more than ever just how far they are opposites. The shot shifts to a close up of Ian, his character remains to be in the dark, we can see that he’s in distress we see this through the darkness almost masking his intentions. The low key lighting in this film is emphasised by the fact that the film is black and white but this also represents the difference in character, with Ian’s being consistently in the shadows more. The isolation of Ian’s character is also evident earlier on in the film where Ian and Debbie are walking back to their house after being at a party. Ian asks Debbie if she wants to sleep with other men. The background at this point becomes out of focus, using depth of field to isolate the couple from the environment around them. When Debbie identifies that Ian no longer loves her, she walks on into the foreground and becomes out of focus of the camera. Ian is now completely isolated from his environment. Corbijn uses a telephoto lens to create this effect; this allows the director to focus on whatever he chooses and at this point it seems to represent Ian's isolation.

When the two argue and Debbie’s character is forced to leave, the scene falls completely silent apart from the non diegetic sound coming from Debbie getting into the car and driving away. But the camera remains static in the same spot where Debbie was standing. The camera lingers on Ian's reaction in close up, giving the audience an insight into how Ian would feel after the argument. The camera staying on the same spot for a few seconds reflects regret, and keeps the audience in the moment and reiterates the situation. This then moves onto New Order’s song 'Get Out' which is non diegetic and it becomes diegetic even though the character is listening to another album. The actual album that the audience should be hearing is Iggy Pop’s ‘The Idiot’, however the New Order song was written specifically for this part of the film and sets the scene and mood for the audience far better than the original soundtrack would’ve done. We see this through the close up shots of the record and then the record player. When Ian’s character is writing the letter we have two layers of non diegetic sound, we have Ian also reading out what he is writing, but this isn’t actually happening in the scene. The non-diegetic voice over allows the audience to listen to the characters state of mind, and this links the scene to the beginning of the film where we see Ian’s character in despair, sitting in his room. The non-diegetic voice over is like a narration of what’s actually going on, rather than what the other characters have been believing. Ian’s state of mind is explored throughout the film, at one point quite subtly, when Ian returns home (to his mum and dad) from staying at his band mate’s house. The shot is tilted upwards to show the audience what the character is looking at. The pivotal part of the frame is filled with a telephone pole, with wires going from the central point (the pole) to various other places. Again the audiences are manipulated to make their own judgement on what this shot represents, with the fact that it is the main focus in the frame. This simple but effective shot, represents the many different ties that Ian has - to many to keep hold of. And this shows the audience that Ian’s mind (and heart) is not in just one place. He’s no longer in ‘Control’ and suggests that he is being pulled in many different directions.

In the final house scene, the diegetic sound in the background completely stops and we focus on the characters epileptic fit and this is shown with a close up of the character in his discomfort. The only sound we can hear diegetically is Ian’s fitting as he convulses; it makes the scene quite uncomfortable to watch. The use of a close up and the reality it conveys in the scene makes it quite hard to watch, but this ultimately shows the audience the characters vulnerability and sense of despair in his fragile state of mind. The scene then ends in total silence and concludes on a close up of Ian’s characters face. The shot then dissolves into a black screen. The close up and the fading away makes the moment linger in the audiences mind again and the sense that he has slipped away. This final dissolve reinforces the serious condition of Ian's state of mind, making the viewer sympathise emotionally with his situation and the impact this will have upon his friends and family.

Grading criteria:

Technical Aspects

Meaning

Essay Guidance: Extract

Here is a guide to the way you should write an analysis that includes film language. action description and your personal response. It is only an extract from a larger analysis but may be useful for the style and content of the written work you are producing for your coursework. 

Describe: 

WHAT you see/hear?

+

HOW it is technically constructed?

+

WHY you think it is constructed this way?

 = MEANING

Integrating all aspects in a coherent and clear way to show how meaning is constructed throughout the sequence is the key to achieving a good grade:      

Although this is not a horror film in the purest sense it does use the convention of an open, abandoned space to make the situation more fearful. This is similar to the opening scene of ‘The Shining’ when the mise-en-scene shows that something bad will happen by opening the film with a tracking shot of a single car isolated in countryside. Therefore isolation is a convention of a thriller and horror and can make a character look more vulnerable; suggesting that something bad is going to happen. I feel that the director chose this technique from a horror like ‘The Shining’ as it reinforces the fear of being alone in an open space, especially at night. This allowed me to sympathise with Susie as I would feel vulnerable myself if I were in her position. I particularly felt scared watching this film rather than a conventional horror as these types of murders and rapes happen in real life.

The setting and mise-en-scene of a cornfield has connotations of reaping and sowing, suggesting death and rebirth, a key theme in the film. Cornfields are also used to make associations with young children in the horror genre, for example; 'Children Of The Corn', 'Sleepy Hollow' and 'The Sand'. These examples all use cornfields with some form of scare for children, often using a ‘scarecrow’ to scare them. This occurs in ‘Children of the Corn’ when the mise-en-scene includes a scarecrow to symbolize a threat for the characters and the audience. So I feel that this film has taken the concept of having something in a cornfield to scare or be a danger to children and then adding a real situation; making it more of a thriller than a horror. Also, corn grows in fields, just like a child grows up; so with Susie being attacked in a cornfield it reflects her childhood and how oblivious to danger. Her life is also taken from her prematurely just like corn is cut from life before it dies naturally.  It seems likely that the mise-en-scene location was chosen to represent these themes of innocence, growth and death.

Colour in 'Drive'

In one of the more gruesome scenes in Drive (2011), Driver (Ryan Gosling) stands in a motel room with blood aggressively streaked across his face. Throughout the early parts of the film, he’s predominantly painted in cool tints (subdued greens, blues and shades of grey). Here, though, his own actions have caused a grim and literal recolouring. He becomes emphatically warm and the visual change reveals shifting circumstances: at this point, he is so captivated by Irene (Carey Mulligan) that he is willing to engage more fully with the world of crime. Nicolas Winding Refn, the director, and Newton Thomas Sigel, the cinematographer, control colour expertly, using a fairly limited palette to enact in light the tensions that exist between characters and social worlds.

Despite the extensive use of red, white and blue, Refn is not concerned with American nationalism or issues of the flag. Instead, there’s a use of colour that enunciates personal emotions by playing with the split between warm and cool. In the beginning, as mentioned above, Driver’s face is washed almost exclusively with the latter. Gosling’s understated performance, which combines subtle gestures and few words, achieves a characterisation that is paralleled in light.

In contrast, Irene, coloured in warm reds, oranges and yellows, radiates care and maternal love.

Refn carefully arranges the frame during Driver’s and Irene’s early meetings so that tints of different temperatures remain quite firmly attached to each character.

But, as the attraction becomes greater, the breakdown of social barriers is paralleled in a blending of hues. The pair are first cast together in a warm glow in Driver’s car, though the effect quickly enters Irene’s domestic space.

Refn’s and Sigel’s use of colour is subtler, though, than simply revealing a movement from separation to unity. Throughout the picture, there’s a tension between gradation and delineation. A scene near the end brings this design into focus. Irene walks back to her apartment, having received no answer to her knock on Driver’s door. The walls are a rich brown and her face is a warm wooden orange. She passes a framed picture of the sea which is composed of blues and greens. The particular perspective of the painting echoes the framing of the ocean in an earlier scene in which Driver commits his ultimate act of violence (which, by the by, we’re not shown). So, then, this image that brings him to mind only reinforces that he has gone. The situation is summarised by the relationship between warm and cool tints (easily kept separate by a frame): the bloody mess that has stained Driver’s face and has escalated beyond control ultimately renders the pair like oil and water, rather than two drops in an ocean.

Edited from: atowninblackandwhite.com

Mise-en-scene: Guidance

Mise en scene lesson 1 from South Sefton College

Meaning In Composition: Guidance

To reduce the concept to a crude rule of thumb in the composition of a shot in a movie: A person located somewhat to the right of centre will seem ideally placed. A person to the right of that position will seem more positive; to the left, more negative. A centered person will seem objectified, like a mug shot.

Now what do I mean by "positive" or "negative?" I mean that these are tendencies within the composition. They are not absolutes. But in general terms, in a two-shot, the person on the right will "seem" dominant over the person on the left.

In simplistic terms: Right is more positive, left more negative. Movement to the right seems more favorable; to the left, less so. The future seems to live on the right, the past on the left. The top is dominant over the bottom. The foreground is stronger than the background. Symmetrical compositions seem at rest. Diagonals in a composition seem to "move" in the direction of the sharpest angle they form, even though of course they may not move at all. Therefore, a composition could lead us into a background that becomes dominant over a foreground.

Tilt shots of course put everything on a diagonal, implying the world is out of balance. I have the impression that more tilts are down to the right than to the left, perhaps suggesting the characters are sliding perilously into their futures. Left tilts to me suggest helplessness, sadness, resignation. Few tilts feel positive. Movement is dominant over things that are still. A POV above a character's eyeline reduces him; below the eyeline, enhances him. Extreme high angle shots make characters into pawns; low angles make them into gods. Brighter areas tend to be dominant over darker areas, but far from always: Within the context, you can seek the "dominant contrast," which is the area we are drawn toward. Sometimes it will be darker, further back, lower, and so on. It can be as effective to go against intrinsic weightings as to follow them.

Taken from:

How to read a movie

By Roger Ebert

Performance, editing and framing in classic filmmaking

The scene below, from Budd Boetticher’s Western 'Seven Men From Now' (1956) exemplifies the subtlety of performance, editing and framing in classic filmmaking. Watch the scene and consider the key points listed to deepen your understanding of cinema as a creative means of expression and modern art form.

Check how the actors are directed and how they perform. There is no attempt to ‘express’ feelings or emotions. This is classical acting where the burden of performance is transferred from physical behaviour of individuals to a pregnant, anxious network of glances. These skewed glances, directed sideways or off-screen, simultaneously perform the task of evoking necessary emotions as well as creating meaning through their association with whom they are directed at.

Check how the actors are positioned and framed. Each of the setups – the close-ups and the two shots – finds its proper place and generates its own tension. The two shots, even though partly the result of a necessity, consist of either Gail Russell and Randalph Scott sitting besides each other or Lee Marvin and Walter Reed, the former perched just behind and above the latter, and forebodes relationships that would become significant from here on.

Check how the whole conversation is edited. Each shot both carries the burden of the previous and prefigures what is to follow. Each one is cut just as a glance is cast and carried to a finish: long enough to register whom it is addressed to and what it means and short enough to avoid ramming down the idea or emotion down our throats. The audience’s gaze, likewise, is transferred from one actor to another in the same fluid movement, with precise vanishing points, as the chain of glances.

Edited from The Seventh Art website

Essay Guidance: Common mistakes to avoid

• Retain focus stated in question throughout the essay (use term/s)
• Be detailed and thorough throughout
• Make sure that you use the correct terms/language for each technique 
• Cameras' don’t cut – this is editing!!
• Discuss other films that use similar techniques to your chosen sequence (don't just mention the title, refer to the scene)
• Discuss other films that remind you of the events/action/themes in your chosen sequence (don't just mention the title, refer to the scene)
• Debate other possible meanings that a technique/action may suggest to you personally (be argumentative)
• Film titles and characters names should begin with capitals i.e 'The Shining', 'Panic Room'  plus Jack, Iron Man, etc.
• Lighting is never dark!!!
• Submit drafts early and get work checked - BEFORE THE DEADLINE!!

SHAME 'Opening Shot' - Film Analysis from MUST SEE FILMS on Vimeo.

Analysis of the Hitchcock Style: The power of the close-up

'The Shining': Approaches To Analysis

Sound of Cinema: The Music that Made the Movies BBC4 (BBC iPlayer)

Click on image to view

Neil Brand explores how in the second half of the 20th century, composers and film-makers embraced jazz, pop and rock to bring fresh energy to film scores.

In this episode he shows how in the 1960s, films as diverse as the James Bond movies, Italy's spaghetti westerns and Disney's musicals drew on the talents of pop arrangers and composers like John Barry, Ennio Morricone and the Sherman Brothers to create unforgettable soundtracks. But the role of the film composer would subsequently be challenged by directors like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, who showed that a soundtrack consisting of carefully chosen pop songs could be as effective as a specially written one.

Film Noir: Video Essay

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression.

The term film noir, French for "black film", first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most American film industry professionals of the classic era. Cinema historians and critics defined the noir canon in retrospect. Before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic film noirs were referred to as melodramas. The question of whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars.

Film noir encompasses a range of plots—the central figure may be a private eye (The Big Sleep), a plainclothes policeman (The Big Heat), an aging boxer (The Set-Up), a hapless grifter (Night and the City), a law-abiding citizen lured into a life of crime (Gun Crazy), or simply a victim of circumstance (D.O.A.). Though the noir mode was originally identified with American productions, films now customarily described as noir have been made around the world. Many pictures released from the 1960s onward share attributes with film noirs of the classic period, often treating noir conventions in a self-referential manner. Such latter-day works in a noir mode are often referred to as neo-noirs. The tropes of film noir have inspired parody since the mid-1940s.

The Endless Night: A Valentine to Film Noir from Serena Bramble on Vimeo.

The Inception of Movie Editing

Mark Kermode: The Tracks of Your Tears

Take it or leave it: the long shot

Anne Billson

guardian.co.uk 15 /9/11

Long takes make the viewer an active participant rather than a passive sponge, encouraged to scour the frame, or worry about what might enter into it.

As the rhythm of commercial movies has speeded up, long takes have increasingly become associated with slow art movies, and for many years tended to bring out the worst in me. During a shot of townsfolk tramping down the street in Béla Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies (a film famously composed of only 37 shots) I nodded off, had a little dream and woke up again – only to find the townsfolk still tramping. Bruno Dumont's L'humanité opens with a widescreen shot of a horizon, bare but for a couple of trees; a man appears on the extreme left, and you realise with a sinking feeling the camera is going to stick with him till he's toiled all the way over to the right. I started giggling before he was even halfway across.

But rewatching Omar Sharif's slow approach on camel through the desert in Lawrence of Arabia, I'm struck now by David Lean's timidity – how much more involving it would have been if he hadn't cut that long shot up into bite-sized pieces, and instead had let it play out in real time. No such restraint from Gaspar Noé, who in Irreversible refuses to cut away from Albert Dupontel smashing a man's face in with a fire extinguisher, or from Monica Bellucci being raped in a pedestrian tunnel, a take that goes on for so long the viewer passes through shock into boredom and then annoyance – always a risk with ultra-long takes, though, judging by the rest of Noé's oeuvre, it could be precisely the reaction he was setting out to provoke.

I daresay we're now so accustomed to machine-gun editing that the "subliminal" shock image of the demon face in The Exorcist doesn't seem seem so subliminal any more. But it's in horror movies that I really enjoy seeing long takes, especially the sort of dread-inducing camerawork of John Carpenter or Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Long takes make the viewer an active participant rather than passive sponge, encouraged to scour the frame, or worry about what might intrude into it. Like Smiley's spies, you're constantly scrutinising facial expressions, or on the lookout for movement that shouldn't be there.

Flurries of violent cutting obscure rather than delineate the action; the effect is impressionistic, which has its uses, but is now so prevalent I sometimes fear that generations of filmgoers will soon be incapable of tolerating longer takes, the same way high-heel wearers can no longer walk in flat shoes because their tendons have shrunk. Maybe, as suggested by the late cultural theorist Theodore Roszak, they've become so addicted to the flicker of film passing through a projector, the fix on its own is no longer potent enough. They need hyper-rapid editing as well.

Anton Corbijn: Director

Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade. Some of his works include music videos for Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" (1990) and Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" (1993), as well as the Ian Curtis biopic 'Control' and George Clooney's 'The American'.

As he was initially a photographer Corbijn's films are well crafted in terms of their cinematography; framing, lighting, depth of field and 'the rule of thirds' can all be easily applied. Scenes from 'Control' and 'The American' would therefore make ideal choices for analysis or some form of comparison.

Film Noir Studies

A video essay on how Fritz Lang's M is viewed as the prototype for the film noir genre.