(I found these notes somewhere...)
Preliminary Notes
The inventory of the following Sequence Analysis Worksheet for the most draws attention to formal concerns, to matters grounded in the work of the text. Every text, though, is a function of at least two contexts:
1. the context in which it was made
2. the context in which it functions
Every text speaks in a number of different ways, i.e. it recycles the givens of tradition, engaging various forms of discourse, putting them together in a way to produce an aesthetic whole. These texts are something like a stringing together of quotations, of reworking conventions, of adding together a number of impulses from the world in which one lives, appropriating various elements in a way that leads to something different, and in that sense, new.
The work that goes into ferreting out the different voices in a text involves, among other things, an awareness of historical situations, the assumptions and background of an artist and his/her team, the motivation behind a certain production. Beyond that, to talk about a filmic text means that we engage in a dialogue that brings us into the scene as a participant in an exchange: we make certain assumptions, both methodological and theoretical ones. Even the statement "I didn't like this film" carries with it a sizable amount of implicit assumptions.
Any thorough analysis of a film involves studying the following:
· the socio-historical background to the film, economic and political factors that conditioned its making and explain its existence
· the traditions out of which a given film arises: the sorts of cultural quotations it partakes of, the conventions it makes use of, the degree to which it participates in certain specifically national patterns of expression
· the institutional positioning of a given film: its status in the public sphere in which it is received
· the director/author's larger body of work, of which the film is part of a larger whole
· the "work" of the text itself, never forgetting, though, that films issue from a larger extra-filmic whole
· the question of a film's reception in time and how this has pre-shaped our own expectations as well as the film's place in history
· the relation of a text to certain intertexts; these can be directly suggested by a film or they can be creative associations suggested by the spectator
Narrative
1. Narrative Function of the Sequence
4. Interaction of Filmic Elements
6. Acknowledgement of the Spectator
7. Reference to Filmic Artifice
8. Positioning of the Spectator
9. Expression of Political Views
1. Narrative Function of the Sequence
What is the function of this sequence within the larger narrative action:
· exposition
· climax
· foreshadowing
· transition, etc.?
A. Does the sequence encapsulate the major oppositions at work n the film?
B. What are the underlying issues in the sequence (often glossed over and obscured in the overt action and in the dialogue, but possibly alluded to in the visuals)?
C. What is the selected sequence "really" about?
D. What aspect of the story does it establish, revise, develop, suggest? How do the visuals express it?
2. Narrative Method
How is the story told?
· linear
· with flashbacks
· flash-forwards
· episodically
A. What "happens" in the selected sequence on the level of the plot?
B. How do plot and story differ, if at all?
C. What is the relationship between the time of narration and narrated time?
3. Division of the Sequence.
A. Can the sequence be divided into individual segments; indicated for instance, by
· shifts of location
· jumps in time
· intertitles, etc
B. Assuming the film's story consists of many "wisps of narratives," all intricately interwoven with each other, how many simultaneous narratives (substories) does the sequence contain?
4. Interaction of Filmic Elements
A. How do the various channels of information used in film;
· image
· speech,
· sound
· music
· writing
interact to produce meaning?
B. Does one of the channels dominate in this sequence?
5. Narrative Perspective
A. Is there a recognizable source of the narration?
·
Voice-over
or
· Off-screen commentary.
B. What is the perspective of the narrator vis-a-vis the narrative?
C. Is this a steady perspective or does it change
6. Acknowledgement of the Spectator
A. Does the film acknowledge the spectator or do events transpire as if no one were present?
B. Do characters look into the camera or pretend it is not there?
C. Does the film reflect on the fact that the audience is forced to sit silently and watch voyeuristically?
7. Reference to Filmic Artifice
A. Does the film reflect on its "constructedness" by breaking the illusion of a self-sufficient "story apparently told by nobody?"
B. Are there intertitles, film-within-film sequences, obtrusive and self conscious ("unrealistic") camera movements calling attention to the fact that the film is, a construct, (discours, not histoire?
8. Positioning of the Spectator
A. How does the narrative position the spectator vis-à-vis the onscreen events and characters?
B. Are made to respond in certain ways to certain events (say, through music that "tells" us how to respond or distances us from the action)?
C. How are women portrayed? Are they primarily shown as passive objects of the male gaze?
D. Does the camera idolize/iconize them (through soft-focus, framing, etc.)?
9. Expression of Political Views
A. Does the narrative (as encapsulated in the sequence) express (indirectly) current political views?
B. Does the film sequence conform to, affirm or question dominant ideologies?
C. Does the filmmaker (unconsciously) subvert the expression of minority or non-conformist views by recourse to old visual cliches?
Mise en Scene/Staging
The filmmaker stages an event to be filmed. Thus, there are 3 main points to consider;
1. What is put in front of the camera (the staging, or mise en scene)?
2. How does the mise en scene comment on the story?
3. How does it visualize the main conflicts of the story?
This section is divided into the following;
1. Setting
2. Space
3. Lighting
1. Setting
A. On location or in the studio?
B. "Realistic" or Stylised?
C. Historical or Contemporary?
D. Do Props take on a symbolic function?
Are things like
· mirrors
· crosses,
· windows
· books accentuated?
Why? - How do sets and props comment on the narrative?
2. Space
A. Is the space
· Cluttered
· Empty
B. Does it express a certain atmosphere?
C. Is the design
· symmetrical
· asymmetrical
· balanced
· unbalanced
· stylised
· natural
· Open form: frame is de-emphasized, has a documentary "snapshot" quality;
· Closed form: frame is carefully composed, self-contained, and theatrical; the frame acts as a boundary and a limit.
D. Is space used as an indirect comment on a character's inner state of mind?
E. How is space used to signify?
3. Lighting
A. What is illuminated, what is in the shadow?
B. Lighting quality:
· Hard Lighting (bold shadows)
· Soft (diffused illumination)
C. Direction:
· Frontal lighting (flat image)
· Sidelighting (for dramatic effect)
· Backlighting (only the silhouetteis visible)
· Underlighting (from a fireplace, for example)
D. 'Realistic" or high contrast/symbolic lighting?
E. High key or low key?
F. Special lighting effects? (Cast shadows, spotlight).
G. Natural lighting or studio? (Hollywood has three light sources: key light, fill light, and backlight)
H. How does the lighting enhance the expressive potential of the film?
4. Acting and Choreography
A. What do appearance, gestures, fatal expressions, voice signify?
B. Professional actors or non-actors? -Why?
C. Movement of characters toward or away from the camera, from left to right or vice versa what does it suggest?
D. Do characters interact with each other through their gaze? Who looks at whom?
E. Grouping of characters before the camera; Is the spectator's view of characters
· clear
· obscured behind objects,
· isolated
· integrated,
· center
· off-center
· background
· foreground
F. How do acting and choreography attract and guide the viewer's attention (and manipulate his/her sympathies)? How do they;
· create suspense
· ambiguity
· wrong clues
· complexity
· and certainties?
5. Costume and MakeUp
A. "Realistic" or stylised/abstract?
B. Social and cultural coding what do the costumes signify
· status
· wealth
· attitude
· foreignness, etc )?
Cinematography
The filmmaker controls not only what is filmed but how it is filmed: how the staged, "pro-filmic" event is photographed and framed, how long the image lasts on the screen
1. Photography
1. Photography
A. Film Stock: What type of photographic film is used?
· Fast film stock to achieve grainy,high contrast look
· Tinting
· Over/underexposed
· Black and White
· Colour
· Symbolic useof colours
· Subjective use/ colours linked to certain characters
· Colours as leitmotif
B. Speed of Motion:
· "Normal" speed (24 frames per second for sound film; 16 for silent),
· Slow motion
· Accelerated motion
· Freeze fram
· Time-lapse (low shooting speed, one frame per minute; see the sun set in seconds)
C. Lens:
· wide-angle
· normal
· telephoto lens (depth reduced)
· zoom lens
D. Focus:
· Depth of field
· Shallow focus
· Deep focus (everything is in sharp focus)
· Racking focus (lens refocuses)
· Soft focus
· Special Effects
· glass shot
· superimposition
· projection process
E. How do all these photographic manipulations of the shot function within the overall content of the film? How do they shape the viewer's experience?
2. Camera/Framing
A. Angle/Level:
· high angle
· low angle
· straight-on angle
· eye-level shot
· oblique angle
· canted frame
B. Distance:
· extreme long shot
· long shot
· medium shot
· close-up
· extreme close-up
C. Movement (Mobile Framing):
· Pan horizontal "pan-orama" shot
· tilt up or down
· crane/aerial shot
· tracking(or dolly) shot; camera travels
· forward,
· backward,
· in various directions
D. How do camera movements function within films?
E. What information do we get about the space of the image?
F. Does camera always follow the action?
G. Continually new perspectives on the characters and the objects?
H. Subjective camera movement?
I. How does it relate to on-screen/off-screen space?
J. How does the camera interpret the action?
K. How does camera movement link characters with one another?
L. Duration: Long take/quick cutting - signifies?
K. Type of Shot:
· establishing shot
· point-of view shot
· reaction shot
· shot-counter shot
· flashback
Editing
Coordination of one shot with the next
1. Transition techniques
A. Gradual changes;
· Dissolve i.e.superimposition briefly one shot over the following
· Fade in or out (lighten or darken the image)
B. Cuts.
Instantaneous changes from one shot to another; abrupt shifts, disjunctions.
C. Does editing comment on the relationships between characters and spaces?
2. Purpose of Editing
· continuity editing
· thematic montage
· dialectical montage,
· cutting on motion
· "invisible", or seamless cutting
· shock cutting
· cross-cutting, (alternate shots of two or more lines of actions going on in different places).
3. Rhythm and Pace
· flowing
· jerky
· disjointed
· more panning shots than cuts?
· fast-paced
· slow-paced
· are there major changes in rhythm due to different editing? Why?
Sound
1. Music
1. Music
A. Diegetic or Non-diegetic?
· Diegetic: Where the source of the music is a part of the story
· Non-diegetic: To enhance the action within diegetic sound the source of the sound can be visible (on-screen) or outside the frame (off screen).
B. What kind of music:
· classical
· rock
· exotic
· familiar
· typical for the period depicted?
C. Does music comment (foreshadow or contradict) the action?
D. Does it irritate?
E. What is the music's purpose in a film?
F. How does it direct our attention within the image?
G. How does it shape our interpretation of the image?
2. Sound Effects
A. Artificial or natural sound
B. Is there subjective sound? What does it signify?
3. Dialogue/silence
A. Stilted or artificial language
B. Different characters use different kinds of language: eg. slang
C. Allusion to other text
D. Do certain characters speak through their silences?
4. Voice-over/Narration
A. Who is speaking and from where
B. Is voice over part of the action or (non-diegetically) outside of it?
C. What do they know and what is their relationship to the action; are they;
· reliable
· omniscient
· unreliable
5. Synchronization
A. Is sound matched with the image? Non-simultaneous sound? (for instance, reminiscing narrator or when sound from the next scene begins while the images of the last one are still on the screen. This is also called "sound bridge", used for transitions. - signifies?
