SECTION C2A: Textual analysis and representation
- You will view and extract four times.
- You have 30 minutes to watch and make notes on the moving image extract and 45 minutes writing time.
- You are asked to analyse how technical aspects of the language and conventions of the moving image medium are used to create meaning for an audience:-
- Camera shots, angle, movement and composition:
- shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, point-of-view shot, over-the-shoulder shot, and variations of these
- angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle
- movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom
- composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls.
- Editing: This includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems:
- cutting: shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway, insert
- other transitions: dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.
- Sound:
- diegetic and non-diegetic sound, synchronous/asynchronous sound, sound effects, sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound mixing, sound perspective
- soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.
- Mise-en-scène:
- production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties
- lighting, colour design.
The ‘theory’ of textual analysis
Mise-en-scène is the starting point for analysis of ‘film as film’. The term was first used by critics in Les Cahiers du Cinéma, an influential French film journal, in the 1950s, and focuses on what can be seen in the picture:
- Production Design: sets, props and costumes
- Colour (present in both production design and lighting)
- Lighting
- Actors’ performance (including casting and make-up) and movement (blocking)
- Framing including position; depth of field; aspect ratio; height and angle (but not movement)
- Diegetic sound