Film Analysis

As part of your advanced portfolio you need to analyse a range of film material and show you understand purpose, technique and effect. The following task can be applied to a film of your choice and you can complete all the questions or discuss with your teacher which sections would most enhance your portfolio.

The following questions are best applied to an opening sequence.

 

REPRESENTATION (representation explained here)

Not all of the below will be relevant to your opening sequence.

 

  • WHERE is being represented?
    • How is it being represented?

 

  • Is it a positive or negative representation?

 

  • How is this created?

 

  • WHO is being represented?

 

  • Do we have a “hero”?

 

  • How do we know he is the hero?

 

  • Does he fit all of our established ideas of what a hero in a film should be?

 

  • If yes, what are these: if no, what is there in the text which makes him unsatisfactory as a hero?

 

  • How are women represented?

 

  • How is the future represented?

 

  • Can you notice any other social groups or places which are represented?

 

  • How are these representations constructed?

 

MEDIA LANGUAGE

 

Made up of lighting, camera work, editing, sound, mise-en-scene

The link below offers explanations on a range of film content:

http://collegefilmandmediastudies.com/mise-en-scene-2/

 

Lighting (look at the lighting section on this link- in fact read the whole page as it all useful stuff.)

 

  • What is the lighting like?

 

  • What is the effect of this on the text?

 

  • What is the effect of this on the audience?

 

Camera Work

 

  • What do you notice about the camera work?

 

  • Does it conform to your expectations of a major feature (fictional) film?

 

  • Is there anything you think is done differently?

 

  • Why have the camera shots been chosen?

 

Editing

  • What kind of editing can you recognise?

 

  • What does this do to the text?

 

  • Does it change the pace at all through the clip?

Sound

  • What do you notice in particular about the way sound has been constructed in this clip?

 

  • Why do you think these choices have been made by the directors?

 

Mise-en-scene (everything you see in the scene):

  • How have the locations been created? What do the locations/costume/props tell us about the narrative?

 

  • What in them suggests time / location / situation to the audience? Why is this significant?

 

GENRE

 

  • What type of film do you think this is, from the clip you’ve been shown?

 

  • You may well think it falls under a number of types (genres)

 

  • What is there in this text which you could use to support each of these assumptions of genre?

 

  • e. How are these genres created / communicated in this clip?

NARRATIVE

  • What do you notice about the narrative structure of this clip?

 

  • This is the opening of the film.

 

  • What does it do which fulfils your expectations of what the opening of a film “should” be like / include in terms of narrative.

 

  • Does it do anything different in terms of narrative structure?

AUDIENCE

  • Which audiences do you think are being targeted to watch this film?

 

You might want to segment these audiences by:

 

  • Age

 

  • Gender

 

  • Lifestyle / lifestage

 

  • Financial situation

 

  • From this clip, what is there to attract these different audiences?

 

VALUES AND IDEOLOGIES

 

  • What kind of messages does this text seem to be giving to its audiences?

 

  • Do you think the film makers are trying to give the audiences messages about current issues?

 

  • If so, which, and what is their message?

 

  • How do you know this from this clip?

 

INSTITUTION

 

  • This film was made by what kind of studio?

 

  • How might this affect the film content?

 

  • How might this affect audience appeal?