Joker – People take desperate measures in order to improve their lives. (As seen with Arthur meeting Bruce Wayne in the hope that he will be accepted and loved as his brother).
Moonlight – Addiction can distance individuals from those close to them (which we see with the character of Paula, who grows further and further apart from her son due to her drug addiction).
•Narration/Unreliable Narrator – Voiceover that explains or describes the events of a film as the events happen on screen. An unreliable narrator is somebody who cannot be fully trusted to give a credible explanation.
•Backstory – The history or background of a character that explains to the audience why they do what they do in the narrative.
•Flashback/Flashforward – Scenes depicted prior to or after the main narrative of the film, usually interrupting the chronological sequencing.
•Linear/Non-Linear Narrative – A linear narrative takes place in timeline order/each event happening after another. A non-linear narrative happens out of chronological order, leaving the audience to figure out when each part takes place in the narrative.
•Ellipsis – omitting an event in the narrative through editing, allowing audiences to interpret what has happened between sequences.
•Framing Device – When the main narrative is surrounded by a secondary story, creating a ‘story within a story’
•Cliffhanger/Closed Endings – Ending the film with no definitive ending so that the conclusion of the narrative is open to interpretation.
•Macguffin – The plot device that sets a story into motion and drives the story forward.
•Foreshadowing – hinting/teasing events that happen later in the narrative before they happen.
•Alignment/POV – When spectators are placed in the position and perspective of the characters on screen.
•Causality – how each event leads into the next, progressing the story forward.
•In Media Res – Beginning in the middle of the narrative, as opposed to starting where the plot begins.
•Masterplot/Subplot – Extra narrative strands that recur parallel to the main plot, adding additional information or depth.
•Narrative Hook – An event grabbing the attention of the audience within the first 10-15 minutes of a film.
•Plot Twist – A sudden turning point in the narrative that alters the previous and future events.
Equilibrium (Todorov) – The stage of a narrative in which everything is at peace and characters haven’t faced any kind of disruption.
Binary Opposites (Levi-Strauss) – Narratives contain opposing main characters (e.g. good/evil, comedic/serious etc)
Character Types (Propp) – seven main characters exist in a narrative, those being:
Hero’s Journey (Vogler/Campbell) – narratives involve a structure consisting of several stages (such as call to adventure, transformation, return)
Narrative Codes (Barthes) – “all narratives share structural features that each narrative weaves together in different ways” :
Hermeneutic Codes – When a writer deliberately withholds information from the audience to leave a plot point unexplained
Proairetic codes – plot points which are caused by previous events and lead to other actions.
Semantic Codes – Rather than simply working on a denotational level, signs carried connotations beyond their basic definition and gave the reader a little more insight to the characters, setting and plot.
Symbolic Codes – thematic or structural devices.
Cultural Codes – Many stories allude to concepts and ideas that exist outside the text. In order for these signifiers to be decoded fully by the audience, that information needs to be part of our framework of knowledge.
The story/chain of events being told throughout a film and how it is presented to spectators (e.g. linear/timeline order vs non linear/out of timeline order).
Realist – The visual elements of This is England takes a documentary-style approach, this can be seen by Shane Meadows choosing not to colour grade the scenes and instead leaving them natural.
Expressionism – The narrative flow is interrupted in Joker when it is made clear that Arthur’s relationship with his neighbour was simply a figment of his imagination. This is emphasised by the cross cutting between the pair and the same scene but with Arthur alone.
Eisenstein combines these in Strike, as seen in the sixth part, during the intellectual montage in which the cow and workers are simultaneously killed, creating a visual metaphor in order to make the point that workers are exploited by the workplace and are gotten rid of once they’re no longer needed.
Intellectual Montage
The cutting between the slaughter of the cow and the death of the workers makes Eisenstein’s point of comparing Russian workers to animals being exploited for labour purposes and killed once they are no longer of use.
Metric Montage
As one of the workers plummets to his death, the fall is condensed down to three shots, each lasting the same length. We see the man drop from the platform, someone attempting to grab him, and his death.
Rhythmic Montage
When the child is dropped and killed, we see him fall from a variety of different angles back to back, keeping the editing in continuity.
Tonal Montage
The cutting between the interior and exterior of the building connect to show the fear and panic of the workers, whether it be the dread of being killed by the military or being trapped alone.
Over-tonal Montage
When the worker attacks the leader of the company, cuts happen between every action, and as the man slams his hand down on the table, ink spills out onto the map, possibly representing the blood of the workers that are about to be killed. The spilling of the ink happens while the shareholders react to the worker’s outburst.
Film 4: Til Death do us Part/Hasta que la muerte nos separe
| What did you like about the film? – The plot, the tracking shots, the performances, the one location throughout the whole short. | What didn’t you like? – The film seemed to drag out slightly towards the end. |
| What ideas could you use? Narrative or style? – Tracking shots, anger/revenge in the plot. | What ideas won’t you use? Why? – The setting of a wedding venue since it doesn’t apply to any storylines I plan to use. |
In-Depth study: All elements
| Feature | Example |
| Narrative structure | The film follows a linear narrative, and the only event not seen by the audience is the ambulance arriving (the woman getting thrown into the mirror cuts into her getting treated). |
| Establishing characters, setting, plot, theme | The entrance of the main characters immediately tells the audience that the two have just gotten married through their outfits, the music and the cheering of the wedding guests. |
| Mise-en-scene | The mirror is used to show the audience the wife’s devastated reaction to the woman answering the phone, making it clear that her husband has a personal relationship with her. |
| Cinematography | As the wife stands alone after calling the woman, we see her watching the woman from a distance while the guests in the frame have their attention elsewhere, connoting that only she knows about her husband’s affair. |
| Editing | The film cross-cuts between the wife and the chef on the roof, and the husband searching the building for her. |
| Sound | The opening scene consists fully of diegetic sound, from the dj speaking and the music playing to the clapping and cheering of the guests. |
Cinematography Example
Film 3: Bombita
| What did you like about the film? – The narrative, the convincing performances, the use of visual motifs. | What didn’t you like? – The sudden change of public opinion towards the man at the end, since we see beforehand that he is portrayed negatively in newspapers, which led to him losing his job. |
| What ideas could you use? Narrative or style? – the use of visual motifs, sympathetic and unsympathetic characters. | What ideas won’t you use? Why? – Visual Effects like explosions – too over the top and exaggerated. |
In-Depth study: All elements
| Feature | Example |
| Narrative structure | The events that occur back to back (e.g. the man missing his daughter’s birthday because he had to pay to get his car back, then getting stuck in traffic) are intended to build up the man’s anger with the corrupt system until he eventually reaches breaking point. |
| Establishing characters, setting, plot, theme | The very first event of the short is the protagonist taking part in the detonation of a building, showing the audience what his profession is and foreshadowing the eventual explosion of his car. |
| Mise-en-scene | As the car explodes, we see that the car park of towed cars is almost full. This implies that many others have suffered the same way the man has, hence why he is seen as a hero at the end of the film. |
| Cinematography | An extra long shot is used as the man walks up the office hallway to speak to the receptionist. The frame is empty besides the man and the building, suggesting his lack of support throughout the film. |
| Editing | A shot/reverse shot is used during the conversation between the man and the worker asking him to pay his fine. This builds suspense as the man grows more and more agitated while the employee remains calm. |
| Sound | As the man smashes a fire extinguisher against the glass barrier, some of the people behind him can be heard cheering. This too foreshadows his eventual reputation as a hero of the people. |
Cinematography Example
1. Intellectual Montage – Creed (2015) Directed by Ryan Coogler – In this montage, after Adonis has been knocked down by Ricky Conlan, there are constant cuts between his unresponsive self, Rocky shouting from his corner, his mum watching from home, and eventually archive footage of Apollo Creed, which prompts him to get up from the floor. This is effective as it shows how Adonis is motivated by not only the people around him, but also the idea of living up to his dad’s legacy and reputation.
2. Metric Montage – Punch-Drunk Love (2002) Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson – In this scene, Barry confronts the men that have just crashed into his car in order to threaten him. Each shot cuts to the action of the scene, such as Barry buttoning up his suit or smashing the window of the vehicle. The intention here may to be highlight the fact that Barry’s character has been established as extremely anxious, although with a temper, and so as he is fighting back, everything is moving very quickly and unexpectedly.
3. Rhythmic Montage – La La Land (2016) Directed by Damien Chazelle – Similarly to Chazelle’s previous film Whiplash, this scene cuts between vocals, drums, keyboards and even the cheering of fans as the audience hear those specific sounds emphasised.
Dura Lex (1926) Directed by Lev Kuleshov
Zvenigora (1928) directed by Alexander Dovzhenko
The General Line (1929) directed by Sergei Eisenstein
