Part 1: Brief Reference 

What did you like about the film?  The concept was good, there was some very cinematic and beautiful stills	What didn’t you like?  There is a plot hole – how did his murderer travel back in time if they needed the main character to travel in time? Still images were jarring
What ideas could you use? Narrative or style? The use of dissolves was creative, improvising with props was nice. I liked the time travel element.	What ideas won’t you use? Why?  Really predictable ending, I definitely won’t use still images. I think they could have gotten more out of the time travel

Part 2: In-Depth Study – Narrative 

Narrative Feature	Example	Your own example
Establishing protagonist – what information do we find out? How is it conveyed?	Introduced only in narration – first in third person as “a man marked by an image”; then in first person -memory of incident at the airport. We don’t see him until the first experiment is shown. This shows how core the act of remembering is to his identity – indeed we find out very little about him (he remains nameless) apart from his ‘remembering’ (even when he is travelling in time).	Only talked about in 3rd person. No name given. First seen a full six minutes into the film. No name conveys a more “guinea pig” character. We are shown no backstory apart from this memory, and the only hint to a past for this character is when he is asked about his “combat necklace” from time as a soldier, as well as being referred to as a “prisoner” (though the German whispers of the scientists suggests Frace lost the war and was taken over by another country) Despite not appearing till later, the film opens with the man’s childhood memory at the airport, which is the focus of the action that takes place later.
Establishing other characters – what information do we find out? How is it conveyed?	The Woman is the first person we see (“the only image to survive the war”) – and she is defined only by the fact the narrator remembers her. Feminist critics may comment on the fact she barely seems to exist outside the experiences of the narrator and her growing belief in him.	The woman is the first character shown, as part of The Man’s memory. Then we are shown the scientists and other guinea pigs, creating the setting for the films “present”, all before seeing the main character. The “future” humans are distinguished with a dot on their forehead.
Establishing location (time and place) – what information do we find out? How is it conveyed?	We are told immediately that the location is Paris. The bombed out wreckage of the city (real WW2 images) don’t immediately establish that this is the future until the narrator mentions radiation. The underground location beneath the Palais de Chaillot is shown by intercut images of broken cherubs and other sculptures.	The setting is told to the audience to be Paris in the third line of the film, and the inventive scene showing the bombing of Paris through whiting out portions of the skyline tells the audience of the post-apocalyptic setting. The tunnels underneath Paris form the majority of the “present” setting.
Creating Enigmas – what are they? How are they created?	The image the narrator obsesses over is the central enigma: who is the man he witnesses dying? How does he die? Who is the woman? The still images and voiceover powerfully evoke the nature of memory.	The main enigma presented by the film is the memory of the main character that allows him to travel through time, which is slowly answered by introducing the character if The Woman as a central character and the ending revealing that the whole plot was leading up to creating the memory The Man saw which allows him to time travel
Narrative binary oppositions	The ‘Living Present’ vs Past/Future. As the film progresses, what constitutes the ‘present’ (for the protagonist) seems to shift from his dystopian subterranean society to the ‘past’ of pre-apocalypse Paris. This is conveyed by the faster rhythm of the montage and the sequence (18:00-18:49) where the images almost become like traditional cinema.	The predatory and cruel “present” contrasts with the kind past and future. While the “present” is confined in small tunnels and are always claustrophobic scenes filled with darkness, with shadows or sunglasses obscuring the scientists faces, the past is bright and sun lit and open and the future is wide and the people show their faces clearly, and in both times The Man is treated with kindness
Crisis – how was this conveyed?	Is it the first experiment? The moment the man spots the woman from the airport? Or is it when the future society offers him the chance to escape to the future?	The crisis point is when the man is to be executed, which is when he makes the choice to use the Future People’s offer to go back in time to the airport to see The Woman again, which leads to one of the Scientists shooting him at the airport, which his child-self witnesses, allowing the plot to happen
Resolution – is it closed or open narrative?	The narrative is closed – but it is also in a loop: the narrator is both the dying man and the child watching the scene. This ‘time paradox’ has inspired films as diverse as The Terminator and Looper (as well as 12 Monkeys which is almost a remake).	The narrative is closed in a way that means The Man will relive the plot over and over again, repeatedly witnessing his death and going back in time to be there to be killed.

Part 3: Meaning and Effect 

What did you think was the intention of the filmmaker(s)? Intellectual message? Emotional response?  The film gives the idea of being trapped in one’s past: always preferring life in the past to the present. It also gives the idea of being afraid of the future or what might come, choosing to live in nostalgia rather than giving in and going on to your own future. It says that no matter what opportunities life presents them with, people will choose to trap themselves in the past.

How was this achieved? Your own idea: The collection of stills creates an idea of a fading memory, only recounting a story in still images.  The photographs also create an idea of being frozen in time, trapped in moments rather than “moving” along. The only moving image in the film being from the woman, who is symbolic of the main character’s link to the past, also shows this idea of remembering the past more fondly than anticipating the future.

Aesthetic binary oppositions The naturalistic representation of the past greatly contrasts with the more interpretive, symbolic representation of the future society

Effect of these oppositions? Your example: This contrast contributes to the main character’s preferable view of the past.

Inspirations – what ideas did this film give you for your own short film? 

Establishing characters, setting, plot, theme The film manages to do a lot on a low budget, which is admirable	Creating enigmas I liked opening the movie with a mystery to have it resolved at the end
Narrative structure (non-/linear? Open/ closed ending?) Opening the movie with the ending with a lot of information absent and then filling in the information at the end was a cool concept	Striking use of technical features The transitions between images were artistic

La Jetée (Marker, Korea, 1962) – Analysis Sheet for Evaluative Commentary

Part 1: Brief Reference

What did you like about the film? I like the film because there was a narration over the top allowing you to see the emotions and facial expression of the actors and actress, although the imaging was still shot images, it didn’t always feel like it, which was conveyed through dissolves.	What didn’t you like? Although I like some of the still image shots, some of it felt very repetitive, making the story feel very hard to follow along with and keep up with it. Some moments of the plot were hard to follow along, making the story quite confusing.
What ideas could you use? Narrative or style? I might use a narration to help introduce my film.	What ideas won’t you use? Why? I don’t think my film will be in all still shots as I think it doesn’t convey the whole story.

Part 2: In-Depth Study – Narrative

Narrative Feature	Example	Your own example
Establishing protagonist – what information do we find out? How is it conveyed?	Introduced only in narration – first in third person as “a man marked by an image”; then in first person -memory of incident at the airport. We don’t see him until the first experiment is shown. This shows how core the act of remembering is to his identity – indeed we find out very little about him (he remains nameless) apart from his ‘remembering’ (even when he is travelling in time).	There is an image of a young boy alongside two grownups (possibly parents), this could convey the young boy watching the scene and not seeing his face leaves a sense of mystery. Using text at 1:35 describes the emotion of what the protagonist felt without seeing an actual image of him. “The violence scene that upset him” this shows that the death and the scene caused him sadness and impacted him quite a lot.
Establishing other characters – what information do we find out? How is it conveyed?	The Woman is the first person we see (“the only image to survive the war”) – and she is defined only by the fact the narrator remembers her. Feminist critics may comment on the fact she barely seems to exist outside the experiences of the narrator and her growing belief in him.	There is a lot of mid shots of the scientist, there is a few close-up shots of the scientist showing their important status in the film. There are also some low angles shot showing that they are in control and leaders and are the ones controlling the time travelling.
Establishing location (time and place) – what information do we find out? How is it conveyed?	We were told immediately that the location was in Paris. The bombed-out wreckage of the city (real WW2 images) doesn’t immediately establish that this is the future until the narrator mentions radiation. The underground location beneath the Palais de Chaillot is shown by intercut images of broken cherubs and other sculptures.	There are many locations shot in Gardens exploring the romantic theme of the film, this also shows the peace and calm life before bombing and war
Creating Enigmas – what are they? How are they created?	The image the narrator obsesses over is the central enigma: who is the man he witnesses dying? How does he die? Who is the woman? The still images and voiceover powerfully evoke the nature of memory.	What other questions are posed throughout the narrative?  Why were the protagonists chosen to time travel? What is the significance of the women? Why did parents take their children to watch planes on Sunday morning? Were the women a decoy for the scientist to kill the man?
Narrative binary oppositions	The ‘Living Present’ vs Past/Future. As the film progresses, what constitutes the ‘present’ (for the protagonist) seems to shift from his dystopian subterranean society to the ‘past’ of pre-apocalypse Paris. This is conveyed by the faster rhythm of the montage and the sequence (18:00-18:49) where the images almost become like traditional cinema.	Men vs women – the women are represented as an interest to the man but also appears at the end of the film to look like a decoy for the scientists to kill the protagonists.
Crisis – how was this conveyed?	Is it the first experiment? The moment the man spots the woman from the airport? Or is it when the future society offers him the chance to escape to the future?	What do you think is the crisis point? How does this affect the rest of the narrative? I think the crisis point is the first experiment because that is the time when things change for the man, and he isn’t really his normal sense.
Resolution – is it closed or open narrative?	The narrative is closed – but it is also in a loop: the narrator is both the dying man and the child watching the scene. This ‘time paradox’ has inspired films as diverse as The Terminator and Looper (as well as 12 Monkeys which is almost a remake).	What do you think about the end? Is it closed – or endlessly circular? I think the ending is closed, as the man has seen the future and has been in the past and present so therefore there is an ending to the film.

Part 3: Meaning and Effect

What did you think was the intention of the filmmaker(s)? Intellectual message? Emotional response? Everyone is trapped in their time – they cannot escape it, even through memory. It is also about concept of photography and cinema itself, trying to ‘freeze’ time with images despite time always being in motion.

How was this achieved? The use of photomontage separates each frame of the story into a frozen image – even though these are joined together using traditional narrative film techniques such as voiceover, dissolves, fades and music. As the man begins to ‘live’ more and more in the ‘past’ with his lover, the space between these frames speeds up to resemble ‘motion picture’ speed at one point. The stuffed animals in the museum are also ‘frozen’ in a single moment.

Aesthetic binary oppositions The use of still photo images are combined with traditional narrative cinematic techniques that bring them ‘to life’… until the moment around 18:00 when they flow together.

Effect of these oppositions? Shows the intensity of emotion the narrator feels with his lover: like he is finally ‘living’ in moving time rather than a series of frozen, separated moments.

Inspirations – what ideas did this film give you for your own short film?

Establishing characters, setting, plot, theme   I really liked the setting of the film and the minimalistic look, it felt very powerful but also very simple. I really liked the plot of not knowing some of character and the reveal of the ending was really good and interesting to watch.	Creating enigmas   I really liked the enigma of not knowing who the man was at the start, it really made the film worth watching as this enigma pulled me as the audience and spectator to continue watching the film.
Narrative structure (non-/linear? Open/ closed ending?)   I really liked the use of non linear narrative. The nonlinear narrative helped develop the character which resulted in in-depth emotional involvement of the audience.	Striking use of technical features   The use of singular image put together, creates greater involvement for the viewer, after a while the use of singular images felt like it had merged into actual videos as you got used to the shots.