Film Analysis

Formal Elements of Film Analysis

Narrative Film The Essentials of Film Analysis

Imagetrack

Getting Started: Scenes vs. Sequences

(1) Camera Distance  the establishing shot  extreme long shot  long shot  medium long shot  full shot  medium close shot  close shot  close-up  extreme close-up

(2) Camera Angle  extreme low angle  low angle  normal camera height  high angle  bird’s eye view  Dutch angles

(3) Editing  Cut, fade out/in, dissolve and wipe

(4) Camera Movement  pan (swish pan)  tilt  tracking shot  crane shot

(5) Zoom, hand-held camera, Steadicam and static camera

(6) Lens Type  wide angle

(7) Lighting

 low and high key

(8) Deep focus

(9) Two diametrically opposed editing principles: Montage vs. the Long Take

(10) Parallel Editing / Cross cutting

(11) Time: Flash-forwards and Flashbacks

(12) Colour-coding (13) Tying everything up: Mise en scène—An image’s setting, subjects and composition. (14) DV = Digital video