Film analysis Film analysis (W. Faulstich)(W. Faulstich)

1. Basic model

1.1. What ? plot1.2. Who ? characters1.3. How ? camera, editing

sound/music, light/colours

1.4. Why ? message

2. Plot analysis

• story: the facts in chronological order plot: how is the story told, causal

connections (E.M. Forster)

• sometimes frame story• narrated time narration time time leaps: flashbacks,

flash-forwards summary: events are summed up stretching of certain events

• Classical five-acts-structure (Aristotle): exposition: basic situation is presented

complication: a problem arises

crisis (peripetie): turning point

retarding elements: slowing down the

solution

solution: - happy ending in comedies

- catastrophy in tragedies

3. Character analysis

a) Questions to be considered:• main character minor character• protagonist ‡ hero• pairing of characters (e.g. Laurel + Hardy)

• constellation of characters, e.g.

husband-wife, boss-employee, teacher-pupil...

• roles in certain film genres, e.g.

Cowboy, Indian, romantic lover, cruel father...

• stars and their types , e.g. S. Stallone = Rambo

b) Different kinds of characterization:

• auto-characterization by the character: implicit: clothes, facial expressions, gestures, way of

talking, behaviour explicit: what a character says about himself

• explicit characterization by other characters

• implicit characterization by the narrator/director:

field sizes, point of view, camera angles, lighting, music...

c) Different kinds of characters:

• one-dimensional / flat / static characters: only one/few characteristics are shown, no development

• multidimensional / round / dynamic characters: the character is shown as a complicated, sometimes even

contradictory human being with qualities and faults,

the character learns and changes