2.5: Demonstrate
understanding of
narrative
conventions in
media texts within a
medium
Narrative
The conventions have evolved in the hundred year plus history
of the film and movie industry. To understand the conventions
we need to know the history of film.
Narrative
All media texts tell stories. The use of an image can convey much
within a greater story.
What does this still from Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant (1915) tell
you? What are meant to think about these people? How do you
know?
Film Narrative
» The first audience to
experience a moving film
did so in 1895. The film, by
the Lumiere brothers was
called “Workers leaving
the Lumiere Factory
(1895)”
» Their film “Train Entering
the Gare de Ciotat
(1895)” caused people to
faint with fear as the train
loomed from the screen
into the theatre
auditorium.
» These films did not carry a
story or narrative - they
merely showed a moving
image on the screen.
Film Narrative
A colourised still of the Train
Entering the Gare de Ciotat
Station.
Playing petanque (1895)
» August (1862-1954) & Louis
(1864-1948) Lumiere
Film Narrative - Melies
» Realising the potential of a
good story George Melies
( 1861-1938) utilised film to
create fantastic stories
that took his characters
and audiences to the
moon and beyond.
Melies
Melies used special effects to create fantastic spectacles in his films
The changing process of cinema.
Melies appears in his own film observing the action
through the set window.
The changing process of cinema
»
»
1.
2.
3.
4.
The changes in film process
involve several factors.
George Huaco indentifies
four factors:
Current events &
achievements. (political
climate)
The creativity of the filmmakers who influenced the
team of crafts-people
involed in the films.
The technical
developments that could
be exploited.
The capacity of a sufficient
audience to appreciate
the results.
Changing process of cinema
»
»
»
»
The division between film and
movie creates two views of quality
and purpose.
MOVIES = This is a commercial
differentiation = popular
entertainment with a mass
circulation of copies of the movie.
The audience being largely
passive.
. The product of an industry
dominated by the producer
(money) in which there is no
individual film-maker but a team
under the producer’s control. (The
studio system.) The director is hired
to create the movie from the script.
The final version is, however, the
responsibility of the Producer and
Editor.
The director of a movie is known as:
metteur en scene = an interpreter
of a score / script.
Changing process of cinema
»
»
»
»
The Film on the other hand is an
individual creation. Often defined as
being where a limited number of copies
are in circulation - probably no more
than five - at any one time.
Film demands the audience to be
actively involved in the experience. It
makes demands on its audience and is
seen to be the personal statement of an
artist, film-maker or realisateur.
The United Artists Company was set up
by the actors who felt the demands of
the studio were limiting their ability to
make films that had personal meaning.
Note: Movie is a phenomena of the
USA. Film is a European phenomena.
Progressions - The Silent Film
»
»
Film makers experimented with the use of the camera to develop
new techniques that would enhance their ability to tell a story.
1913: Giovanni Pastrone (Cabiria) moved his camera laterally
and slightly above the level of the forreground thus changing the
perspective of the audience from that they’d previously had in
the Luniere films.
» 1923: Carl Mayer directing Last Laugh for F.W.Murnau
proposed a forward movement of the camera at
dramatic moments as if to thrust the audience into the
action.
Progressions - The Silent Film
Early film-makers often filmed theatre (le film d’art) which
produced a theatre without voice or depth. This failed to
entertain and was replaced with naturalist film - the film of
people in their streets and houses.
The exaggeration of performance was out of place in such
films but underplaying was inexpressive when the actor was
far enough away to be seen at full height as dictated by le film
d’art. This style also dictated that actors did not cross the line
marked on the stage. The line showed the point at which the
actor could be seen full size.
Progressions - The Silent Film
To overcome the problem of “under-playing” the camera was moved
closer to the actor which thus accentuated the actor’s personality.
The technique also changed the audience’s perspective of the action by:
•Shifting within a scene.
•Fragmentation of the field of view.
•Changing the rhythm and tempo of the action.
•The use of montage - the juxtaposition of picture against picture during
editing for aesthetic or intellectual reason.
•Other changes came about with the improvement of film stock. Early
stock made red look black which meant that skin tones were rendered
black. The only way around this was for the actors to wear thick creamwhite makeup which meant that subtle facial expressions were lost thus
forcing the actors to “exaggerate” their facial movements to convey an
emotion.
Progressions - The Silent Film
The great artists of the silent
film are:
•Max Linder (1883-1925)
•D.W.Griffith ( 1875-1948)
•Charles Chaplin (1889- 1977)
•S.M.Eisenstein (1898 - 1948 )
•Victor Sjostrom (1879-1960)
•G.W.Pabst (1885-1967)
•F.W.Murnau.(1888-1931 )
All of whom grew up in the
theatre but found greater
satisfaction in the silent film.
Progressions - The Silent Film
The man who exploited this change was D.W. Griffith (18751948. USA) whose film “The Birth of a Nation (1914) created
an explosive examination of the development of the American
nation from the Civil War.
The films until then were
narrative and anecdotal this
followed several threads of
narrative - the friendly families
in the North & South, political
events in Washington, warfare
with friends in opposite camps,
exploitation of the South, white
& black, carpet baggers from
the North and the rise of the Ku
Klux Klan.
Progressions- The Silent Film
Scenes from The Birth of a Nation (1914)
{cost:$110,000. Profit: $20 million.)
One of Griffith’s techniques was developed to show war scenes - He kept one
group of combatants on one and the same side of the screen and the opposing
forces on the other thus ensuring clarity of understanding by the audience.
Progressions - The Silent Film
Despite improvements in film-stock Griffith had problems with
his female actors.
The early film could make a pleasing photographic image only
with smooth open-faced teenagers.Thus the actresses were all
15 year olds. They had to pad themselves to appear adult.
An actress was a “femme fatale” by 18, a character actress at
25 and a grandmother at 40.
Adult performances were beyond the reach of young actresses
so only the surface of things could be explored - leading to
melodramatic acting.
Progressions - The Silent Film
Griffith’s success was also his undoing. His films - Intolerance The Mother & The Law and The Fall of Babylon put him into
debt. As a result Financiers ceased to regard the film-makers as
the king-pins of production and decided to build up the film-star in
their place - to put control in the hands of the producer, aided by
his team of organisers and writers. (The Hollywood system).
This favoured the movie over the film and reduced the risk for the
banks.
It also meant that the actor was out of place in the movie world as
his / her versatility would make them unrecognisable and
therefore valueless commercially.
But they also introduced the langage (french = way of speaking)
of the film- long shot / mid shot/ close-up and their
variations.These terms allowed the editor to construct a movie or
film to produce identified reactions from the audience.
Progressions - The Silent Film
Intolerance and The Birth of a Nation reached Russia and
served to inspire Sergei Eisenstein - the great Russian film-maker.
He became involved with film in 1924 with a film called Strike.
His techniques included developing the use of a detail of
a scene to symbolise a greater concept or “truth”.
He also experimented with montage, a technique born of
necessity as film negative was initially in short supply in
post revolution Russia..
Eisenstein also used shock tactics in the selection of his
material to confront his audience with images of such
symbolic content that they had to become involved in
the film.
Consider these clips from The Battleship Potemkin for
these narrative conventions.
Progressions - The Silent Film
Progressions - The Silent Film
Progressions - The Silent Film
Eisenstein is known for his pursuit of persuasion through
generalisation and symbolism which evolved intoi the documentary
film.
The Odessa steps sequence from the previous slide is a symbolic
construct rather than reality.
The height and length of the steps and the speed of the soldiers’
descent would show that Eisenstein expanded the length of time
taken by a factor of 4. By intercutting between the faces of the
people, the soldiers’ steps and actions, the pram and its contents,
and the general movement of the crowd on the steps.
Progressions - The Silent Film
Progressions - The Silent Film
»
Robert Flaherty (1884-1951)
introduced an innovation
that revolutionised film as
much as the later
introduction of sound. He
was making a film (Moana)
using orthochromatic film as
well as experimenting with a
new colour process called
Prizmacolor. Orthochromatic
film mmade the Polynesians
look negroid. The colour
camera broke so Flaherty
experimented with the
panchromatic film used for
Prizmacolor in the B/W
camera resulting in a
beautiful image that made
him abandon the colour
filming and film Moana in
panchromatic b/w.
Nanook of the
North.(1922)
Orthochromatic
film
Moana (1926)
filmed in
panchromatic
film.
Progressions - The Silent Film
»
»
F.W.Marnau (1888-1931) influenced the film
making process with the introduction of the
design tool - the storyboard. This is a script
visualised by drawings of every basic change
of camera angles in the film.
Marnau was influenced by the swing to the
right in Germany post W/W I where business
took advantage of the high inflation rate to
mass produce films at cheap rates.
Progressions - The Silent Film
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»
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The storyboard design focus introduced
techniques like “visual punning” that (e.g)
involved showing the passage of time by
tracking towards a candle flame then
dissolving into a lighted gas jet or electric bulb
from which they would track away to the next
sequence of the story.
This technique was replaced by nouvelle
vague that introduced jump cuts to show or
allow the passage of time and space.
This was known as “kultur-film” in Germany.
World War I signaled the advance of the
movie from the USA. This was because while
Europe was fighting a four year long war,
costing 10 million dead, the Americans only
fought for six months at a cost of 115,000
dead. The 10 years of prosperity in the USA
allowed the industry to gain dominance.
Progressions - The Silent Film
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Interesting asides:
Post W/WI the cult of following the film star trend
developed: e.g. The singlet began to disappear
once the film star removed his shirt to reveal a bare
torso, the use of the safety razor in film signaled the
end of the cut throat razor.
The distortion of body shape caused by the cinema
screen and the positioning of the audience in the
theatre lead to the perception that slim is beautiful.
Marlene Dietrich started the trend for women to
wear trousers when she wore them on screen.
“Quota Quickies” (6000 ft films) appeared when the
UK Government attempted to boost the UK film
industry by setting a 5% quota on US films. The US
industry responded by making these cheap films in
the UK to get around the quota limit. These films
were often badly made but did encourage filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock and John Grierson
(Empire Marketing Board).
Progressions - The Silent Film
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»
Interesting asides:
European film actors were forced to move to the
USA to get access to longer, more involved movies.
The lack of sound track proved a limitation to film as
the development of character or comment could
not be properly exploited. This meant that the two
forms of film / movie that were able to exploit the
industry were Westerns and Comedies as they were
often made away from the Studio and were able to
tell their stories in an original fashion without
complex complications of plot. It is in this medium
that Charlie Chaplin began his career along with
such greats as: Buster Keaton, Harold Llyod, Harry
Langdon and W.C. Fields.
The silent comedy gave birth to avant garde
cinema - with a focus on the original and unusual.
This interest sparked the development of the Film
Society (1920 Canudo and 1922 Delluc in Paris, 1925
- Ivor Montagu in London.) This mobement
encouraged the development of the short film. (less
than 60 minute film)
Progressions - The Silent Film
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»
»
The end of silent film came as the audiences
demanded depth of characterisation, of plot and,
consequently, more than comedy as film fare.
Sound, however, was introduced as a publicity stunt.
An effort to bring the audience back to the theatre.
The producers did not believe sound had a future
because no one could see how to solve the
problem of language translation- Silent film could
just drop in an inter-title in the appropriate language
very cheaply.
Silent Movies
The Advent of Sound
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»
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Sound and film were slow to
accommodate each other.
Sound technology was
clumsy and difficult to link to
the speed of the film.
Sound made it difficult to film
in the open air, to film
without interfering with
lighting, without interfering
with the way the actors
spoke and with the number
of cameras able to be used.
Sound forced film to adapt
and develop new narrative
techniques.
Sound
»
»
»
»
Improvements:
Restoring the single camera
with scene lit and recorded
from a single viewpoint allowing perspective into
sound recording as the
microphone and camera
could be moved together.
Development of the mixed
sound track (1932) allowed
synchronisation of dialogue
and image.
Also provided for aural
differentiations: sound close
ups, distant sound, Sound
effects, music.
Sound
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Effects:
Sound in unison with image
creates tempo changes.
Climaxes can be signaled by
increasing the music tempo and
cutting the duration of the
images by several %s.
Studios developed techniques
like back projection to allow
sound to be recorded while
giving the appearance of being
filmed out doors or in a moving
vehicle.
Sound enhanced the effect of
the montage to compress and
direct the story line. The French
called this aural / visual montage
fragmentation.
Sound
»
»
»
Sound also changed the way a
film was scripted. From long
action sequences to dialogue
sequences to achieve dramatic
effect.
Scripts were formated like:
Visual
Dialogue
Shots and
duration of
What the
actors say
Exterior and interior work began
to be filmed separately along
with the “plates” for back
projection use. Thus making
the “team” more important in
movie making.
Sound
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Notes:
Initially early sound film
used a square image
(aspect ratio) shape
around 3 x3.5 because
the sound track took
up a % of the 3 x 4
frame used in silent
film.
1932 Hollywood
introduced a masking
of the top and bottom
of the frame to restore
the older aspect ratio
This allowed the viewer
to see the action within
a more natural
perspective / focal
depth..
Sound
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Historical events and the
sound film.
The depression (1929-35)
encouraged the
development of the
conventions of the
gangster movie (the
urban western ) and
comedies that saw
ordinary folk standing up
against corrupt big
business.
World War II encouraged
the development of the
propaganda film and
again helped the USA
gain dominance of the
movie making business.
The impact of the
technology is seen in
Citizen Kane (Oson Welles
1941)
Modern Sound Film
Modern Sound Film
» The modern phase of film
making is a development
of the technologies
available, the influence of
commerce, sophistication
of the audiences, and the
advent of neo-realism in
film- making.
»
»
Aspect ratio has moved to
2.35:1 on 35mm film and 2.2:1
on 70mm film. To allow the
audience to see the whole
screen without having it cut
by the balcony.
The invention of a wide angle
lens (anamorphic lens)
allowed cameras to see in
180o Coupled with improved
film stock which gave a
better depth of focus filmmakers could develop new
ways to tell their stories.
Modern Sound Film
»
»
The effect of wide screens is
to force the audience to
make decisions about events
for themselves as they are
exposed to more information
than the older, more
traditional aspect ratios
allowed. This means that the
plan-sequence of the script is
even more important.
The modern film also allows
the film-maker to “tame”
time. By manipulating past
and present into the present
of the film.
»
»
Film becomes more
introspective. Often
manipulating fact and
fantasy within the scenes.
(Fellini. La Dolce Vita ) The
centre for such films being
European.
Movies become more action
orientated and special
effects dominated. The
centre for such films being
American.
Sound
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Post World War II Effects on
Film making were:
A rejection of the American
formula film by European
audiences who demanded
realism rather than artificial
surroundings and situations.
Political events arising from
W.W II - the film industry had
supported the Allies (Soviet
Union & UK)against
Germany. The withdrawal of
Russia post war allowed the
rise of McCarthyism in the
USA. Film makers were
accused of “Un American
Activities” (1947-1954)
» Entertainment moved
from being voluntary and
positive and became a
compulsory avoidance of
any political or social
point of view - a negative
occupation.
» The impact of the car and
television on the movie
industry was heavy post
war. The audiences for
movies fell 40% between
1946-1950.
» This signaled the advent of
a wider aspect ration
(cinemascope)
» A demand for SFX
heralded the use of CGI
(Lord of the Rings / Matrix)