Kimberly A. Neuendorf, Ph.D.
Cleveland State University
Fall 2010

Not So Different from other Quantitative Studies
Like survey or experimental measures. . .
Exhaustive, mutually exclusive categories
High level of measurement
Good distributions/transform if necessary
May combine into scales

Codebook + Coding Form = Coding Scheme
See The Content Analysis Guidebook Online for some examples
Janstova Thesis example (27-page codebook)

Patrika Janstova Thesis:
Empirical Testing of Auteur Theory via Content
Analysis: A Study of Jane Campion Films
Sources of theory and variables:
Auteur theory (Bazin, Truffaut, Sarris,
Wollen & structuralism)
Campion films and scholarly literature
Other auteurs— 50 Contemporary
Filmmakers (Y. Tasker, 2002). . . Every third filmmaker listed

Janstova Thesis:
Themes & Motifs for Non-Campion Directors
Gregg Araki
1 Intensifies lighting and color of the city (LA)
2 Love, sex and lust
3 Queer characters
4 Tries to show being gay doesn’t make a difference among people
5 Characters are obsessed with video cameras
6 Adolescents and homosexuality
Luc Besson
7
8
5
6
3
4
1
2
Lack of dialog – comic strip influences?
Stories of young people who have difficulties adapting to a society
Society lets the family down - the young people become emotionally deprived
Youth in crisis
Dysfunctional families
Parents are absent
If mother figure appears – as evil force
Protagonists are lonely and suffering
9 Self-erasure of the protagonists
10 Literal portrayals of underworlds – metro, sea, lower regions of cities 11 Characters are
“larger than life”
12 Bricolage of genres – more genres in one

Janstova Thesis:
Themes & Motifs for Non-Campion Directors
Tim Burton
1
2
3
4
Love for horror and fantasy
Plain weirdness of main characters
Technical experimentation with possibilities of animation and visual effects
Main characters are outsiders villains with extremely complex personalities
5 Main characters have very pale skin
Themes of exclusion and inclusion7 Johnny Depp 6
Jackie Chan
1
2
3
4
David Cronenberg
1
4
5
2
3
6
David Fincher
Kung-Fu stunts
Master-pupil theme (comical)
Silent cinema feel to some of his scenes (i.e., chasing scenes, bar fights)
Female roles are always over the top girlish
The physical and the psychological are usually intertwined
Main character is often male scientist – with a bizarre name
Themes: science, disease, aging, invasion, death in literary metaphors
Bodily and psychic mutations
Hostility towards women – men fear and are jealous of females
Womb envy
1 Critiques of today’s society
2 A man alone in the universe
3 Visual translation of feelings of isolation of the characters
4 Wide angles, shallow focus = isolation
5 Muted light and color
6 Psychological and emotional state of American males of 20th century
7 Decay of American family
8 Females are barely present

Janstova Thesis:
Themes & Motifs for Non-Campion Directors
Jim Jarmusch
1
2
Alienation of characters
Use of jump cuts
3 Characters have no real direction in life
4 Not interested in What? and Why? but How did one character get where he is now...
5 Main characters are outsiders
Abbas Kiarostami
1 Challenges the audience
2 Poetic and philosophical style
3 Self-referentiality
4 Social realist traits/themes
5 Bleakness and loss - main themes
6 Often hopeful and enthusiasm accompanies the results
7 Likes to involve the audience as much as possible
Ang Lee
1 Modernity vs. tradition
2 Deep secrets and internal torment come to surface
3 Conflict between freedom and societal traditions
Michael Mann
1 Interested in real events
2 Fading centrality of a male
3 Visual: soft blues, and sterile and harsh whites

Janstova Thesis:
Themes & Motifs for Non-Campion Directors
John Sayles
1 Social concerns
2 Political awareness
3 Complex characters
4 No central protagonist, usually group of characters
5 Stretches the boundaries of genres
6 Witty dialog
7 Realistic characters
Steven Soderbergh
1 Character based films
2 Ironic humor
3 Sense of isolation and loneliness
4 Characters are harshly detached, emotionally frozen
5 Characters are unable to fit with the world around them – lonely
6 Ultimately, his films are character studies of populated with strangers in a strange land
Oliver Stone
1 Lonely and isolated male protagonist in quasi-spiritual journey
2 Character goes through innocence, suffering and experiences liberation or destruction
3 Testosterone-driven and often didactic dialog
4 Marginalization of women
5 The lure of homo-social is evident
Peter Weir
1 Very national – Australian – rather than international
2 Avoidance of sexuality
3 No vivid sex scenes
4 However he shows erotic desire
Allison Anders
1 Multiple protagonists
2 Teen angst (anxiety, fear, worry)
3 Gangsters
4 Biopic
5 Emotional intimacy and heterosexual love atavistic

Janstova Thesis:
Variable Sets & Units
Variable Set Unit of Data Collection
Themes & motifs Film
Narrative constructions Major character
Production techniques 5-minute interval

Janstova Thesis:
Sample
All 6 Campion films 1989-2003
18 “matched” non-Campion films
Total n=24 films

Janstova Thesis:
The Codebook
Available at the Content Analysis
Guidebook Online
(newer version, http://academic.csuohio.edu/neuendorf_ka/content )