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Thinking FILM

Teacher guidance

This video is designed as a short online CPD module, offering an overview of the resource with suggestions for classroom use and links to curriculum and specifications.

The detailed Teachers’ Notes that accompany the resource can be downloaded below. In addition we have provided a brief guide on copyright and how this relates to the use of film in the classroom.

Download Teachers' Notes Download copyright information PDF

Transcript

Welcome to Film Education's Thinking Film, Film Language online training guide. We'll be taking you through the various activities contained within the resource, which consists of a DVD-ROM of film extracts and interviews with film makers, as well as a CD-ROM of downloadable worksheets. We've aimed the resource at students who are starting to study film, so it can be used at both GCSE and AS Level Film and Media Studies. It's also relevant to students who are studying moving image as part of the English curriculum.

The approach we've taken is somewhat different to previous versions of Film Language that we've produced. As well as approaching the film extracts from a theoretical point of view, we've also interviewed a number of film makers, directors, costume designers, editors, composers. Each was asked to describe their role in the film making process, and then asked to talk through an extract from a film that they had worked on, describing how they created meaning within their own particular contribution to the scene. So the extracts that we've included in the resource are those chosen by the film makers to illustrate specific points about making meaning in films and connecting with audiences. The reasoning behind this approach was to see what happened when film theory came face to face with film creation. Would one reflect the other or would a tension exist between the two which could be fruitfully explored by teachers, lecturers and students in their study of meaning creation in film.

One of my favourite Jean Luc Godard quotations is, “Film is not the reflection of reality but the reality of the reflection.” Basically what he's telling us is that what we see on screen is a constructed reality which seems real because we've seen other films. It's the reality of film. We expect a film to operate in a certain way, to look, to sound, to be edited and to be filmed in certain ways. We understand how a film performs a story because we've learnt the language that they use. Our key task as teachers is to get students thinking about why film performs in the way that it does. The key pedagogical issue is: what are the questions that our students should ask with regards to a moving image that they see? And what are the concepts that should underlie this questioning, in particular in relationship to themselves and their own experiences both of images and the relationship to their own lives and expectations? The keys point is that the words 'how' and 'why' are central to this process. How do we realise the mood of a piece? How does the film maker convey ideas about character? Why did the film maker decide on that costume or that particular shot? From analysing an extract in this way, we're able to see how the director of the film, along with colleagues in other departments, has raised narrative issues and developed a way of communicating both narrative and mood. If you like, we're looking at the ways in which film performs its story in much the same way that a theatrical production performs its script. The worksheets which accompany each extract are designed to guide students through ways therefore of questioning films. So, the resource looks at the ways in which moving images creates meaning. But it's important to get students to realise that any film could be different, different choices of costume, music, shot types, editing, all of these could affect the way that we understand what we see on a screen. Choices can affect the way in which we understand a particular character. Choices can even affect the ways in which we understand the story of the film. It's incredibly difficult to ask our students to imagine 'what isn't there'. One possible way of doing this is to ask students to re-film a short sequence that they've seen, using totally different shots from those used in the extract. A particularly useful extract that we've included on the DVD that would really fit this exercise is the extract from The Scouting Book for Boys. It's a single shot which I think students could probably explore thinking about how they could use different angles in which to tell that particular part of the story.

When it comes to actually using the resource, you may find it useful to start with a  question on each individual extract, and then look at what the film maker has to say about that, and then compare how the viewer understands what is shown on screen with the film maker's intention. But in the end it's down to you as to how you structure the use of each extract. The resource is arranged under the following headings. There's an introduction, and then we look at each individual concept: Mise en scène, Sound, Cinematography, Editing and Directing. Let's look first at Mise en scène. We've divided the section into three areas: settings, costume and acting. Sound we've subdivided into two sections: sound and music. The next two sections, editing and cinematography, contain contrasting clips which raise specific issues about the topics. And finally in the directing section, we look at what happens when all of these elements are pulled together. Within the worksheets on the CD-ROM we've also included a general introduction to creating meaning within films, as well as a general guide to analysing any film extract. Whilst each extract focuses on a specific area of film language, it's self-evident that each extract reflects every aspect of film language as well. Thus it's possible to ask questions regarding editing of extracts that have been included to reflect the idea of, say, costume. Let's look at each of these sections and explore them in a little more detail.

Firstly, Mise en scène. What we're talking about here is what we see in a particular shot, but not what type of shot it is. So, it's about what has actually been placed before camera: the settings or locations, the costumes, hair, make-up, choice of actors and how they perform. The comments made about the choice of location in the extract from The Duchess are quite interesting. The location that we think is one seamless shot of a house is in fact composed of a number of different locations. The key point that Michael Carlin, the designer, makes is that he created a version of what we the audience would expect the house of a rich duke in the eighteenth century to look like. It's a construction within the reality of the film, not how an eighteenth-century mansion would really have looked. It contributes to our expectations as a member of an audience to a particular period that the film is set in and the story that unfolds around it. Similarly, costumes used can convey character in a shorthand way. We contrast different characters through our understanding of cultural codes that we experience in everyday life, or if it's a costume drama then through our experiences of other art forms and other films. How an actor performs will also relate to cultural codes and our experiences of other narratives. The way in which an actor might, for example, move their eyes, would be able to give us an idea of what they're feeling. Does this come from our life experiences or from watching other films or a mixture of both? Mise en scène therefore creates the world in which the action unfolds within the filmed performance. It can help create mood, give us information about characters, and an overall sense of the relationship of a character to the world around them.

Let's move on to Sound. We've divided Sound into two specific areas: music and sound effects. It's worth remembering that both of these contribute at the same time to our understanding of what's happening in the filmic world. We explore the effect that music can have on the creation of mood and also how it can create ideas about a character's feelings. As I'm sure you know, sound within film theory is usually divided into two categories. Firstly, the diegetic, sounds which relate directly to what we see, or the filmic world that we're looking at, doors opening and closing, a glass put down on a table, people speaking, let's call it naturalistic. It's sound that reflects the image. And then there is non-diegetic sound, where, for example, sounds that we hear are distorted to create effects. Music that we hear doesn't come from the world that we see. It's background music basically. It's important to explore the relationship between these two types of sounds in order to see how they create ideas and reactions to what we're looking at.

If Mise en scène is about what we see in a film, then Cinematography is all about how that is presented to us. We need to be thinking here about why a certain shot, a close-up for example, was chosen to be filmed at that particular moment. What would have been the effect on that scene if it had been shot from a different angle, a different position or had been, say, instead of a close-up a medium shot? And would a different choice of shot have created a different idea? Using animation as an example here really does emphasise the idea of a created world. In animation nothing happens by chance. Everything is carefully created and set up.

Editing is all about pace, the amount of time that a shot is left on screen, and relationships, how one shot relates to another. Why for example does the editor cut from one shot to another at a particular moment? What effect does this have, and what is the relationship between that shot and the shot that follows it? How does the editing relate to, say, the soundtrack? And that can be looking at the beat of any music we hear, to what is being said by the characters.

Finally, Directing. I suppose you could say that this pulls everything else together. Perhaps it's the thing that starts everything else off, the director's initial vision. Two very contrasting scenes illustrate the ways in which a director constructs a scene. Firstly we have the Bourne Ultimatum, an action-packed episode – quick editing to build up tension, dramatic use of music, lots of different perspectives on what's happening. In contrast The Scouting Book for Boys is filmed in just one take from one camera angle, and the effective use of camera focus moves us through the action. It's probably best to use these two extracts after having looked at the various component parts of the Film Language resource in order to see how they all contribute to our final experience of film. As we've said, we've tried to focus through each extract on a particular aspect of film language or film performance. You can use any of the extracts to illustrate all or any of these component parts. And this is why the final resource on the CD-ROM, Reading of Film Extract, allows students to revisit any extract they see to see how meaning is built up in a sequence. We also hope that this final resource will help students to take the knowledge that they've gained from the resource and apply it to any other film that they watch.