Textual Analysis

Unit 1: Textual Analysis

Textual analysis is the close analysis of media texts in order to interpret the meaning(s) created by a director.

To help analyse media texts, we can split it up into 4 microelements: Cinematography, Sound, Mise-en-scene & Editing.

Task 1
Your task is to define/write examples of the following key terms:

CINEMATOGRAPHY (write examples/what are the connotations?) Shots Close up: Used to empathise how important ` character/object is. Long Shot: typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. Close Up: Shot that tightly frames a person or object. Medium Close-Up: Falls between a Medium Shot and a Close-Up, generally framing the subject from chest or shoulder up. Full Shot: Frames character from head to toes, with the subject roughly filling the frame. The emphasis tends to be more on action and movement rather than a character’s emotional state. Angles High angle: Makes a character seem vulnerable and the puts the viewer in a position of power The Birds-eye view: This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognizable at first (umbrellas in a crowd, dancers' legs). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things. Hitchcock (and his admirers, like Brian de Palma) is fond of this style of shot. Eye Level: A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. The camera will be placed approximately five to six feet from the ground. Low Angle: These increase height and give a sense of seeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen. Canted Angle: Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie is not placed horizontal to floor level), to suggest imbalance, transition and instability. Camera Movement Pan:To photograph or televise while rotating a camera on its vertical or horizontal axis in order to keep a moving person or object in view or allow the film to record a panorama Tilt: A cinematographic technique in which the camera stays in a fixed position but rotates up/down in a vertical plane. Pedestal: Moving the camera vertically with respect to the subject. Dolly: a wheeled cart or similar device used in filmmaking and television production to create smooth horizontal camera movements.

SOUND (define these terms) Diegetic sound: sound presented as originated from source within the film's world. Diegetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. Non-diegetic: Film technique that combines a shot or a series of shots cut into a sequence, showing objects represented as being outside the space of the narrative. Parallel sound: When the music or sound matches the atmosphere of what is on screen. Contrapuntal sound: Usually the sound we hear in a film directly accompanies what we see on the screen Sound bridge: A sound bridge is a type of sound editing that occurs when sound carries over a visual transition in a film.

MISE-EN-SCENE Setting Costumes Make-up Props Lighting & colour Facial expressions Body language

EDITING (define these terms) Continuity editing: The process, in film and video creation, of combining more-or-less related shots, or different components cut from a single shot, into a sequence so as to direct the viewer's attention to a pre-existing consistency of story across both time and physical location. Shot/reverse/shot: A film technique where one character is shown looking at another character, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Cut: In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a cut is an abrupt, but usually trivial film transition from one sequence to another. Jump cuts: An abrupt transition from one scene to another. Cross-cutting: An editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time, and usually in the same place. Transitions:  Is a technique used in the post-production process of film editing and video editing by which scenes or shots are combined. Most commonly this is through a normal cut to the next shot. Crossfade: Is editing that makes a smooth transition between two audio files. 180 degree rule: A basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.