JCM212/Stylistic Analysis

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Assignment

  1. Due Tuesday, February 20th, 11:59 p.m., via Blackboard/TurnItIn. Must be word-processed.
    • To be discussed in-class on Wednesday, February 21st.
  2. This is the second of two critical analyses. Each is worth 7 points toward the 100 for the semester.

Preparation Part 1

  1. Choose a single scene in a movie, but not one we've watched in class.
  2. Scene analysis: break it down shot-by-shot.
    • List and number every shot in your scene and identify what type of framing was used (long shot, medium shot, etc.; you may use abbreviations: LS, MS, CU). Describe any significant action in the shot, using the characters' (not the actors') names. Include only the most significant dialogue; do not include every line. Include a screenshot taken from each shot. In effect, you are creating a storyboard of your scene.

Sample scene breakdown

A template in a Word doc is available online. See also the Grey's Anatomy Découpage.

  1. LS exterior of Maggie's house, night.
  2. MS interior. Maggie makes dinner for Joel.
  3. CU Maggie talks to Joel about the night before. "Last night you were so different..."
  4. CU Joel responds.
  5. And so on . . .

Preparation Part 2

  1. Draw a diagram of your scene's camera positions and blocking--as in the diagram for Grey's Anatomy (below), but without the drawings of frames. Be sure to indicate which shots are done from which camera positions--using the numbers of the shots from your list above.

Template:Gallery

Analysis

Draw examples from your scene to discuss your answers. That is, refer to specific shot numbers when you answer these questions.

  1. How would you describe the sound perspective in this scene? Judging from how it sounds, what conventional position of the microphone was used? Explain.
  2. Does your scene contain nondiegetic music? If so, then what function does it serve? If not, pick a piece of music and imagine that it was laid under the scene. What impact would your music have on the scene?
  3. Does your scene contain sound from a different diegetic time (earlier or later)? If not, then choose one shot from your scene and invent some sound (dialogue or effects) that could be laid over it from another time in the story.
  4. How is the scene’s space, the area in which the action takes place, introduced to the viewer? Does an establishing shot occur at the start of the scene (or later in it)?
  5. Do your scene's camera angles adhere to the 180° rule? Is screen direction maintained? If not, why is the viewer not disoriented? Or if the space is ambiguous, what narrative purpose does that serve?
  6. Is an alternating editing pattern used? Is shot-reverse shot used? Are there re-establishing shots? If shot-reverse shot and re-establishing shots are used, what narrative impact do they have? If they are not used, could they have been used? Explain.
  7. How does the last shot of the scene bring it to a conclusion or does it raise more narrative questions?
  8. Choose one of the following two questions, based on elements that are present in your scene:
    • 8A How are match-on-action cuts or eyeline cuts used? Are there jump cuts?
    • 8B How does the camera relate to the characters' perspectives? Are there point-of-view or subjective shots? If so, how are those shots cued or marked? That is, what tells us that they are subjective or point-of-view shots?