Film Analysis: Movies and

Meaning
Taken from a lecture by Willie Tolliver
Bogozan
 ELEMENTS OF FILM
 THE NARRATIVE- literally, what story is being told?
What is implied? (past events, things that we don’t
see but assume happens, such as the rape scene in
the film version of Streetcar, etc.)

 THE STYLISTIC SYSTEM- the way in which the film’s

plot is presented helps to create meaning.

 IDEOLOGY- What beliefs or belief systems are at

work in the direction, writing, or style of the film?
 NARRATIVE
 Time compression- typically a film has two hours or less to
convey the meaning, however most plots span several hours,
days, or weeks.

 Hierarchy of knowledge- the story is also told with different

levels of what the audience knows and what each character
knows. Do the viewers or the characters know more? Does
one character know more than another?

 Various levels of meaning- we’ll use The Wizard of Oz to give

examples
 referential- literal meaning- “The Wizard of Oz is about Dorothy,
who . . .”
 explicit- “There is no place like home”
 implicit- subtext- “The Wizard of Oz is really about the crisis in the
development of adolescent girls; do I grow up to be a good or
bad witch?”
 symptomatic- “The Wizard of Oz is about the importance of family
in the 1930’s.”
 STYLISTIC ELEMENTS
 Consider the controlled environment-
everything in a movie is chosen for a
reason, so always consider the following
elements:
 Acting/ casting- for example, Lawrence Fishburn was
cast as Othello- why not Chris Rock or Eddie Murphy?
 Costumes- why are the characters wearing certain
colors, certain styles, over the top outfits or understated
ones? (What Dreams May Come has very interesting
costume choices)
 Scenery- where is the story set? How does weather, time
of day, etc. influence the meaning?
 Lighting- colors used? shading, shadows, or bright lights?
 Props- what is used? how? why?
STYLISTIC ELEMENTS CON’T
 Cinematography
 How does the frame move?
 Focus- what is in the foreground? What is in the
background? Are any images blurry, while other
images are in focus?
 Editing- are there any jump cuts? What is the
composition of each frame?

 Sound
 What music is used? How? When? Why?
 Diegetic sound- sound that the characters and
audience can hear.
 Nondiegetic sound- sound that only the audience
can hear.
 IDEOLOGY
Ideology

Far left- advocates dramatic Center- comedies, films Far right- wants to keep
change, very different than not to be taken as having status quo; might ask you to
the perceived norm a serious message cry, adhere to “traditional values

 What value systems are at work here? Consider:

 Is the ideology didactic or based around pleasure and
senses?
 What is accepted? Violence, sex, drugs, etc. (think
about the violence in Kill Bill; is it accepted?)
 How is the audience manipulated?
 Who are the villains? Heroes?
 Who are the privileged?
 Who are the “fleshed- out” characters?