Identify and give the significance of the following term. Your answer (about 250 words) should first show that you are familiar with the meaning of the term or phrase and the context in which it appeared in the course, it's relationship/relevance to specific readings, as well as its significance in the larger context of the course.
Film Discourse
Film Discourse
Film discourse is how the film itself says things or in other words, film language. One cannot talk about film discourse without talking about cultural literacy. Cultural literacy is the ability to read and learn the world around oneself. By using cultural literacy, one can understand film and take action upon it instead of passively watching the film. Film are made to be easily viewed as well as distort one's reality and fantasy. Film is an illusion where it is made to look natural to the human eye thus, film is a powerful tool. The different elements of film discourse are as followed: lighting, sound, frame, editing, motion, plot, and character.
ReplyDeleteFor example, in the black and white movie Casa Blanca, lighting is evident in the more obvious shadows formed compared to colored movies. Light that is directly upon a figure is suppose to emphasis the virtue of the figure. Bottom lighting is where light is illuminated from beneath one's face to create a villain-like archetype. Mood is also influenced with lighting. For example, when there is low key light it means that the mood is solemn or calm compared to high key light during more dramatic frames.
Film discourse, otherwise known as ‘the language in film’, allows the producers, directors, and technical staff of films to create messages through the medium, as well as enables audiences to create meaning from those messages. This process is called encoding and decoding, and it essentially is how the film itself says things, while being interpreted by different audience members. Film discourse involves 5 elements, which are motion, lighting, framing, editing, and sound. These factors are crucial in the language of film, as it elicits emotion from audiences without having to actually having to say anything at all.
ReplyDeleteMotion, which is known as the main language of film, increases our intimacy with the characters. This is achieved by using different types of camera shots, angles, and movements in different scenes; lack of close-ups or zoom-ins prevent us from getting to know the character. Lighting is also extremely significant in film as it allows directors to create different moods, which audiences are then able to decipher. High or bright lighting signals optimism and draws attention to things, whereas dark lighting represents sadness or suspense.
Framing takes a look at one specific still in the frame, as well as what is placed in it. An example of this would be the film Casablanca – in one scene, someone is shot and their body is placed right underneath a painting about freedom. This juxtaposition is one of many instances in which audiences are able to decode a message from a frame. Editing occurs to help naturalize the film, making the frames flow smoothly in the eyes of audiences. Sound, much like lighting, creates moods in film and is diegetic: sounds that the characters can hear such as dialogue or background noise, non-diegetic: sounds that only the audience hears, and internal diegetic: sounds from inside the film that the audience can hear but not the characters.
Film discourse refers to the ways in which the medium of film portrays certain ideas and effects which help to provide different levels of meaning into the film. These are things which help the film move along, and feelings that are instilled into watchers of the film through the different aspects. Different aspects of film discourse are lighting, motion, framing, editing, and sound. Each of these can have a major impact on the film.
ReplyDeleteIn our film assignment group, we all had to watch a film and analyze these elements. While watching “The Usual Suspects,” we saw that there were many instances where the sound really made a difference, because they used music which was supposed to be both reflect and provoke our mood. Because it was a suspenseful movie, there was a lot of suspenseful and eerie music playing, heightening our anticipation of the events to follow. This can also be used in ways to trick the audience, heightening emotions and then having nothing happen. Lighting is also representative of mood, where brighter lit scenes give off more of a happy vibe, and dim lighting can be uneasy. Often, there is more shadowing on villain characters as well.
Film discourse is important to watch for because these things make the majority of the movie, and it is unique to the discourse of film. So many things can be portrayed through these techniques. In our course, we see that there are great advantages to every medium, and having all of these aspects is an advantage to film which helps to play with our emotions and develop our understanding of the film.
Film Discourse - The Merriam-Webster dictionary first defines discourse very broadly, as a "verbal interchange of ideas," But more specifically, they say it as a "mode of organizing knowledge, ideas, or experience that is rooted in language and its concrete contexts (as history or institutions) (Merriam-Webster.com). There are many different types of discourse, as it surrounds almost every topic. Discourse is a big, public conversation about something. But more specifically, it is a whole cluster of narratives, statements, and/or images on a particular subject that require authority and become dominant at a particular historical moment. It is sum/total of what is possible to say about something and make sense at a specific historical moment. Film, being a huge medium for art and public conversation, has a huge discourse community. Like all art, film must be interpreted by an audience. Art often is used as a vehicle for societal criticism or comment, but it is the audience who must disseminate or allocate meaning to what it is that they are seeing, hearing, and experiencing.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of film discourse is important within the course because of the critical analyses being done regarding films, as well as other art. In order to understand the meaning-making process within communication in various mediums, one must understand how meanings are produced and why they are upheld within a society and therefore integrated into one's own personal contexts.
Film discourse refers to the message or meaning that is displayed in a certain medium such as a movie or film. Certain examples of types of film discourse are camera shots, camera angles, lighting, editing, frame composition and the soundtrack. All of these elements are used to create a certain film discourse that can be interpreted by the viewer. Discourse is defined as a public discussion or a statements on a subject that require authority. Through encoding, meaning is given to a medium and the viewer decodes that meaning in their own particular perspective. An example of lighting can be seen in the movie Babel in which lighting is used to highlight the emotion in important scenes of the movie. For example, when Susan is shot and injured, she is brought to a hut in Morocco and operated on. The lighting is dark and the viewer can fully interpret the emotion of the characters. The scene is very dramatic and the angles help reflect the intensity of the moment. The music is very calm in emotional scenes such as when a Morrocan boy named Ahmed is shot next to his father and his brother and his father is seen crying over the death of his son. Film discourse helps the viewer interpret a film through different techniques and critical analysis looks at the different types of discourse in a film.
ReplyDeleteFilm discourse is a complex term often referred to as "film language". It is in best description, a message created by the director, producers, and technical staff for the interpretation of the audience. This creation and interpretation of meaning is called ecoding and decoding.
ReplyDeleteIn our first assignment, as a group we had to critically analyze a film of our choice. While watching "The Grande Butapest Hotel", it became appearant that film discourse is very complex. The simple use of background music alone played a significant role not only in the mood of the film, but the interpretation and involvement of the film. Even the use of lighting helped to adjust the mood of the film. During comedic scenes, the lighting became bright, but during depressing parts of the film where Zero would discuss his memories, the lighting became much darker. There are many aspects, big or small which play crucial roles in creating messages for the audience to interpret.
Film discourse is very unique, it reflects the complex views of the director, producers, and technical staff in the form of clues. Much of these film discourse techniques may go unnoticed, but together they reflect the exact image intended by the film. The critical analysis of these techniques and the audience's interpretation determines what is understood and gathered from the film. I like to consider film a complex art form because there are many underlining messages and clues provided in every moment of the film, given the audience notices. I find that often when you watch a film more than once, you learn a bit more each time and maybe even view it from a different perspective.
Film discourse is the way a film conveys its story or messages to the viewers. It's the interpretation of the film received by the audience whether it be blatantly portrayed or hidden in certain scenes whether it be the background, foreground, lighting, or soundtrack. These factors all help construe what the director is trying to convey. An example would be The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson; the movie is filled with small clues and hidden messages throughout the film. Such as the entire film revolves around the boy with apple painting, which in fact was hanging behind the concierge table at the beginning of the movie. I only caught on after going over the movie a second time scene by scene for the group film project. Other things like soundtrack played a key role in the film, which helped set the tone of each scene throughout the movie which kept the movie in a good rhythm/tempo. From the murder of Deputy Kovacs to Mr. Gustave and Zero chasing Jopling down a mountain, the soundtracks were very distinct and helped convey the scene further to the viewers.
ReplyDeleteFilm discourse for me is something difficult to catch onto watching a movie for the first time. A second or third time watching the same movie I catch onto a lot more little things throughout story lines because I’m not as focused on the story line at all, I’m interested in the small things/details.
Film discourse is the language or message of the film. It is the way the lighting, sound, editing and film motion, speaks to the audience. Film discourse allows the audience to explain how the film works, not what a person can say about the film. For example, the 1942 film Casablanca, the film itself is black and white but, due to the lighting we are able to feel a sense of mystery in the scenes with plenty of shadowing, whereas with plenty of lighting you get a sense of youthful or cheeriness depending on the context.
ReplyDeleteIn a greater context, film discourse is important to look out for because it makes up the entire movie. From lighting to editing, one small error can completely distort the message of the movie. As mentioned above, if a producer wants a cheerier scene, more lighting would be ideal but had the producer added little lighting with plenty of shading, then the mood of the film is changed. The same thing could happen if a producer wants a scene that is more mysterious or dreary, you would want more shading and less lighting, where more lighting means a more happier mood.
Film discourse refers to how the film is setup. The director has a vision and demonstrates his/her vision through the use of camera angles, framing, lighting and movements between shots, soundtracks, and costumes. For example, quickly moving from one shot to the next with an intense soundtrack in the background will imply a threat is coming. The viewer becomes aware of the camera and for that reason, the director’s vision is seen.
ReplyDeleteAn example in this course of film discourse is the film The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson. Wes Anderson immediately makes his vision known with the use of colorful costumes. In addition, the soundtrack chosen played a vital role in the firm by setting an energetic tone throughout and changed to suspenseful when needed. Lastly, the camera movements such as angling and framing used by Wes Anderson really helped to encode his message for the film. It told the viewer where to focus their attention to better enjoy the film.
Film discourse is the language of film. It is the technical language that films, filmmakers, and viewers convey meaning from. This includes the visual image, print and other graphics, speech, music and sound effects, editing, colour, and lighting. In class, we looked at Casablanca and applied film discourse to derive meaning from the scenes. We noticed that lighting was a key aspect of Casablanca, as it was used to denote particular characteristics of the characters. For example, the character Rick Blaine was always shown with shadow across his face and a bold shadow behind him, hinting to the audience that this character is not innocent and has a shady past. We used film discourse when writing our third written assignment to analyze our respective films. In my group, we especially took note of the use of angles in The Usual Suspects. The angles and cropping of a scene was important because they concealed certain details about the mysterious Keyser Soze (e.g. hiding his face) and focus in on details of Verbal (e.g. his crippled hand and leg), in order to deceive us into pitying his character. Understanding film discourse is very important in order to absorb the full meaning of a film. Integral details may be “hidden” in the lighting or colour of a film, and without understanding film discourse you would be oblivious to these “hidden”, or deeper, meanings. Film discourse can also be applied when reading any narrative or fictional prose. By noticing how an author accentuates key aspects, such as sounds they describe being heard or colours their protagonist wears, and understanding what role they play in the meaning of the piece, you can appreciate and analyze it at a greater depth.
ReplyDeletefilm discourse refers to the visual aspects of a films language. It is how the editors, directors and producers of a move use several techniques to tell a story on the screen by including camera distance, angle, and movement; editing; and sound. These elements allow filmmakers to tell a story in a variety of ways. Film discourse is important since it allows the audience to interpret their own ideas of what certain scenes could possibly mean. Camera shots and angles can give the audience a clear sign of motive and emotion, as well as giving us clues as to what is going to happen in the next scene.
ReplyDeleteFor the film assignment our group had to choose one film to work on. We chose the movie “Babel” and we were asked to describe certain camera shots and angles, the lighting in the film, the soundtrack and also the composition of frames. In the film Babel, there were scenes where the lighting effects set different moods or atmospheres. During most of the scenes in the film there was a lot low lighting, which represented tension or suspense. In the film there were also many scenes where the camera shots and camera angles were emphasized to show the audience different perspectives of mood, action or character. Film discourse is significant because it allows viewers to understand the specific scene, mood or setting when watching a film.
Bria Barrows -
ReplyDeleteEssentially, films are mass fanstasies produced for mass audiences and construct ideas of gender, sexuality and beauty. The purpose of film discourse is for viewers to interpret sets of ideas but constructed in a way that provides deeper meaning to every aspect of the film. Film discourse deals with how the story is presented to an audience. There are two meanings that coincide with this concept. Denotative and connative meanings.
Denotative deals with the literal. For example, the tree in the film is just a tree. However, connotative deals with what is implied. It would ask the queston, What is the figurative purpose of that tree? What does it stand for? There are major aspects of film discourse, such as: lighting, motion, framing, editing, sound, and colour. In our lecture, we analyzed the black and white film Casablanca for evidence of film discourse and mentioned details such as light to soften one's skin for an angelic affect, and how shadows and silhouettes suggest suspense or sadness.
Film Discourse is the elements inside a film to help tell the story. The main type of film discourse is lighting, motion, framing, editing, sound, and colour. This appeared in our film unit where we assembled in groups and chose movies to analyze such as Usual Suspects, and the Grand Budapest Hotel etc. These different elements of film discourse help to give significance and narrate the story with words. Low key lighting in films using shadows and direct light creates an aura of mystery and suspense. Bottom lighting from below a character’s face prevents viewers from connecting and empathizing with a character; this is often used in horror movies. If the motion of the camera is above looking down a character appears more vulnerable compared to when the camera is below looking up, which makes a character appear to have more power. The framing of scenes helps to define the viewer’s vision, the frame is a visual narrative and the composition of a frame conveys ideas without dialogue. Editing is how the director moves from one shot to another. This helps build suspense by going at a slow pace and can create action by shorter cuts. Editing also helps viewers to see the reaction of a character by showing the connection between the character and the object. There are two types of sound in film diegetic sound which is everything inside the environment within the film such as any natural sounds ie,, birds chirping, wind, rustling, or anything characters can hear. Non-diegetic sounds are the soundtrack and musical cues that signal anything such as danger, romance, or even how to read a character. Lastly the colour palette of the film help to tell a viewer what the film is about using preset notions of what some colours are linked to meaning. The problem is that even though white can mean purity it can also mean death somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteFilm Discourse is the way filmmakers, directors and editors convey a certain message; it is the film's language. The elements in film discourse include sound, lighting, camera shots/angles and compositions of frames. There are two types of sounds in film discourse: diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sounds are those that the characters can hear, and non-diegetic are those that only the audience can hear. Non-diegetic sounds include anticipatory music. Film discourse is very important, because it allows the audience to understand the meaning of the scene/movie through all the elements. For example, in the movie Usual Suspects, the sounds, lighting and composition of frames made it so that we suspected certain characters, and did not suspect others. In this movie, these elements were meant to throw us off from the true guilty suspect. For example, threatening music would play when a certain character (who was not guilty) was on screen. On the other hand, the camera shot would linger on a certain character's limp (who was guilty).
ReplyDeleteFilm discourse is the ideas and specific purposes places in a film. There are many things involved with film discourse, including lighting, sound (diegetic, within the scene, and non-diegetic, outside of the scene), frames, message and many more. Each of these things has a purpose in a film and depending on how you use it the outcome would be completely different. Each of these can show the emotions involved with a scene or if the viewer should like or dislike the person. Film Discourse is an important part of this course as many of the parts can be transferred to writing. A writer can tell visuals the same as a director can show them. Film discourse shows up in a lot of our reading, but mostly the movies we discuss. Where a movie can show sound or lighting it can be described in lighting to the same effect. In the scene of Sophie Scholl-The Final Days where we first see the manifesto being created you hear the ticking of a typewriter behind the shuffling of the papers. It added as much suspense as a writers describing working in a room as the sound of the typewriter echoed the walls as if each tick was shot fired in their direction as they stand up for their beliefs, a sound familiar to that of a firing squad. Understanding how lighting, sound, frames etc. shapes a scene helps create the desired effect.
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ReplyDeleteFilm discourse is usually referred to as a “films language”. The messages created by the director are conveyed to the audience using many different techniques. For example, movies have a certain way they portray sound, motion, lighting, and framing. All these techniques can help make a movie a feel-good movie or vise versa, making a movie sad where the viewers are left to think with a lot.
When we had our film assignments, my group analyzed the movie Babel by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and we discussed how the movies soundtrack helped make the movie appear to be more suspenseful and helped with emotional appeal. For instance, when the woman on the bus got shot unexpectedly, it made viewers feel sorry for her and it made them also feel like she was a victim in the situation (which she was). The lighting in the movie also went from dark at very depressing parts like when the two boys’ father was shot by the cops to very bright when the two boys were playing and being care-free with each other in the desert. Moreover, we noticed that when someone important like a cop was talking they would show it from a bird-eye-view while when someone like the two young boys were talking the camera angle would be from a worms-eye-view.
All in all, these film techniques help us understand the movie better and sometimes, you do not catch on to these techniques right away and watching the movie for the second time would help.