An Introduction to Film

to the realism of such European directors as Jean Renoir. French film critic André Bazin emphasizes that deep-focus cinematograp ...

122 CHAPTER 4 ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE cause-and-effect sequence occurring over time. >When we think of it that way, almost all ...

Horace has returned home from a long hospital stay for treatment of his serious heart condition. When Regina asks him to put mor ...

WHAT IS NARRATIVE? 123 is told) to shape the viewer’s experience of the nar- rative (the story itself ). In every movie, the cam ...

filmmaker is probably attempting to call special attention to the relationship between the action in the foreground and that in ...

124 CHAPTER 4 ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE 1 2 3 5 4 The camera as narratorThe camera (and everything that implies) is the primary narr ...

that visual consistency, the editor will be unable to establish continuity—though he or she may choose to preserve graphic disco ...

to endure a brutal game of cat and mouse played by a pair of psychotic young men. After they take a young family hostage, the at ...

full context of the story, so we naturally tend to read its attitude toward the subject as neutral. Thus when Miss Wonderly (Mar ...

her disheveled appearance on a hangover, when we know that all she’s been drinking is poisoned coffee. A large part of the pleas ...

Ernest Dickerson), Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), who both entertains and intimidates the neighborhood by playing loud music on his b ...

narrative demands that the audience witness events outside Wilson’s experience, the narration temporarily shifts into omniscient ...

is insane, and a low-angle shot emphasizes her anx- iety, fear, and vulnerability. The shot also reminds us that the visual and ...

uncomplicated flat charactersexhibit few distinct traits and do not change significantly as the story progresses.^1 This doesn’t ...

Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game(1992; cinematogra- pher: Ian Wilson), for example, uses alternating camera angles to convey and th ...

a demanding role, deserved the critical and popu- lar acclaim it received. Yet in many ways, Nina could be considered a flat cha ...

taken from an aircraft or very high crane and implies the observer’s omniscience. A classic exam- ple of the aerial view comes, ...

must face a deadly adversary. Most narrative relies on this character motivation. If the viewer doesn’t believe or understand a ...

and partly fantastic. Once the dinosaurs make their actual appearance, we know that humans, however powerful in their financial ...

jilted Fran dying of a drug overdose in a suicide attempt. As he nurses Fran back to health, C. C.’s need for love progressively ...