Screen Media: Analysing Film and Television

412 Pages·2009·3.63 MB·English

by  Jane Stadler

screen media
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screen media
ANALYSING FILM AND TELEVISION
Jane Stadler with Kelly McWilliam
First published in 2009
Copyright © Jane Stadler and Kelly McWilliam 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from
the publisher. Th e Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of
one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by
any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational
institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright
Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.allenandunwin.com
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Stadler, Jane
Screen media: analysing fi lm and television
/Jane Stadler; Kelly McWilliam.
978 1 74175 448 3 (pbk.)
Includes index.
Motion pictures and television. Motion pictures and television–Social aspects.
Motion pictures. Motion pictures–Social aspects. Television. Television–Social
aspects. McWilliam, Kelly.
791.4
Text design by Kirby Stalgis
Set by Midland Typesetters, Australia.
Printed by CMO Image Printing, Singapore
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Thinking on both sides of the screen xi
Digital technology and convergence xiii
Organisation of the book xvi
Outline of the book xvii
1 By design: Art direction and mise en scène construction 1
Mise en scène 2
Costume 7
Setting 10
Action 17
Lighting 23
Camera position, framing and composition 26
Conclusion 28
Key skills 28
2 Cinematography: Writing in light and movement 31
Camera position 34
Camera movement 43
Lenses and focal properties 47
Conclusion 61
Key skills 62
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SCREEN MEDIA
3 Soundscapes: The invisible magic of sound 65
Distinctions between film and television sound 66
Ambience 71
Music 71
Dialogue 75
Sound effects 80
Conclusion 89
Key skills 90
4 At the edge of the cut: Editing from continuity to montage 93
The role of the editor 93
Editing for multiple camera shoots 97
Television editing 99
Editing and narrative structure 101
Point of view 102
Continuity editing 103
Montage-style editing 114
Sound transitions 117
Editing action sequences 119
Conclusion 121
Key skills 123
5 P lotting and planning: Storytelling and reviewing
techniques 125
Synopses and scene breakdowns 126
Treatments 130
Scripts 132
Shooting scripts and storyboards 139
Film reviewing 146
Conclusion 151
Key skills 152
6 Screen narratives: Traditions and trends 155
Contemporary film narratives 155
Classical narration 157
Story and plot 160
Structuralism 161
Complex narrative structures 168
Television and narrative structure 172
Digital game narratives 179
Narrative convergence 180
Conclusion 182
Key skills 183
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CONTENTS
7 Reality and realism: Seeing is believing 185
Realism and codes of representation in film and television 187
Documentary 190
Mockumentary film and television 196
Realist film movements 197
Reality television 205
The ethics of style and the spectacle of the real 210
Conclusion 213
Key skills 213
8 Genre: ‘Something new based on something familiar’
by Kelly McWilliam 217
What is ‘genre’? 218
Differences in medium: Genre in film and television 228
Key approaches to studying genre 230
Applying genre analysis: Grey’s Anatomy 239
Conclusion 242
Key skills 243
9 Star struck: Fandom and the discourse of celebrity
by Kelly McWilliam 245
History 247
What are ‘stars’ and ‘celebrities’? 249
Audiences, identification and fandom 256
Key approaches to studying stars and celebrity 261
Conclusion 268
Key skills 271
10 Skating the edge: Cult media and the (inter)active
audience 273
Approaches to cult media: Texts, audiences, industry 275
Cult film 277
Cult television 279
Theories of spectatorship 286
Audience research 290
Technological developments 295
Industry and institutions 296
Conclusion 299
Key skills 300
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SCREEN MEDIA
11 The crowded screen: Transcultural influences and
new directions in visual culture 303
Hybridity: Theorising generic combination and
transformation 304
Characterisation, ideology, and social change 307
Postfeminism and action cinema heroines 310
Postmodern characteristics of screen culture 316
Globalisation and screen culture 325
New directions in screen culture 330
Conclusion 331
Key skills 332
Glossary 333
Bibliography 354
Film credits 365
Game credits 370
Television credits 370
Index 375
viii
Acknowledgments
Th e inspiration for this book came from my time at the University
of Cape Town in South Africa from 2002 to 2005, particularly from
designing the Analysing Film and Television curriculum and working
with students in the Screen Production programme. I dedicate my
contribution to the book to my students, to my own teachers, and
to the fabulous colleagues with whom I collaborated at UCT in the
Centre for Film and Media Studies and the Centre for Educational Tech-
nology. Warmest thanks go to my co-author, Kelly McWilliam, for her
friendship and collegiality as well as her wonderful ability to synthesise
complex ideas and express them in a concise and accessible manner in
her contribution to the book as a whole, and especially in the chapters
on celebrity and genre for which she was primarily responsible.
Jane Stadler
I dedicate my contribution to Jane, with whom it has always been
such a pleasure to work; to my Queensland University of Technol-
ogy colleagues, but especially John Hartley, Brad Haseman and Paul
Makeham, for their esteemed support and guidance; and to Sheona
Thomson, who loves screen media almost as much as I do.
Kelly McWilliam
We would like to acknowledge the input of a number of people who
have helped at various stages of the publication. First and foremost,
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SCREEN MEDIA
we owe a debt of gratitude to Amanda Third who generously contrib-
uted to the development of ideas from an early stage, and whose
excellent feedback on drafts of the mise en scène, sound, editing
and realism chapters is deeply appreciated. We are also grateful for
the expert advice and suggestions given by Lisa Bode, who read
and commented on the editing and realism chapters and assisted in
developing the cult media chapter; to Meg Rickards and Emma van
der Vliet, who helped enormously with the storytelling and realism
chapters respectively; to Melanie Rodriga, who was kind enough to
give detailed input on a draft of the cinematography chapter; and
to Becky Abbott who made valuable suggestions about the introduc-
tion and the manuscript as a whole. Meg Rickards, Emma van der
Vliet, Melanie Rodriga and Becky Abbott all work in the film and
television industries as well as in academia, so their experience in
production has been extremely important in informing the integra-
tion of theory and praxis in the text. In addition, we are thankful for
the insightful feedback by anonymous readers of the manuscript; for
the sage advice of our colleagues Graeme Turner, Frances Bonner,
Gillian Whitlock and John Hartley; for Angie Knaggs’ assistance with
copyright permissions; for Matt Campora’s insights into multiform
narrative; and for Rowena Grant Frost’s suggestion of the GI Joe image
and references to The Virgin Spring. We express sincere thanks for
the expertise of our editor Lauren Finger and our publisher Elizabeth
Weiss at Allen & Unwin, who have overseen the entire project and
offered helpful input and guidance.
The research for this book was undertaken with the assistance of a
University of Queensland research grant in 2007.
Jane Stadler and Kelly McWilliam
Brisbane, December 2007
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