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Zoya Oyzerovich
Professor Williams
English 102
23 September 2014
Behind the Scene
Film Analysis is finding meaning in what you are watching besides following the
storyline. A handout from the Duke University website, Visual Rhetoric/ Visual Literacy: Writing
about Film written by the Writing Studio from Duke University. This handout explains the
different perspectives of writing about film using film elements. The handout discusses visual
literacy, which is the use of different types of media to interpret a deeper meaning within an
image, and visual rhetoric. Visual Rhetoric is the use of visual media to communicate theoretical
framework. In this handout you read about what is involved with film writing such as looking
into the basic components of scenes of movies and looking at the image, movement, and
sound. Active viewing is essential when analyzing a film beginning with the image.
There are two types of images: Mise-en-scene and framing. According to the text, Miseen-scene is a French term meaning literally put in the scene (Writing). It includes dialogue,
dressing, costumes, set location, lightning, and actors, everything that goes into a film before it
is photographed. The mise-en-scene adds to the framing and reframing which is also essential
to film. They both work together to establish the overall work of art of the image. When writing
about a film, you take a scene and analyze it. Looking into the scene for a deeper meaning, you

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try to understand the positions of actors, meaning of colors, and symbols portrayed in the film
and to see the concealed message. When you look at all the elements of the film in the image
you can begin to look at movement of the film.
There are two types of movement: continuous and discontinuous. When discussing
movement it can be anything, such as: objects, actors, frames and more. You begin to ask
yourself many questions like:what is the director trying to show us in this scene. Study the
movement of the object or scene and take into consideration as to why it is being shown that
way. Duke Universitys writing studio states that one of the best ways to interpret the meaning
of movement is to think about your own reaction to the film what emotions are coming to you
from seeing it (Writing). Once you understand how to look at the image, interpret the
movement you can begin to comprehend how sound can bring it all together.
Films tend to have some sort of music in it to help with the explanation of what image
they want to portray in that scene. Sounds in films are usually made up dialogue, sound effects
and music. When sounds are being analyzed it is important to not only to look at what is there
but what is absent in the film, which can be just as important as what is missing. Sound in a film
does not always need to submit a sound, again, sound or no sound it is significant for a
purpose. Sound can give you emotions that the directors want you to see.
Writing about film can provide an unforeseen insight to another meaning. Gathering the
knowledge you attain from the image, movement and sound can receive another entire
meaning to the scene. Once you learn how to apply film analysis to films, you wont watch

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another movie without thinking about the image, movement and sound. Not everything you
see meets the eye.

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Web Cited
Chaplin, Charlie. The Lions Cage. 2007. YouTube. Web. 2 Dec 2014.
"When the Lion Roars." MUBI. MUBI. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.
Writing About Film. Writing Studio. Duke University. Web. 2 Dec 2014.