NARRATIVE FILM EXAMPLES FOR CLASSES Peter Thompson Revised 5/15/99 INDEX OF HEADINGS: BLACK & WHITE WITH COLOR: COMEDY DIALOGUE: DREAM SEQUENCES EDITING ISSUES: ACTION SEQUENCES: CUTAWAYS DYNAMIC ARTICULATIONS JUMPCUTS: LCUTS MASTER SHOTS MONTAGE SEQUENCES PACING SEPARATION OF CHARACTERS TAKES: LONG & SHORT TIME: EXPANSION & COMPRESSION VALUES VERSUS MATCHES FILMING IN SMALL SPACE IMPROVISATION LOVE SCENES METAPHORS MOVING/STATIONARY IMAGE MUSIC NARRATION NARRATIVE: NON-CHRONOLOGICAL PARTIARCHIAL POV POINTS OF VIEW SOUND SOUND DESIGN SPACE: OFFSCREEN TITLES AS CHAPTER HEADINGS UNDERSTATEMENT UNINDEXED FILMS: ? Ishida, FALLEN FLOWERS (total sound integration) ??, OCTOBER IN PARIS , same as above Alain Resnais, VAN GOGH Alain Robbe-GrilletÕsTRANS EUROP EXPRESS (Michen FanoÕs score) Boris Barnett, OKRAINA (sound track obtained by filming geometrical patterns onto optical track). DEUX OU TROIS CHOSES QUE JE SAIS DÕELLE¥ V10980 Francesco Rosi, SALVATORE GIULIANO (nonfictional subjects) Garrel, LE REVELATEUR (completely silent) Georges Franju, HOTEL DES INVALIDES Godard, UNE FEMME MARIEE Jacques Rivette, THE NUN¥ V11038 Jean-Marie Straub, NICHT VERSOHNT Karl Zeman, THE FABULOUS WORLD OF JULES VERNE (live and animated footage juxtaposed) LÕHOMME QUI MENT (THE MAN WHO LIES) LÕIMMORTELLE LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD¥ LE SANG DES BETES LE TERRITOIRE DES AUTRES Marcel Hanoun, UNE SIMPLE HISTOIRE, (rigorous exposition of filmic formal articulations).¥ Michelangeno Antonioni, CRONACA DI UN AMORE (Giovanni FucoÕs score) MONSIEUR ET MADAME CURIE Pereira dos Santos , VIDAS SECAS Peter Emmanuel Goldman, ?? , same as above. Valerian Borowczyk, GOTO, LÕILE DÕAMOUR (complex alternating between images too fast to read and images so slow that they can be read to boredom). Varda, LA POINTE COURTE Vera Chytilova, SOMETHING DIFFERENT, for onscreen and offscreen space. VIVRE SA VIE Von Sternberg, THE SAGA OF ANATAHAN Welles, OTHELLO* William Klein, FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE A BEE, use of photos and live footage of same scene. ¥ LE GRAND MELIES ¥Antonioni, LA NOTTE (for mismatches of movement --door shutting) ¥Kon Ichikawa, ENJO (total sound integration) TO ORDER: Doug Block, HOME PAGE SILVERLAKE LIFE Spike Lee, 4 LITTLE GIRLS LENNY BRUCE: SWEAR TO TELL THE TRUTH St. Clair Bourne, PAUL ROBESON: HERE I STAND! Adam Yauch, FREE TIBET UNZIPPED MODULATIONS: CINEMA FOR THE EAR FINDING CHRISTA THE CRUISE, (1998) Brett Morgen and Nanette Bursetin, ON THE ROPES, MANDELA HEIDI FLEISS: HOLLYWOOD MADAM PI AMERICAN BUFFALO Marc Levin, SLAM Vincent Gallo, BUFFALO Õ66 LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND Paul Schrader, AFFLICTION Susan Korda, FOR ALL MANKIND VIENNA IS DIFFERENT: 50 YEARS AFTER THE ANSCHLUSS THE GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE SPARK AMONG THE ASHES: A BAR MITZVAH IN POLAND Harmony Korine, JULIEN DONKEY BOY FIRST LOVE LAST RITES WHAT HAPPENED WASÉ. Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, KING OF THE JUNGLE Gary Winick, SWEET NOTHING Brad Anderson, NEXT STOP WONDERLAND Michael Corrente, OUTSIDE PROVIDENCE BLACK & WHITE WITH COLOR HIGH AND LOW, 2 shots of pink smoke coming out of smokestack NIGHT AND FOG, color = present, b&w = past. WINGS OF DESIRE UNSTRUNG HEROES, mix of home movie footage MALCOLM X, mix of b/w 16mm newsfootage with ÒactualÓ event in color. COMEDY: RAISING ARIZONA SOME LIKE IT HOT DIALOGUE: CHINATOWN, V9375 2 characters: Mrs. Mulwray goes to JJÕs office to hire him. DAMAGE, Louis Malle 2 characters: Irons meets Binoche at party. MCUÕs with minimal dialogue, but held together with intense mutual gaze. Notice man approaching out of focus and /cut/approaching farther out than the continuity would suggest. 3 characters: Anna, Peter & Irons in AnnaÕs apartment. FORCE OF EVIL, Abraham Polonsky Dialogue as vehicle for dramatic action and as musically organized sound. 2 characters: Dialogue filled with alliterations, dissonant rhythmes and rhythmical effects serving as a relay for sound effects as when knocks on a door repeat the rhythm and timbre of the preceeding dialogue. HIS GIRL FRIDAY, Howard Hawks, 1940. 3 characters: overlapping dialogue during dinner scene at bar. Gestures. LOWER DEPTHS, Kurosawa Multiple characters: Card playing scene where the dialogue is ÒorchestratedÓ musically. LOVE AFFAIR, Leo McCarey. ÒLooksÓ between Boyer and Dunne coming after their spoken lines because they are in reaction to their own words. This forces the editor to stay on the CU after the words are delivered. This is highly unusual. The sceneÕs strength comes entirely on the ÔlooksÓ as opposed to what is said. GOODFELLAS, Scorcese. Joe PesciÕs baiting of hero in restaurant. ÒDREAMÓ SEQUENCES Diagetic time and space are radically altered by a move into the interior space of a character. BUFFALO 66 Bar scene in which hero approaches the place kicker and enacts killing him and then changes his mind and walks out. THE CELEBRATION Scene when Christian falls to floor and his dead sisters appears to him. THE SHINING little boy asking mirror what will happen at the Hotel, then blood runs from elevators BARCELONA, by Still Whitman. Man leaves hospital room to meet woman he expects to see and projects that reality with accompanying music and then meets a different woman. TV COMMERCIALS in general CLOCKWORK ORANGE kid in prison EDITING ISSUES: ACTION SEQUENCES: AMERICAN FRIEND FRENCH CONNECTION NAKED CITY, JULES DASSIN, edited by Waxworth See Reisz, pps. NORTH BY NORTHWEST STAGE COACH CUTAWAYS: PROVIDENCE, V6727 Cutaways to telephone without motivation during scene in bedroom with son, mother, and soccer playing son. After second cutaway, narrator understands the possibility of the cutaway and ÒusesÕ it. DYNAMIC ARTICULATIONS: OTHELLO, Static shots alternating with extremely rapid tracking shots. JUMPCUTS: HUSBANDS AND WIVES, dir. Woody Allen, editor: Susan E. Morse Allen does not let cast know the whole story. handheld camera, wildly panning. This style forces jumpcuts. Editor must decide how important the content is, then use jumpcut. First scene: we are clued early that jumpcuts will be used. Interviews: used as pacing device, and as camera as therapy device. DAMAGE, EDITOR JOHN BLOOM Jumpcuts during first love scene. L-CUTS: THE PLAYER ALTMAN, 1970, V9729 Extended Lcut after Robbins kills the writer and camera dollies in to the body in the alley and we hear pre-meeting business chit chat for 22 seconds ahead of the next scene. MASTER SHOTS: CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, edited by Susan Morse. Beginning of film: establishing shot, lots of space. Difference between shots in the medical wing and DoloresÕ apartment. Dolores screws up the line and the editor felt it to be convincing so she left it in. THE VERDICT Entire telephone scene in office shot as Master shot: 45 minutes into film: lawyer takes telephone call to plea bargain. There is a lot of psychological action. Speculation: Paul Newman is carrying scene off emotionally. So editor must ask yourself: do I break into this scene through editing? MATCHES: OTHELLO Actor begins movement/cut/actor has already completed movement. Actor motionless/cut/actor completes movement. MONTAGE SEQUENCES: ALL THAT JAZZ DAYS OF HEAVEN harvesting scenes HUSTLER, THE 1961). PERSONA V6237 Beginning sequence WITNESS, barn building GHOSTBUSTERS II City preparing for ghostbuster team GOODFELLAS Montage sequence of wives and girlfriends of wife at party. PERSONA V6237 PARALLEL EDITING & CROSS-CUTTING: DONÕT LOOK NOW (cross-cutting) EDVARD MUNCH, Peter Watkins multple space/time audio and visual cuts GODFATHER (Parallel cuts at baptism/killings) KILLING, THE Kubrick What each member of the gang did, going backwards in chronological time. MALCOLM X, cutting of XÕs speech, X watching his own speech, CIA listening in, etc. PAWNBROKER, parallel cutting between Jesus + girlfriend & Broker + Jewish woman. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (last scenes in two separate houses. Suspense) STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, V6250 Parallel cutting on feet approaching train. SEPARATION OF CHARACTERS: CASABLANCA, V6249 When Lisa and Rick meet for the first time in RickÕs club. 27 second CU of Lisa, etc. Two lovers kept separate for 50 seconds. TAKES: LONG & SHORT LONG: RULES OF THE GAME Early days of deep focus. Long takes force your hand in terms of editing. Bazin: democratizing the view of the audience. Crab dolly.: goes in and out, and laterally, and up and down. how do the two men get to the couch? A BIGGER SPLASH Kasmim waiting for Hockney at beginning of film. Mo sitting at table doing nothing, with vo. RED SORGHUM--camera at ground level looking at sorghum, then it is leveled by workers driven by Japanese as the camera rises and perceives what has happened to the entire surrounding countryside. SUDDEN CHANGE OF SEQUENCE STYLE: EAST OF EDEN Raymond Massey and James Dean in father Ðson argument. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the viewer is presented with matching side slanted CUÕs. Apparently unmotivated tilts. (If you must use symbols, make them clear). TIME: EXPANSION & COMPRESSION PSYCHO, V6015 shower scene, 50 shots in 2 minutes, Close ups focus on a detail of the preceeding fuller shot of Marion Crane. Increase the sense of shock by showing subjective view of murder weapon.coming down at the camera. XCU and subjective camera. KING LEAR, PETER BROOK, V7378 Death of Lear at the end: he slowly arcs backward while film crosscuts to others talking. Time greatly expanded through editing. RAGING BULL, Scorcese V6422 LaMotta meeting Vicki at the fence at the pool. Time gently expanded. THE GRADUATE, Benji turns around when Mrs. Robinson enters the room naked. CARNAL KNOWLEDGE: V6003 When woman is lowering herself to give Jack a blowjob and the background wallpaper continues to slide by her as if she were lowering herself 30 feet instead of 3. Metaphor for his sinking morally. VALUES VERSUS MATCHES MURDER MY SWEET, scene between Marlowe and Mullow in dark office at night with flashing neon light. Dymetryk edited scene for values, ignoring the correct pulsing of the neon. FILMING IN SMALL SPACE GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS HIGH AND LOW by Kurosawa. See Noel Burch on this film. IMPROVISATION SHADOWS by Cassavetes WHERE IS MY FRIENDÕS HOUSE, ABAS KIROSTAMI ÒLOVEÓ SCENES: DOUBLE INDEMNITY One of the coldest love scenes ever filmed. ANNIE HALL Allen in bed with Shelly Duvall THE GRADUATE, Scene when Benji turns around when Mrs. Robinson enters the room. BETTY BLUE opening shot of lovers with slow track in. Frontal female & male nudity throughout film. Oral sex. Over the top. Sensational, uninteresting. French. BOYS DONÕT CRY After the rape scene: ÒHey, you ok?Ó Shower scene. CARNAL KNOWLEDGE: When woman is lowering herself to give Jack a blowjob and the background wallpaper continues to slide by her as if she were lowering heself 30 feet. Metaphor for his sinking, morally. CLOCKWORK ORANGE HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER Tilted video camera on floor as the killers run after woman. DAMAGE by MALLE Formal framing to safeguard modesty of stars. FULL MONTE Scene between couple: ÒWho wants to see this dance?Ó LA JETEE Eyeblink scene, man looking at womanÕs neck scene. LIQUID SKY, V6258 ALIEN VAMPIRE SUCKING LIFE FORCE FROM DRUGGIES. SOLDIER GIRLS Private Hall comforting black recruit PERSONA Self-utilation in bed PAWNBROKER pareallel cutting between Jesus + girlfriend & Broker + Jewish woman. PORNOGRAPHERS, THE SILENCE, Bergman Masturbation scene. Cold, desperate. UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING WINGS OF DESIRE WOMAN IN THE DUNES WORLD OF APO METAPHORS: Motif: MARNI, color red PSYCHO, eye motifs Symbol: CITIZEN KANE, sled CARNAL KNOWLEDGE: Mike Nichols, 1971, V6003 Woman is lowering herself to give Jack a blowjob and the background wallpaper continues to slide by her as if she were lowering herself 30 feet. Metaphor for his ÒsinkingÓ, morally. PORNOGRAPHERS, THE Cutting to CU of fish, and filming through fishbowl. Metaphor: OCTOBER, cut between herded workers and herd of cattle DONÕT LOOK NOW Cuts between water/blood on slide and childÕs drowning Allegory: SEVENTH SEAL, figure of death on the beach Duration and Placement metaphors: PAWNBROKER, THE Black prostitute disrobes for Steiger, flashbacks to camp with increasing rapidity. MOVING/STATIONARY IMAGE: AX FIGHT Middle section with stop-motion plus explanation. LA JETEE photographs plus one real time moving image MUSIC: FILM SCORE EXAMPLES: A married Woman, Godard A Perfect Couple (out of print) Altered States Asphalt Jungle, p. 58 Beast, The Betty Blue, V9712, score by Gabrial Yared, nouveau-Fellini. Black Cat Casanova (aka FelliniÕs Casanova) Cobweb, The Crucified Lovers, V8426 Damage, Zbigniew Preisner cello/after 1st meeting, after Family meeting, after 1st telephone call, after Anna explains how brother died. Diva, Double Indemnity, VD185, V11045 Down by Law DraightsmanÕs Contract (out of print) Escape from LA, CD231. Score: Shirley Walker, raw, edgy, rock. Escape from New York Falls, The (out of print) Forbidden Planet Goldfinger, Guy Hamilton 1964, music by John Barry Green Mansions, Heitor Villa Lobos Halloween, V6136 Hamlet, directed by Grigori Kozintsev HandmaidÕs Tale, The Haunted Summer Housekeeping, V7408 Hunger, The Images, Robert Altman (out of print) King Kong, V6385 King Lear, by Peter Brook V7378 Laura Les Abysses Liquid Sky, V6258 Living Desert Long Riders, V6457 Magnificent Ambersons, The p. 64, VD49 Man of Flowers Nashville Night Visitor No ManÕs Land, Alain Tanner North by Northwest, Bernard Herrmann, V6416 Odds Against Tomorrow Pather Panchali, Ravi Shankar, V8103 Peeping Tom, VD357 Pee WeeÕs Big Adventure, Tim Burton Pierrot le Fou, V10724, VD116 Player, The, V9729, Thomas Newman Psycho, Bernard Herrmann, V6015 Raising Arizona, Carter Burwell Runaway Sea Hawk, The, Bernard Herrmann Sheltering Sky, VD227 Star Trek, the Motion Picture Star Wars, John Williams, V6425 Stranger than Paradise, V6957 Vertigo, p. 83, V6626 Vivre sa vie, V8192 Wait Until Dark Welcome to LA, V7448, musicians perform diagetic/non-d. score on film. Woman in the Dunes, V6541 Wuthering Heights, V6796 PETERÕS COLLECTION: FILM SCORES ON CDs: Barry, John (excerpts from): High Road to China Ipcress File Mary Queen of Scots Monte Walsh The Knack The Quiller Memorandum The Scarlet Letter Walkabout Cooder, Ry The End of Violence (complete) Herrmann, Bernard Citizen Kane (SalammboÕs Aria) North by Northwest, (complete) Vertigo, Bernard Herrmann. 83, V6626 (complete) Korngold, Erich Wolfgang King of the Kyber Rifles (attack on mountain stronghold) Sea Hawk (complete) Elisabeth and Essex (ElizabethÕs theme) Newman, Thomas The Player (complete) Morricone, Ennio (excerpts from): Cinema Paradiso Disclosure In the Line of Fire La Cage au Folles Once Upon a Time In America Once Upon a Time in the West The Mission Wolf Rosza, Miklos Julius Cesar main title sequence Knights of the Round Table (Scherzo: hawks in flight) Steiner, Max Casablanca, (Caine Mutiny march) Now, Voyager (love scene and finale Gone with the Wind (polka) Tiomkin, Dmitri The Guns of Navarone prelude The Thing from Another World suite Waxman Captain Blood overture Objective, Burma! Parachute drop Peyton Place title sequence Williams, John Star Wars main title FILM SCORES ON CD IN COLUMBIAÕS LIBRARY: THE LONGEST DAY: MUSIC FROM THE CLASSIC WAR FILMS, CD265 Escape from LA, Shirley Walker, CD231 MUSIC EXAMPLES: AMISTAD BIG CHILL bad use of pop music overlays BULLOCK: PHOTOGRAPHY, A WAY OF LIFE overdone music track CHIKEMATSU MONAGATORI (CRUCIFIED LOVERS) structural use of sound/music throughout the film, esp. during fight in bamboo grove. HAIL MARY use of onscreen string quartet KING LEAR, by Peter Brook use of silence at beginning. KUNDUN (overdone music track) = excellent example of what not to do. LA CONNECTION Jerry Goldsmith (when they drive up at night and jump over a wall) M use of song motif sung by murderer STRAW DOGS lame use of classical music. THE SHINING, V6297 direct quotes from Bartok, Penderezcki. Superb use of pre-composed contemporary classical music. TRANSEUROP EXPRESS use of fragments of La Traviata UNSTRUNG HEROES use of neo balinese and rock music NARRATION: BADLANDS CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, V6003 two characters speak over titles DAMAGE End of the film: IronÕs narration DAYS OF HEAVEN DOUBLE INDEMNITY, VD185, V11045 MEMORANDUM, V7197 Irony, exact choice of words, intonation. NAKED CITY, THE Irony, from on high, goading TWO PORTRAITS THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, V6421--narration throughout the entire film, by voice og god narrator at beginning, then by main character who speaks on camera. UNIVERSAL HOTEL NARRATIVE: NON-CHRONOLOGICAL ROSHOMON, Kurasawa PULP FICTION RESERVOIR DOGS THE KILLING, Kubrick What each member of the gang did, going backwards in chronological time. THE LAST WALTZ by Scorscese PACING: M. HULOTÕS HOLLIDAY, alternating bursts of activity with boredom LEAVING LAS VEGAS POV main character getting prograssively drunker, shifts from car to bar to prostitute house with disturbed or suppressed audio and cuts to black. Shot with cop held very long. PAWNBROKER, THE, V6244 WILD BUNCH, V6462 THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI V6782 Bridge scene at end. WINTER LIGHT, V6675 THE BLACK STALLION V6155 THE CONFORMIST, VD373 RAISING ARIZONA, V9097 PERSONA V6237 CABARET, V6795 Boy sings song and is joined by other Germans. TOUCH OF EVIL, V7057 Opening sequence. PATRIARCHIAL POV: DAMAGE BinocheÕs dialogue about not wanting to wake up with lover at breakfast. End of film: love has not turned to hate. PSYCHO Marion gets punished for stepping into the ÒmanÕsÓ domain of crime. POINT OF VIEW: DUAL POV: BADLANDS, V6431 Beginning of film PLATOON, by Oliver Stone V7162 (beginning scene) HILLARY AND JACKIE IMPLIED POV: THE CONVERSATION last 30 minutes SINGLE POV: DAYS OF HEAVEN, VD 176, V6123, VO from MallickÕs UNIVERSAL HOTEL, NARRATION of SUBJECTIVE POV: BUFFALO 66 Scene in which hero brings his new girlfriend home to meet his parents and they sit around the dining room table with only three characters viewable at any one time. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, V6780 funeral of YuriÕs mother at beginning of film RASHOMON VD046 HILLARY AND JACKIE JackieÕs pov as she is losing her ability to play MULTIPLE POV: PLAYTIME, V6716 EDVARD MUNCH SOUND APOCALYPSE NOW CHIKEMATSU MONAGATORI (CRUCIFIED LOVERS) CONVERSATION CRIES AND WHISPERS FRENCH CONNECTION KING LEAR, PETER BROOK (SILENCE) LEAVING LAS VEGAS POV main character getting prograssively drunker, shifts from car to bar to prostitute house with disturbed or suppressed audio and cuts to black. Shot with cop held very long. NASHVILLE ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST PERSONA UNIVERSAL HOTEL SOUND: FROM NATURAL TO ARTIFICIAL: APOCALYPSE NOW Sound design goes artificial as men loose contact with reality. THE CONVERSATION by FF Coppola Extended scene in Harry CaulÕs loft. Continuous glimpses of his inaccessibility as a human being. His ego rises to the bait and he gets slammed. Sound: diagetic music, then non-diagetic, then goes into cage with diagetic. Same dynamic at last half hour of the film. SOUND: SELECTIVE HEARING FRENCH CONNECTION scene at bar with pop group singing, 2 cops at bar UNIVERSAL HOTEL sound between photographs RAGING BULL scenes in ring, ranging from crowd reality to bodily interiors. LEAVING LAS VEGAS POV main character getting progrEssively drunker, shifts from car to bar to prostitute house with disturbed or suppressed audio and cuts to black. SILENCE: A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE Scenes of discomfort when no one knows how to react to Mabel. APOCALLYPSE NOW Silence: as Chief dies, and then as they make contact with KurtzÕ camp. KING LEAR, PETER BROOK, V7378 Totally silent beginning, then, finally, the sound of a door slamming shut begins the sound within the film. BOOGIE NIGHTS Scene in which Bert Reynolds is speaking to his friend behind glass bars and the phone system goes out and the friend continues to speak without sound. SOUND DESIGN: 32 SHORT FILMS ABOUT GLENN GOULD APOCALYPSE NOW CONVERSATION, THE Mix of prerecorded audio and ÒrealÓ audio as film progresses. CRIES AND WHISPERS DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES NASHVILLE OTHELLO Long shots accompanied by close-miked dialogue, etc. THE SHINING Incorporation of pre-composed music and blocking actors to the music (Bartok, Pendereczki, etc.) JAGUAR, Jean Rouch (selective sounds from the environment) SPACE: OFFSCREEN CARNAL KNOWLEDGE Candace Bergen: occupies frame and reacts to the two men at either side. Jack Nickolson: occupies frame and reacts to the couple outside of frame. RESERVOIR DOGS Ear cutting scene: pan to ÒWatch your HeadÓ. TITLES AS CHAPTER HEADINGS: RESERVOIR DOGS Mr. White, etc. HILLARY AND JACKIE ÒHillaryÕs StoryÓ, ÒJackieÕs StoryÓ THE SHINING Inverted pyramid of dramatic thrust: the interview, 6 mnths later, 1 week later, tuesday, friday, Monday morning, tuesday 8am. UNDERSTATEMENT: UNSTRUNG HEROES dir: Diane Keaton THE SHINING