Questions for Film Analysis

PD Dr. Jana Gohrisch
WS 2005/06
Anglistische Literaturwissenschaft (Hauptstudium)
Fiction and Media in Multiracial Britain
QUESTIONS FOR FILM ANALYSIS
1. VISUAL ELEMENTS
frame and shots
camera movements
cutting and montage
space and lighting
mise-en-scène
2. AUDITIVE ELEMENTS
sound
music
3. NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
genre
story and plot (conflict and solution)
setting (time and place, incl. the handling of time)
narrator/point of view/focalization (Who speaks and who sees?)
script editing (dramaturgy)
characters and techniques of characterization (incl. stylistic register)
tropes (metaphors and metonymies, ironies)
4. ACTING
choice of actors (types)
styles of acting
EAST IS EAST
Analyse the title of the film and its implications for the topic! Comment especially on
the allusion to Kipling’s “Ballad of East and West” and its connotations!
Describe the function of the opening sequence for the film’s topic!
Concentrate on the aesthetics of the film (see points 1 to 4) and prepare questions
to stimulate the discussion in class.
Describe the relationship between the film’s words and images! Do they support or
contradict (parallel or modify) each other?
What is the function of the comic elements for the story told and for the viewers?
PD DR. JANA GOHRISCH – QUESTIONS FOR FILM ANALYSIS
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM
Arguably, one of the film’s major topics is the hybridization of cultures. How does
this come across aesthetically? Which elements of Bollywood cinema and British
comedy does Chadha join? How does this affect narration and plot construction?
Analyse the film’s representation of women’s football! What about the camera
aesthetics with regard to shots, angles and movements? How have the football
sequences been edited? Which function does the music perform here?
Which kinds of music does Chadha employ in her film? When are they used and for
what effects?
What is the thematic implication of the cross-editing that joins Pinky’s wedding and
Jess’s finals? How does Chadha handle the transitions?
Comment on the choice of female actors and its influence on the representation of
gender!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hickethier, Knut. Film- und Fernsehanalyse. Zweite, überarb. Auflage. Stuttgart,
Weimar: Metzler 1996.
Mikos, Lothar. Film- und Fernsehanalyse. Konstanz: UVK 2003.
Monaco, James. Film verstehen. Kunst, Technik, Sprache, Geschichte und Theorie
des Films und der Medien. Mit einer Einführung in Multimedia. Übers. von Brigitte
Westermeier und Robert Wohlleben. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt 1996 [1st ed.
1977].
Sauer, Arne. East is East. Damien O’Donnell. Großbritannien 1999/2000 Filmheft.
Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung 2001.
Schaeffer, Karin Theresa. Kick it like Beckham. Gurinder Chadha.
Großbritannien/Deutschland 2002. Filmheft. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
2004.
Steinmetz, Rüdiger. Filme sehen lernen. Grundlagen der Filmästhetik. Frankfurt/M.:
Zweitausendeins 2005.
INTERNET LINKS
<http://www.kickitlikebeckham.de>
<http://www.kinofenster.de> (5/2000 zu East is East und 10/2002 zu Kick it like
Beckham)
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