Film analysis

Key terms

Verisimilitude

How real the world of the story appears to the audience - it is believable, for example.

Diegesis/Diegetic world

The world in which the film takes place.

Juxtaposition

Placing one object next to another to create meaning.

Narrative story

Theories that categories narratives and find features to common to them.

Levi-Strauss Binary Opposition

Narrative tension is based on opposition or conflict. This can be as simple as two characters fighting, but more often functions at an ideological level.

Example of binary opposition - good vs evil, black vs white, girl vs boy

8 character types:

• The Villain
• The helper
• The Princess or prize
• His father
• The donor
• The hero
• The false hero
• The dispatcher

The male gaze theory - Media is made by white male heterosexual middle class men

Todorov's Equilibrium Theory

1) equilibrium

2) Disruption of equilibrium by an event

3) A realisation of equilibrium that the disruption has happened

4) An attempt to repair the damage or disruption

5) A restoration of equilibrium


Action and Enigma code -Roland Barthes

Action codes - What will happen next... she falls over - will he catch her? She's been caught - what will he do with her?

Enigma codes - The audience questions why... Why is there a shoe on the floors?