Week 5 - Response To Content

The Language of Film

In this week’s lecture, we talked about films discussing why and how they are made. Having already done Screen Analysis last semester none of the content we went through was new to me.

When asked why films were made, the most common answers were: entertainment, to tell stories, express creativity, and reflect on life. Another question was “what’s the biggest aspect of most films?” The answer, that they were largely personal.

When watching a film, usually you spend a lot of time following around one specific character; the Protagonist. The majority of films are based on creating a story through the protagonist’s desire or fear that invokes a necessity to accomplish a goal.  This takes you through the character ark as the protagonist changes and learns how to overcome the most difficult boundaries. A lot of the time the main source of conflict is caused by an Antagonist; the character that is usually the polar opposite of the protagonist and seen as the ‘enemy.’ But an antagonist is not always needed or used. In order for a film to be fully successful, the audience must respond to the film through emotion whether it be feeling sorry for a character in pain, or laughing at one of their expressions. (Thomson, 2010)

In making a film, there are 5 essential plot elements and 3 plot points that need to be incorporated into a 3 part act.

Act 1: The Setup, allows time for the 1st essential plot element to be created; the introduction of the character in such a way that they are a believable character and we learn to sympathise with their life. Act 1 is also where the first plot point should be.

Act 2: The Confrontation, develops the midpoint by introducing an urgent/difficult problem to overcome and follows the protagonist as they attempt to overcome it; the 2nd and 3rd essential elements. The 4th essential element follows soon after as the ‘climax,’ the last problem to overcome. This is usually where the protagonist learns how to accomplish his goal which is the 2nd plot point; the midpoint.

Act 3: The Resolution, holds the final essential element; where everything is resolved which is not always happy. This is the final plot point.

The film ‘Rubber’ follows these steps correctly through its set up. We watch as a guy arrives in a peculiar way to come and stand in front of an audience we don’t see until he is finished to explain what we will be watching. The first plot point of the full film is created when we realise the audience within the movie and watch as they settle down with binoculars to watch a film some distance away. This ‘setup’ shows us that what we are about to see is quite absurd and out of the ordinary. We view the crowd of people watching the tyre as the protagonists as we journey with them through problems like hunger and understanding what they are watching in their own film. We feel sympathetic towards this group of people because we understand what it is like to watch movies. While they watch their own film, we are observing them and their reactions.


References:


Thomson, K 2010, 'Film Art', McGraw-Hill, p. 61.