Posted on in Cinematography, Editing, Mise-en-Scene, Sound

Micro Analysis – 28 Days Later

The purpose of scene analysis is to identify narrative, visual and sound elements and to establish the link between minute detail and broader patterns of development in a film’ Pramaggiore, M., 2011

So, let’s get down to the micro…

This is a process of analysis that you should be familiar with:

  1. Identify specific examples of production techniques:
    1. Cinematography
    2. Editing
    3. Sound
    4. Mise-en-scene
  2. These examples should be named with a technical term
  3. Analyse the impact that technique, in combination with others, on the audience?
    1. How do ‘we’ read the text?
Group Essay

How does the scene, ‘Invasion of Jim’s Family Home,’ use film elements to explore the themes in the film and develop the character journey of Jim & Selena?

In this essay you will be working in groups of four. Each member of the group will be responsible for one paragraph as well as the quality of the essay as a whole. It is expected that you comment on and make suggestions for each others’ work.

This is an important opportunity to practice and refine your scene analysis skills, as well as to learn from each other.

You will be responsible for one of the following paragraphs:

  • An introduction
  • Analysis of cinematography
  • Analysis of sound design
  • Analysis of mise-en-scene
  • Analysis of editing
  • A conclusion

Collectively you will be responsible for the introduction and conclusion, which you will write last.

In total the essay should be a maximum of 1,750 words.

Some Help

Here is a link to the whole film. Our sequence’s time-code is 25.32 – 29.49.

Previous blog posts that contain most of the terms your need:

Cinematography
Sound Design
Production Design
Editing

Here are our mind maps on the four micro elements.

Studying the sequence

You should watch the sequence a minimum of five times.

  1. The first watch without stopping to get the gist of the sequence and place it the narrative context of the whole film.
  2. The second and third time should be a stop start screening, where you are looking for specific examples of the film element you are focusing on. You should also consider the immediate emotional impact of the technique (in combination with other micro areas) on the spectator.
  3. The fourth time should be to consider the representation of the characters. What do we now know about the characters that we didn’t know at the beginning of the scene?
  4. The fifth is to try and think about the scene within the whole film how does it contribute to the development of the characters and themes within the whole film

Here are documents to help you make notes on the four micro features as you watch the sequence.