Film form and narrative

Allan Rowe

• Introduction: the act of vieiwlng

II Case study 1: RoboCop
II Case study 2: beginning of Keaton's film The General
• Cinematic codes

• Mlse-en-sc6ne

• Setting

• Costume

• Performance and movement

• 'Putting Into the scene'

• Lighting

• Camera and camera movement

• Narrative

• Case study 3; // - an alternative text

Further reading
Further viewing

T'M
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 FILM FOIM AND NARRAT

Film form and narrative a CASE STUDY 1: ROBOCOP

The (xocess of making sense of a movie is initially produced at the beginning of a film
INTRODUCTION: THE ACT OP VIEWING
wften we are first drawn into its world. We willexplore the film ftoboCop* lo see how
The experience of watching lilms - particuiarty in the cinema - is an intense one. We this process works. This film operates In an area between that of comic strip construc
are'sittlr^g iri near-dartiness, in rows of seats directed towards a screen, separated from tion - a recently deceased policeman transformed into an indestructible robot - and the
one another, but sharing an experience with the rest of the audience. We are viewing environment of police precinct work. This is a form recognisable from both TV fictions
large images - allowing a closeness to tfvefigures on the screen not afforded In everyday and news programmes, of an uncontrollable urban area and a political climate of privall-
life, and often seeing thirrgs that we do not usually see. Tliete ts a co-ordinated, concen sathxi- For the film to 'worlL' there is a need to absorb the impossible into the all too
trated and often loud soundtrack, furlfier directing our attention t1 It threatens to wander. probable. The film's popular and critical acceptability suggests that this has worked.
It Is small wonder that the viewers of the Lumidre Brothers' took evasive action as that After an initial aerial shot showing a modern, sky-scrapered city, with the film title
train Tirst pulled into the station. Elvis Presley is alleged to have been concerrred with (maybe suggesting ttiat this could be any modern city), we are presented wKh a sixteen
the scnpi of his first movie, l-le was required to hit a woman, and that was 'against his picture grid - dominated by irnages of urban violence, followed Isy a shot of a male and
nature". He could not be convinced that wftal occurred on screen did not actually have female facing directly to the camera. Before they start talking, a voice-over addresses
to take place, Yet we are ultimately aware of tho fantasy nature of whiat we see - Edward the unseen TV audience, vAiich In offocl is us, the viewers of the film; "This is fi^edla -
G. Robinson went on to m^o many more films after the 'end of Little Rico' In UWe you give us three minutes - we give you the world.'
Caesar' wllhoul provoking doubts or outcry among his fans. What occurs is a process We are aware that this is a TV news item. Apart from TV lights and the studio back-
of 'suspension of disl)elie(' wheret>y we seem to accept temporarily the reality of what drt^ - ffiere is a direct address lo the audience, in doing so the shot acknowledges
appears In front of us, wtiile having the capacity to switch off this belief at a moment's the presence of a camera and by implication an audience. As a strategy, thiis has been
notice, If someone talks lo us or the celluloid breaks." denied to mainstream fictional cinema, since the early days. Although this is not an
It is this capacity to switch on and off, rattier than the poorer quality of the visual ldentifiat>le TV station, and we are viewing a fictional film, the film-maker presumes our
Image, thiat accounts for the reduced potency of a horror film when watched at home capacity lo read the conventions. This first news item, a nuclear threat In the besieged
with ttie remote control at hand. II Is not the fidelity of image and sound that creates white city-state of Pretoria, suggests a future, txit riot too far future, scenario; the second, Conventions are estaoiished
the Illusion of reality for us. The early viewers of film accepted the shades of grey that a fokey news item on the Star Wars initiative, suggests a comic clement - but also a procedures wtitih a Dsnjcuar tonn
appear in a black and white film. Viewing these films today, we find It hard to accept world without clear moral values. A commercial for artificial hearts follows. On first wtiich are ideotifiaiiie trycom the
the illusion of films made in a period with different technical standards - the noise gets viewing we cannot place these. However we 'trust' Itie narrative lo make sense of them, proOucor and the reaflsr. Ttie
in the way. Tt>e mere recording of events in front of tfie camera - and the use, for as It does with the construction of ttie artificial policeman within the corrupt environ implication of the iaea of
In the lllm Industry, it refers to
instance, uf everyday speech by nor>-actors In a drama-documentary - olton appears ment. Nothing in a mainstream narrative is there by accident. conventions Is that a form does not
any barrier lo successtui
strange to us. The 'illusory reality' of mainstream cinema is created lor us t>y a numtrer The final item relates directly to the namalive of the film;the killing of three policemen, naturally mean anytisng, but Ills
of devices, involving the use ot camera. microptior>e and lighting. These devices are not the taking over of policing by a private corporation and the introduction of two villains an agreement tietween praducer
draffla-stocamsntarv fixed - a 'correct' way of recording the truth - but conventions developed over a hundred - the corporate boss Jones, in an insensitive Interview, and the crime boss Boddlcker, and user.

years of cinema. These are Ingrained in us as viewers - and we can feel disturbed or through a soft focus newspaper shot. The TV introduction is not only an economical
Any format which atiemiris la re
ciiealed if Ihese conventions are broken. II we are 'duped' by this - we are wiilingfy introduction to the narrative but authenticates the reality of the siluation. it also places
create i^slorfcai or typcai events
duped. We participate in this process of suspension of disbelief as a price for the us at a distance from those in autfiorlty.
using polornwrs. whether actns
pleasures we gel from film viewing - including that of 'surviving' l>eing scared l}y a The next scene - in ttie fwlice precinct - is constructedwith longmoving shots using
or not
horror movie. Sleadicam," overlapping dialogue and a high level of verbal violence, all famriiaras the
Howover, our role In this process Is rrot merely a passive one. We work actively at style of TV police series such as NYPD Blues. However, the futurist nature of the scene
making sense of the individusd scenes and particularly at predicting the story, To do so is implied by the unremarked upon unisex locker room. There Is a newcomer to the
• Foature-length narrative films Although lilms ate viewed and
we retain an awareness of the conventions of film and are able to retain a crrtica! distarrce precinct, who is seen taking the place of a murdered policeman. We read this through
created lor eniertaiiunent and head, the concept ot 'readeig' a
from wiral we see. I would maintain this is rvot a capacity possessed solely by film ftis action in taking over a locker and replacing the name. He joins up with a partner,
imnt. Hanstrsam is usiudty film implies an active process of
students', but rather is Integral to the act of viewing. Lewis, who in a stock scene, subverted by her gender, proves herself in a fight. The
associated wltli ttoiiyvraod', making sense of what we ate
two ascend in the car to the 'real world', he driving the car. she blowing her bubblegum
regardlsss ot where the tflm Is experiencing.
In his face.
Tfte film cuts, without an establishing shot, lo the Inside of an ascending lih In the estabHshlng sfaot
corporation building, suggesting a link organisationally it not physicafiy between the two
A shot using distant Iraming.
buildings. The locations ^ow similarities, but also contrasts.
allowing the viewer to see the
Uniforms are worn in both buildings - the dark blue builet-prooling of the police and
spatial lelations between
the mid-grey of the 'suits', the walls are predominantly single coloured, a grubby light
characters and ttie set.
green at the precinct and light grey at the corporallun txiiiding, clutter at the precinct,
 ALLAN nOWE FILM FOHM AND NARRATIVE

space at ft>e corporation, a blacUxaarci at tf>e precinct and a hlgh-tecli bank of TV agreement amotrg members of the audience as to what it is about, what Is happening.
screens at the corporallon. The reading of an early film, made a hundred years ago, appears on first sight lo be
The locus of Ihis scene, used widely In the marketing of the film, is the presentation easier. The language of tt>e films of Lumifere and MPlifes' appears simpler - the visual
by Jones ol a robot "Fuluro of Law EnlorcemenL EO,209'. This roljot is shot predtxrii- equivalent ol children's piclure-bixiks - and it is tempting to regardthe eariyfilm-makers
nanflyfrom t>elow. indeed from ground level, initially dominaling the frame of the open and ttieir audiences with condescension. The conception of a 'Primitive Mode of
doors leading fromthe boardroom,with corresponding high angle shots of the terrified Representation" (Noel Burch), appliedto the first two decades of film-making, encour
executives. The robot's movements are heavy, metallic and jerky - and are accompanied ages us to read these as the first faltering steps lo the irresistiblefinal product ol the
A shol from a camera held above
cnaiacters or obtect, knUns down
by a high volumesoundtrack. Its appearance withlarge bulky"legs' and 'arms' suggests rTxxJem Hollywood movie.
al Ihoiti.
something sulrhuman - particularfy when compared later with the hunnari-tiased Although the first extant movies are documentary records of either publicor private
RoboCop.The crude mechanical 209 proceeds lo destroy a juniorexecutive in a demon- events, such as the Lumlbres' home movie of feeding a baby or the reconstruction of
slraiion ol its power, failing lo recognise ttiaf tie has disarmed. Ttiis reflects the attitude events as In Edison's early boxing Kinetoscope®pictures, the normal fonnat soon became
of corporation, 'It's life in the Big City.' fictional narrative.The earliest films are the so-called 'tableau' films, including most of
The fiisl few minutes of the film tiave established its reality - part drawn from the work of Geoiges M6li6s. These films are charactwised by a succession <jf scenes
The concept ol me Teal' la
contemporury images, sucli as the boardroom, but with an Invented technology like recorded in long stiot square on to the action. Each scene begins witha cut to a black
ptnhkmialic in tTrwniii, and is pan ttie robot inserted in it. However, the construction of this reality is not just through a and is replaced by anottier scene in a different (later) time and place. Characters walk
selection of the worid outside, but rather through the judic^l use of existing Images on and oft eilher from ft>e side ol the frame, or nJtematively through "stage doors' in
ol the focus (If Ihis chapter. !hc
and conventions that have already been mediated ttwough lllm - or other related ttve frame, like the 'crew' walking into the space ship in M6li6s' Voyage to the Moon.
coiKepi Is generally osed in two
(lillcreniways. forms. We understand the film through our exporlonces and comparisons with other These films draw strongly on a theatrical tradition. They appear to be shot from the
First, the eileni lo wham e film
films or media products. These in turn assure the film of its authenticity. We beiieve in "best seat in the stalls', and represent a series of scenes, albeit short ones, withoutthe
aUonvts to mimicrcaMysu that a Itie world ol HoboCop because it has t>een validated by a spoof of recognisable TV need lo wait tor tf>e scene to be shitted.
liclionat film can appoar
iKjws programmes. We can 'place' the film as we can identify both the images and the Such films can still be onjoyod as 'spectacle' - the special eflects, the tinrd painted
IndistingiiishabU! Imm documcniary.
way they are presented from images and representaiions with which we are already colour,the sets and costumes. These are cronnecfed by a narrativelinking each shot to the
lamiliar. whole,and usuallyeach shot lo the next one. by a pattern of cause and effect. However,
f^mnd, me Film cm establish its
own worU, and can by consisieiillv Itie nanative is hard to followforthe contemporary viewer.This is in part due to the absence
The reading of film of cfose-up or identification with character. However, in a number of instances MSIifes relies
U9(igDiesame conventions
HoboCop rests therefore on a number of cultural readings of the content by the viewer, Ncxmilliy alined as a stiol oi llic
csiabilsli tlie ciedibiiilyof Uils uponourknowledge ofttianarrative. Ali Saba (1905 M61ies from the BFleariy cioemavideo)
but also on a reading of the film and ils conventions. It is relativeiy easy for us to read lead iRxnBe nock up.
world, m the iaier sense a science depends on tlie audience's pre-knowlodge of the story. The individuallatileau appeare to
such a film; It has boon mads recently, and for people like oursefves, and Itiere is general be operating as illustrations of the narrative rather than driving it.
llcllan film sucli as RoooCcp can
be as realisUc as a lilin In a The shift to a cinernalic narrative and formal structureoccurs fairly swiftly, so that by
contcmporaiy and lecognisablo the mid-1910s most filmsare recrognlsable to a contemporary audience as fiction films.
wntH such as Sleepless n Scaftir. While there may be some dispute about wtio 'Invented' ttte lariguageof film - with most
accounts ascribing lo D.W. Griffith' a majorrole- it is generally accepted lhal changes
that tiad occurred by the end of the decado make the films of the late silent period
A key concept m him and media resemtjie modern films more ttian the 'primitive' cirrema.
theory,It implies thai there arc
always structivcs, wticthcc human
«fr
or icchiiologlcai. between an nbjoci
ami the vtewer.invniving mevnably .U • ^ CASE STUDY 2: BEGINNING OF KEATON'S FILM
a partial and selecbve view. THE GENERAL'"

This is an example of the Inslitutionai Mode of Representation (IMR) (Burch), that is.
desj^e being a silent film it has a complex narrative strucriuro based on identification The instuulnnal Mrxlo ol
with cJiaracler.
ncprisciilatkxi s a broad
The credits priorilise Kealon as Iwtli star and co-director. It starts with n title estab cal<x)orisationol systems of lilm
lishing place, 'Marietta Ga' and time '1861' a device that continued into the sound era. lorm.11x1 narrative charaneristig
This is loikjwed by an eslablishing long panning shol of the train, cutting lo a medium mansueam dnerrn Irom arcxxid
shot to idenlity Johnny Gray (Keaton) as driver and conbmiing to track forward to ident 1915 onwards. II was perceiM
• Plate4.1 AitoCDptPauiVistKicven, US1987^ ify 'The General' - ttie name of the train, tt then cuts atread to the arrival of the train as replacing llic Prlrrlbve lilode
ED 209, tlie tuture of law enforcement
In the station. of Represer^lion ia set ol
 ALLAN nOWE FtLM FOHM AND NARRATIVE

eomentions used m early lllin There is no fade to black before fhe recruiting office scene, thus implying the speed
between 1895 and 1905) as a of the action. Thisscertc is largely in long shol. After his iniUal rejection, we pull away
gradual process In die frsl twenty from Keaion and discover the reason for it. We know why he has been rejected; he
years of dnema. doesn't. However, he remains the centre of the narrative and wo identify with himin his
attempts to make senseof his rejection. For instance, he is placed next to a very much
taller man in the queue and we realise before him(?) that fie would consider this the
reason for his rejection. Wealso admireand identify with his attempts to trick his way
in (there is a slightfy strange cut where he appears on opposite sides of the frame in
consecutive shots taken from Ihe same angle thus breaking the 30* rule" and thus
confusing us as to where he actually is).
In Ihe following scene there is a false 'eye-line"^ match from Johnny sitting on the
side of the engine to Annat>elle looking from tfie gate (we 'know' this is false from the
l-;5r
journey Keaion lakes to get to ttie Itouse earfy in the film). Hisabsence is stressed by
tne amvalof her fatherand brother who have enlisted and are whereJohnny oughfto
be (both physically and in the narrative). Ttioprocessof Idcnlificaiion allows

• Inthe final sceneshe accuseshim of nottrying to enlist and Iherefore being a coward,
we know(becausewe haveseen it)that this is untrue. Ouridoolificalion with the unjustly
treated Johnny is therefore complete. In the final shol the train accidentally takes him
away, establishing that he is not in control. The dilemma is set artd we know, first, he
must regaincontrol, second, he must prove to be a hero and, third, he must gain the
us to place ourselves In tlie
position of particular cfiaiaciers,
Bdher throughoutor a! specific
iiKHnenls in a movie. The devices
involved Indudesubjectivity of
• Ptale4.2 Thenenera/(BustcrKealon, US 1925)
love of Annabeile. viewpoini |we sec the world
Joiinny Grey (Keaion) and adrairers
through dier eyes, a shared
knowledge,we know what and
There is then a reverse shot of the other sicie of the train. As Johnny descends hp is only what they know), and a
admired tay two children and checks with a colleague the tirrte of the arrival of the train This sequence, although not cinomaticaliy complex, shows a strong sense of narra sharing in their moralworld,
(implying the high status of the [ob and his proficiency). tiveand identffication and is economicallypresented. All elementsare used lo develop largely through narrative
Tills Is followed by an Inter title - 'There were 2 loves in his life his engine and .. our knowledge of the narrallva, including the uoc ot mise-en-scene (the photographs).
- and a cul to a close-up of a portrait of a young woman which he has in his cab," Keaton's body language, framing of shots and the continuity of editing. There even
Keaton walks off towards frame right. The following fade to blactr implies a different appears to tie a modernist editing with a false cut. Although we cannot assume Iftat •coneaile preaaBUon
place or time and cuts to Annat>^le (Marion Mack) who is identifiable as the woman in the contemporary audience would read all into the sequence that we have done, any All Ihecomponents are designed
the portrait. She is looking away to frame right, the opposite direction from Johnny and more than a modem audience would, to make sense of tfie sequence does (wesume lo help us read tne narraljve. An
receives a look from an unseen admlrer(?) (The viewer can read that this is not Johnny.) an understanding of film language. It is also a 'self-contained text' in that it is possible examinaUon of the hrsi lew
Koaton is discovered walking from left to rlgtit followed by the two cfilldren (the same to understand the film without any previous knowledge of. for instance, the American miniiles ot almostany maralream
direction as he left the previous frame and the same direction as the train). Annabeile CivilWar.This contrasts to Mdlies tableaux films like Ali Baba which do not make sense rclioral film will reveal a
hides and deceives him by following the childr^ (parallel to her deception of him with wittwut a jirc-knowledge of Ihe narraltva considerable amount of inlonnalion
the admirer). She ends Ihe joke and invites him in, with the children following. This about characters, their social
creates a 'family', but not a real one and Johnny has to tell them to leave. (This paral situation and dieir motivation.
CINEMATIC CODES
lels her trick on him and suggests a similarity ttetween them - they are a 'proper couple'.)
l-fe gives her a picture of himself standing in front of the train (a parallel of her portrait, With the addition of sound to film in 1927, tlie 'message' coming fiom film was rela
but significantly different: he is a driver and The Goncrai). tively complete- strange experiments like'sensorama'or the 'sinellies'not withstanding. Anydevice which undercuts Ihe
There is a cut to an older man in a different room who, after looking off frame to Ihe In normal film viewing we_ex^rience simultaneously a number of codes; visual, sound invislbte telling ol the story.A
right, moves into the sitting room and a younger man enters from llie door (right). The andtrie codes.controlling the linking'of onesound or image to another. The division or modernlsl itcvics draws atlontion
exchange that lollowad is 'in depth' and in a different plane to the 'lovers'. The first the componentswe use in reading film are relatively arbitrary, but It will help in analysis to itself aixl makes us aware of
speech title appears announcing the war and the wish to enlist. After tlie two men leave lo theoretically separate (hem. the consbuctxm of the narrative, tt
we gel a subjective sliol from Annabeile to Jottnny. who Is left alone and uncomfort would be undear In this nstance
ably framed on Ihe sofa (due to her absence they are no longer a couple). whether Ihe device is a
mise-en-sc£ne
As tte leaves to fry lo enlist we are shown his awkwardness and inexperience; she consciously mixlemisi one or a
kissus liim and he tries to hide Itis embamassment, he waves to an imaginary person This termderived from the French, literally 'havlng been put into the scene',its used to primitiveone which unconsciously
Dvor her shoulder and falls over. describe those visual aspects that appear within a single shot. TIte term has been used diaws atbtntlon to llsell.
 ALLAN ROW? FILM FORM AND NARRATIVE

differentlyby writers atraut film - some limitingIt to tfiose elements that are needed by
the camera - objects, movements, lighting, ^adow, colour and so on - wtrile others
have included the art ol recording itself, the focusing of shots and the movement of the
camera. In the former sense mise-en-sc6ne Is limited to some kind of 'pro-filmic event';
those elements that are there before we start filming. In documentary films such events
are perceived to have a 'real world' existence and hence appear not to l>e 'encoded',
or at any rate only coded to tt« extent that the elements in the real world are. for
Instance, we may only expect certain categories of people with appropriate dress to be
found In a hospital theatre. Not surpnsmgiy, earty cinema either used pre-existing events
- the workers leaving a factory" - or alternatively it constructed events, such as the
earty boxingscenes used by Edison in his Kinetoscopeshowings. Sul^sequenldevelop
ments involved the use of theatrical pertormance, vaudeville turns, even performances
of plays, albeit silent and much condensed. This Nstory, however, reinforceda 'common-
sense' notion that filming was solely the recording of reality or ttieatrical pertormance.
The concept of mlse-en-scene was developed by those theorists Intorostcd In issues
of authorship, in the role of participants, and particularly directors in constructing the
meaning of flim.'^ [Juhng the classic period of the Hollywood studio the control of the
director was limited to those processes that were recorded during shooting. The overall
narrative was clearly established, and the script would be written before the director
was even engaged.
Similarlytf>e editing of the film, and the post-dubbing of the soundtrack, were taken
out of the control of tfie director, sometimes involvinga re-cut to meet ttre needs of the
studio, or the responses of an audierrce at a preview. It was therefore the capacity to
control what happerred on the set, and the way this was recorded by the camera, which
was the sign of filmic art as displayed by ttie director. The quality of a director's work
coiid be read through his style, his control over the mlse-en-scene.

SETTING

In the context of studio shooting, the predominant form in the 1920s-1940s, all elements
in front of ttie camera were controlled and ctiosen: even if sometimes tfie director took • Plaie 4.3 Shm (Genres Stevens, US 11631
over a set. already existing on the back-lot, an inheritance maytie from a more highly A romantic view of the viest
budgeted film. While settings are usually perceived as a signifier of authenticity, the
place whore the events are happening, they are nevertheless a constructed setting for
action. This becomes clear if we examine the different 'look' of the West In films such The setting can also function to place the performers.In The Cabinet ol DoctorCallgah
as Shane. My Darling Clementine, and Johnny Guitar. A Fistful ol Dollars and The the characters are enclosed in a two-dimensional set, with expressionist 'lighting' pointed
Unforgiven. Atttiough each of these is recognisable as 'ttie West', they emphasise over Itw backdrop and the stage. The setting constantty suggests danger and paranoia
different kinds of settings: the wilderness, the small town and the large ranch. wliioh Is revealed, at the end of the film, to be a relocation of the interior world inhabited
Most viewers have no concept of the nature of the historic West against which the by the 'crazy' narrator. Similarly in Frank Capra's ft's e Wonderful Lite. George Bailey
Images the films are to be judged, although films have been defined as more realistic (James Stewart), on tho point of suicide, is taken by his guardian angel away from the
at particular moments in lime. The landscape and settings of a western are probably middle American world, where he has grown up with Its model estate that he has helped
better read against the conventions of the western. to build, to a neon-ill'modernist' rebuUl town which would have existed but for his fielp.
Jim KItses in Horizons Wesf' describes the western in terms of llie opposing focus Similarly, in Blade Runner Ridley Scott invents a futurist location that does not exist
of wilderness and civilisation. The contrasting images of Garden and Desert'. These anywhere - a dystopia" ttiat we can recognise, possibly as much from other films as
oppositions permeate through the themes of the western, the definition of characters from extensions of a contemporary inner-city location.
and tlie status of particular settings and locations. The Starrett homestead in George Locations can not only be recognised and help us to place the characters within a
Stevens' Shane is presented as an isolated place, overlooked on one side tiy ttie moun fam, but can also through the film Itself create theirown space and meaning. InDouglas
tains, from wh»e Shane comes and where he goes, with the town, a scene of danger Slrk's All that Heaven Allows, ttie principal action takes place in a family house, lived
and evil, on the other. in by a family whose father is dead tiefore the film begins. Whilewe learn littledirectly