Saturday, August 25, 2007

Metaphor or simile

What do you mean by the “grammar” of film?

This is an easy question to answer. The starting point is this. The structure of language is a metaphor for the structure of film. We will begin with the smallest element of language. Oh, let me be clear here. The smallest element of written language.

A letter?

Exactly. And one letter corresponds to one frame in a film. Now, here is the structure. I think you will agree that there is a neat symmetry.

Letters make up a word. Several frames make up a shot in a film.
Words make up a sentence. Several shots make up a scene in a film.
Sentences make up a paragraph. Several scenes make up a sequence in a film.
Paragraphs make up a story. Several sequences make up a film.


Yes. In fact the symmetry is so marked as to be almost parallel. So parallel it almost looks like a simile.

Ah. Touche.
...

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3 Comments:

At August 25, 2007 at 9:31 PM , Blogger Zen said...

I think some semioticians have come up with fairly comprehensive frameworks applicable to visual analysis.

You might like to look at Peter Watkin's thoughts on mainstream film grammar, which he's been 'fighting' with his own films, for years. He doesn't explicitly mention the term 'grammar' in this excerpt below, but has frequently in the past:

"Society at large still refuses to acknowledge the role of form and process in the delivery and reception of the mass audiovisual (MAVM) output. By this I mean that the language forms structuring the message contained in any film or TV programme, and the entire process (hierarchical or otherwise) of delivery to the public are completely overlooked, and are certainly not debated. In turn, this lack of critical public debate means that over 95% of all MAVM messages delivered to the public are now structured by the Monoform.

- the Monoform is the one single language form now used to edit and structure cinema films, TV programmes - newsbroadcasts, detective series, soap operas, comedy and ‘reality shows’, etc. - and most documentaries, almost all of which are encoded in the standardised and rigid form which had its nascence in the Hollywood cinema. The result is a language form wherein spatial fragmentation, repetitive time rhythms, constantly moving camera, rapid staccato editing, dense bombardment of sound, and lack of silence or reflective space, play a dominant and aggressive role."

From: http://www.mnsi.net/~pwatkins/Intro_MedCr.htm

I have his recent film "La Commune" on DVD if you want to borrow it. Its a great example of his filmmaking ideas in action.

 
At August 27, 2007 at 1:29 PM , Blogger Barry Natusch said...

This is sensible stuff. PW's views on MAVM seem an extension of the McLuhan proposal that the medium influences the message and morphing into his concept of the medium as the massage.

I would be very interested in seeing his DVD. Beam it up Scotty. Or maybe wait until Christmas?

This formulaic approach to dishing up information and spoonfeeding everyone is a serious issue. Something many lay readers and viewers and many writers and film-makers may only be dimly aware of best.

Your comment might inspire me to make say something about action movie sound tracks in a blog later in the week. And another posting on how hidden reefs of metaphors might have something to do with MAVMs even later in the week... perhaps in Phuket...

 
At August 28, 2007 at 12:31 AM , Blogger Zen said...

k, I'll send it to you 2mrow or next day.

 

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