FAMST 96 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Fourth Wall, Proper Time, Tonya Harding
9 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
HOMEWORK:
Outline essay for I, Tonya assignment
Essay due 4/13/18 at 10am
§
○
Read for discussion question due Monday 4/16/18
H
§
○
•
Bordwell Reading
Page 67
"the detective film…. Proper time"
§
Purely external description
§
Middle viewpoint
§
Close intimacy
§
Complete mental identification with the detective
§
○
Plot and style are very interrelated
Page 68, right-hand column, first full paragraph
Stylistic devices underlying narration
□
"here again the omniscience…. --- end of paragraph"
□
§
So much of how plot unfolds has to do with a particular style
§
Sound as a part of style
§
Hooks
§
How plot moves from one story moment to another, using style (editing tools)
§
○
Melodrama
Centered around emotions, reactions, and effects as opposed to actions and causes
§
i.e. soap operas, telenovelas
§
Moments of heightened emotion highlighted
To employ this, story has to be constructed very specifically
□
§
"in melodrama there will be fewer focused gaps in fabula information…… how any given
character will react to what has happened." (Page 70)
Fewer focused gaps because the focus in the story is not on what is happening but how
it affects characters
□
§
Melodrama is more of an approach that you can take
§
Nature of the melodrama is rollercoaster (highs and lows)
§
○
"Two conclusions can be drawn from my brief analysis…. Determining a film's narrational options."
(Page 73)
Plot and style working together
§
"transtextual" means the same thing as "intertextual"
Conventions that have been established that a film will have to refer back to
conventions of other films
□
References to other texts within a text□
§
○
•
I, Tonya
Film is restricted to the mental state of only Tonya (?)
○
Detective film in the case that we're trying to find the "truth" which even Tonya speaks to the
audience about
"what is the truth, is there a real truth?"
§
○
Temporary gaps created at the beginning of the film for people who don't know the Tonya Harding
case
"gillooly'ing someone"… what does that mean? Who did he hit? Etc.
§
Priming the audience to anticipate the coming and revelation of important information
§
Knowing something violent is coming
§
Wondering who Nacny is and the deal about taking her out
§
We know right off the bat that Tonya's story and truth has been misrepresented or
represented variantly in the film
§
Knowing that a lot occurred between the past clips and the interviews
What happens in the transitions between reenactments and interviews? What does the
change in aspect ratio say to the story?
□
§
How does the beginning prime us to think about the rest of the story in a particular way?
The primacy effect□
§
○
For writing the essay, look at the definition of style
Style = systematic use of cinematic devices
§
Music cueing us into changes in the plot that are important
Taking an event and fitting it into a story□
Something shown to us on-screen indicating something that will come in the plot later
on
□
§
Also think about costuming?
§
○
Melodramatic aspects in the film
○
Major critique of the film is that it’s a dark comedy
So stylized (especially in moments of domestic violence)
§
Intense scenes trying to separate the audience from what's going on in the film
§
Comedic relief
§
Breaking the fourth wall so that audience is separated from the trauma
Breaking the fourth wall allowed us to build a wall between the film and the audience□
§
○
•
Writing the Essay
Use the formal concepts area to write
○
Use the questions to form a thesis about the film as a whole, as it relates to one of the formal
concept areas
○
Treat the film as a whole and use specific things that happened in the film as evidence
○
Example argument: The film as a whole is about truth (in media?)
How was the film constructed to prove that argument?
§
What instances of truth do we see in the film that support this?
§
○
Look at the Venegas lecture summary to read through the concepts that Bordwell outlines
○
Read the two Bordwell chapters to allow the concepts to work together
○
•
OFFICE HOURS TOMORROW 4-5PM!!
Section 2 Notes
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
12:48 PM
HOMEWORK:
Outline essay for I, Tonya assignment
Essay due 4/13/18 at 10am
§
○
Read for discussion question due Monday 4/16/18
H
§
○
•
Bordwell Reading
Page 67
"the detective film…. Proper time"
§
Purely external description
§
Middle viewpoint
§
Close intimacy
§
Complete mental identification with the detective
§
○
Plot and style are very interrelated
Page 68, right-hand column, first full paragraph
Stylistic devices underlying narration
□
"here again the omniscience…. --- end of paragraph"
□
§
So much of how plot unfolds has to do with a particular style
§
Sound as a part of style
§
Hooks
§
How plot moves from one story moment to another, using style (editing tools)
§
○
Melodrama
Centered around emotions, reactions, and effects as opposed to actions and causes
§
i.e. soap operas, telenovelas
§
Moments of heightened emotion highlighted
To employ this, story has to be constructed very specifically
□
§
"in melodrama there will be fewer focused gaps in fabula information…… how any given
character will react to what has happened." (Page 70)
Fewer focused gaps because the focus in the story is not on what is happening but how
it affects characters
□
§
Melodrama is more of an approach that you can take
§
Nature of the melodrama is rollercoaster (highs and lows)
§
○
"Two conclusions can be drawn from my brief analysis…. Determining a film's narrational options."
(Page 73)
Plot and style working together
§
"transtextual" means the same thing as "intertextual"
Conventions that have been established that a film will have to refer back to
conventions of other films
□
References to other texts within a text□
§
○
•
I, Tonya
Film is restricted to the mental state of only Tonya (?)
○
Detective film in the case that we're trying to find the "truth" which even Tonya speaks to the
audience about
"what is the truth, is there a real truth?"
§
○
Temporary gaps created at the beginning of the film for people who don't know the Tonya Harding
case
"gillooly'ing someone"… what does that mean? Who did he hit? Etc.
§
Priming the audience to anticipate the coming and revelation of important information
§
Knowing something violent is coming
§
Wondering who Nacny is and the deal about taking her out
§
We know right off the bat that Tonya's story and truth has been misrepresented or
represented variantly in the film
§
Knowing that a lot occurred between the past clips and the interviews
What happens in the transitions between reenactments and interviews? What does the
change in aspect ratio say to the story?
□
§
How does the beginning prime us to think about the rest of the story in a particular way?
The primacy effect□
§
○
For writing the essay, look at the definition of style
Style = systematic use of cinematic devices
§
Music cueing us into changes in the plot that are important
Taking an event and fitting it into a story□
Something shown to us on-screen indicating something that will come in the plot later
on
□
§
Also think about costuming?
§
○
Melodramatic aspects in the film
○
Major critique of the film is that it’s a dark comedy
So stylized (especially in moments of domestic violence)
§
Intense scenes trying to separate the audience from what's going on in the film
§
Comedic relief
§
Breaking the fourth wall so that audience is separated from the trauma
Breaking the fourth wall allowed us to build a wall between the film and the audience□
§
○
•
Writing the Essay
Use the formal concepts area to write
○
Use the questions to form a thesis about the film as a whole, as it relates to one of the formal
concept areas
○
Treat the film as a whole and use specific things that happened in the film as evidence
○
Example argument: The film as a whole is about truth (in media?)
How was the film constructed to prove that argument?
§
What instances of truth do we see in the film that support this?
§
○
Look at the Venegas lecture summary to read through the concepts that Bordwell outlines
○
Read the two Bordwell chapters to allow the concepts to work together
○
•
OFFICE HOURS TOMORROW 4-5PM!!
Section 2 Notes
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
12:48 PM
