Film as a form of Literature

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2.4.2 Film as a form of Literature

Klarer 2004:53 states that “film is made by literary techniques, conversely, literary practice, developed particular features under the impact of film”. Drama or film is a piece of work consisting of literary aspect and aspect of performed. Literary aspect of drama in the form of script and the literary aspect of film is a scenario. As the movie is developed based on the novel so the writer analyzes the movie based on the same way of analyzing the novel, it means that how to analyze the movie is the same as the way how to analyze the literary works because movie is derived from literary works. Film’s idiosyncratic modes of presentation such as camera angle, editing, montage, slow and fast motion often parallel features of literary texts or can be explained within a textual framework. Although film has its own specific characteristic and terminology, it is possible to analyze film by drawing on methods of literary criticism, as film criticism is closely related to the traditional approaches of textual studies. There are for example, approaches similar text-oriented literary criticism which deal with material aspects of film, such as film stock, montage, editing, and sound. Methodologies which are informed by reception aesthetics focus on the effect on the spectator, and approaches such as psychoanalytical theory or feminist theory regard film within a larger contextual framework. The major developments of literary theory have therefore also been borrowed or adapted by film studies. In spite of their differing forms and media, drama and film are often categorized under the healing performing arts because they use actors as their major means of expression. Typical elements of novel varied narrative techniques, 17 experimental structuring of the plot, foreshadowing and flashback, the change of setting and time structure are commonly used in film. Films, and particularly video tapes, are like novels, which in theory can be repeatedly read, or viewed. In film, as in other genres, various levels contribute to the overall artistic impression. This medium, which strongly relies on technical aspects, has several important, uniquely cinematic features with their own terminology. The most essential elements of film can be subsumed under the dimensions of space, time, and sound. a. Spatial dimension. The deliberate choice of film stock, including black and white or color, high-contrast or low-contrast, sensitive or less sensitive material, produces effects which directly influence the contents of a film. Lighting is indirectly connected to film stock for certain light conditions have to be fulfilled according to the sensitivity of the film. An important consideration is the camera angel from which a certain scane is to be filmed. It is possible to distinguish between high angle, straight-on angle, or low angle shots depending on the position of the camera. Camera movement is linked to camera angel and allows for perspective. In the early days of film, the camera was too heavy to be moved during a scene. When lighter and more mobile equipment was developed, however, camera could be moved more freely. The camera angle is closely related to issues of point of view in literature and proses similar questions. In the majority of films, the perspective is that of an omniscient “narrator” who at times borrows subjective points of view of characters in the film. Editing is one of the major cinematic techniques which have contributed to the flexibility of the medium. 18 The early Russian film developed montage as a filmic technique which creates effects similar to the use of the rhetorical figures of metaphora and simile in literature. b. Temporal dimension. Film, like literature, can employ the dimension of time in a variety of ways. Aspects of plot which have already been mentioned, such as foreshadowing and flashback, or interwoven levels of action and time, can be translated into film. The specific qualities of the medium enable the treatment of time in ways that do not exist in other genres. Simple examples of these techniques are fast motion and slow motion, which defamiliarize the action. The use of clocks, calendars, newspapers, signs of aging, or fashion are only some of the many ways to indicate the passage of time in film. c. Acoustic dimension. It was not until the 1920s that the acoustic aspect was added to film, bringing about a radical change of the medium. Information was no longer conveyed merely by means of visual effects such as facial expressions, gestures, or subtitles, but also through language dialogue or monologue, recorded music, and sound effects. Beside dialogue and sound effects, film music assumes a special position and usually supports the plot. Volume, sound, rhythm, and pace of the music change according to the situation and underscore levels of meaning with acoustic effects. Film music can also contrast with the plot and create ironic or parodistic effects. Plot may be supported by the conventional and inconspicuous use of music and sound effects, or the action may be defamiliarized by contrasting the level of meaning and content with the acoustic level. In both cases, the acoustic 19 dimension acts as an integral element of film, intricately interwoven with features of the spatial and temporal dimensions. As with the individual elements treated in connection with the genres of fiction, poetry, and drama, the different dimensions of film can hardly be seen as self-contained entities. The isolation of elements is only a helpful tool for approaching a complex work of art and can never fully account for approaching a complex work of art and can never fully account for all of its interdependent subtleties. One must also be aware that the very act of differentiating levels and elements of a genre is inevitably arbitrary and always remains subject to current trends, methodological approaches, and the subjective preferences of the person who complies them. The above dichotomies and classifications are, therefore, meant to facilitate first encounters with texts, but should by no means be taken as general patterns according to which texts must be interpreted. On the contrary, they should ideally yield to combinations with other suitable systems or eventually be selectively incorporated into one’s personal methods of analysis. 20 CHAPTER III METHOD OF RESEARCH

3.1 Research Design