notes from film studies lecture.

1. Film Studies Lecture
Binary Opposition
 Blue and white colours = Good
 Red and black colours = Evil
Connotations associated with Evil
 Green and purple colours = colour of poison = we as a viewer
dislike and stay away from this colour as we associate it with
death/evil.
 Crow = Connotation of death.
 Facial disfigurement = Evil. As seen in movies such as James
Bond and Batman.
 If we remove human features from a character
They clash

2. such as their eyebrows, nose, face, hands etc. we usually
associate this character with being evil as we can’t relate to
them as much as if we can see a human face to the character.
L.A Noire Game poster
Communication of meaning
 Semiotics – The study of signs/creating meaning from things
we observe.
Denotations and Connotations
 Denotations – What something is (dictionary definition).
 Connotations – What something can represent.
Diegesis (story world of film)
- Holdingagun =
associatedwithevil and
violence.
- Half of the character’s
face is inthe light(blue)
and half of hisface isin
the dark (red) =conflicting
betweengoodandevil.
- Redglowbehindthe
police – we would
associate thiswithevil
and corruptionof the law.
- The womanon the
posterhas a blue tint
across herface = innocent
victim?
- Wearingbrown
earthycoloursas well
as a red tie =
conflictingsides.
- Seriousfacial
expression.
- Representslawand
chaos.
- Onlythingstanding
betweencorruption
and real life.
- Holdingthe gunin
an aggressive way –
not defensive.
- Openposture
againstthe police in
the backgroundwho
have a closedposture
and foldedarms.

3.  Diegetic – Sound belonging to the story world of the film.
 Non-diegetic – Sound from outside the story world of the film.
- Changing the soundtrack changes the meaning of the
image/media.
Iconography
 Aspects of a product we expect to see in the genre.
 Western – Desert/cowboys/horses/gun fight/ damsel in
distress.
 Sci-fi – Space/aliens/space ship/ futuristic technology/
intelligence.
 Fantasy – Fairies/fairy tales/crystals/potions/love
story/magic/mythological/horses.
A narrative
 A product’s storyline.
A linear narrative
 Storyline is presented in the order; beginning, middle and
end.
A non-linear narrative
 A storyline that jumps around the product’s timeline; out of
order/sequence, flashbacks, flash forwards.
Diegetic sound
 Dialogue
 Sound effects
 Ambient sounds
 Music – which the
character is listening
to in the scene.
Non-diegetic sound
 Soundtrack
 Orchestralsound effects
o Bang of a drumin a
jump scare.
o Violin string to build
tension.

4. Stereotypes
Gender:
Men
 In charge/working
 Physicalfitness/sports
 Violence/crimes
 Colour blue
 Uniformity in Men
Women
 Can’t do things as
good as men
 Multi-tasking
 Motherly
instinct/house-wife
 Colours of pink/yellow
 Weak/defenceless
 Polite