Teaching Analysis of Film Language
by David Wharton and Jeremy Grant
The authors provide a well-organised guide to teaching film language, with examples from Hollywood, independent, British and World cinemas. Designed to be accessible to those who are new to film or media studies, this book will also be very useful to more experienced practitioners. It centres on a concise account of key ideas in film analysis at the 'macro' level (narrative, genre, representation) and 'micro' level (cinematography, editing, sound). Without over-reliance on inaccessible theory, the guide explains how the auditory and visual components of film language can be interpreted as a semiotic process. It does so mostly from an audience perspective, but also relates film language to film production.
Contents include:
Introduction: Assessment contexts; What is film language?; Schemes of work
Background: Production processes; Macro analysis: genre and narrative; Microanalysis
Case studies: Macro analysis; Microanalysis; Microanalysis of an action movie extract. Focus films: Spider-Man2, Donnie Darko, The Magdalene Sisters, High Noon, Die Hard: With a Vengeance
About the Authors
David Wharton has been teaching since 1991. He is in charge of Film Studies at Gateway College, Leicester, having set up the department in 2001, and has been an examiner for three of the British exam boards.
Jeremy Grant teaches Film Studies, Media Studies and English at Gateway College, Leicester and worked jointly with David Wharton to set up the Film Studies department.
Ordering Information
Catalogue no: BR053 £24.95
Buy online from the BFI Filmstore or phone Palgrave Macmillan Orders on 01256 302866.
Download resources
To download the student handouts for Teaching Analysis of Film Language please login using the username and password issued when you purchased a copy of the teaching guide. This section also includes case studies and further activities for students.
For more information about film language, view the following web page:
Documents on this page are available in Adobe PDF, which requires Adobe's free reader.
If you are having trouble viewing PDFs, please consult our help page.
