Film analysis?

S

Santhem

Hey,

I was wondering if anyone has ever thoroughly analysed a popular movie / short / series, and if so, is there a website or template for those breakdowns.

Recently I started breaking down some stuff (a commercial I like and the pilot of Prison Break). I just opened a text file, started watched the pilot episode, broke it down into scenes. Then broke the scenes into shots, noted both scene and shot length, shot movement, and sometimes the content and vibe. Where the jokes are, where they give hints and where the things that are being hinted at are being confirmed, etc. It takes forever, and I'm still having at it, but....

It gets really messy in a basic text file. And the entire point of doing this was to have kind of a better overview of how to really structure something that is genuinly well paced and properly structured. So iam looking for a better way of doing this, anybody have any suggestions?

P.S. I'm doing this for two reasons:
1. I want to learn how to write/direct a well paced piece of film. Iam a selftaught 3D artist and I prefer figuring stuff out myself rather than reading it in a book, so I have learned most of the stuff I know about 3D and vfx by analysing other people's work.
2. Pacing is in my opinion is the biggest problem in most indie stuff I see, I like it high and well paced.
 
I took a Script Analysis class several years ago, and that's basically what we did. No template, just do it on your own, bullet points.

What's the inciting incident? Ends of acts one and 2? Mid-point? What is going on in each scene? What's the sub-text of the scene? What does each character want, etc.
We did it for about a dozen movies, starting with simple ones (i.e., Disney) and moving on to much more complex ones.
 
I don't know of a website that provides such a (excruciating) breakdown that you're looking for.
It'd probably be easier just to do it yourself with a handful of films in the genre and style you're looking to replicate in some form or fashion.
http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/

That said, you'll come out better if you go in armed with a clearer understanding of some story fundamentals, primarily the classic 3 Act Structure.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsBznn8D13zOdEI1dGU1VUxaVDhCQmVnVFBLeUxSaWc#gid=0

Once you've got a fairly good handle on the overall "WTH am I exactly looking at?" you can start to see where films match up well or diverge from (or completely ignore) that basic set up so that when you begin to build your own story you'll have a nice outline of when and where what needs to be achieved by certain points in the story.
Then you can start fooling around with camera angles and such, like for your shooting script which is completely different than a regular screenplay script.

GL
 
You may want to find the script to the pilot for Prison Break on the Internet from Google and see how much the script and film deviate from each other.

I would imagine there is less deviation in studio productions than small potato independent films.
 
rayw said:
I don't know of a website that provides such a (excruciating) breakdown that you're looking for.
It'd probably be easier just to do it yourself with a handful of films in the genre and style you're looking to replicate in some form or fashion.
http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/

That said, you'll come out better if you go in armed with a clearer understanding of some story fundamentals, primarily the classic 3 Act Structure.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsBznn8D13zOdEI1dGU1VUxaVDhCQmVnVFBLeUxSaWc#gid=0

Once you've got a fairly good handle on the overall "WTH am I exactly looking at?" you can start to see where films match up well or diverge from (or completely ignore) that basic set up so that when you begin to build your own story you'll have a nice outline of when and where what needs to be achieved by certain points in the story.
Then you can start fooling around with camera angles and such, like for your shooting script which is completely different than a regular screenplay script.

GL
Click to expand...

Well I wasn't exactly looking for a website that did all the work for me, as much as a website or tool that would provide me with a good template to break it down myself. I do have a good understanding of the basics of filmmaking such as the three act structure and the hero's journey, etc. So this breaking down thing was mainly aimed at the voids it leaves. The overall structure I get, and is quite obvious, but what I'm especially intrested in in how they keep the player hooked every second, without losing interest. Personally I have to say that is what for me sets apart most professional films from indie films. Especially with shows like Prison Break that raise alot of questions, without making the plot feel weird or make you loose interest. I give them big kudos for that.

@MDMPLLC: Good idea, will try.
 
The problem is that filmmaking isn't a single art, it's a combination of many arts. How we perceive the pacing of a film is pretty much always a combination of some or many of these arts, for example: Screenplay, cinematography, acting, picture editing, sound design (Foley, SFX, Dialogue editing and mixing) and music. In many cases you could analyse a film and write a book about each of these arts.

G
 
Robert Ager is an independent filmmaker with a degree in psychology who has written and created film analysis videos and articles on various movies, mostly those directed by Stanley Kubrick but also including E.T, Pulp Fiction, Alien, Aliens and many more.

He has a website - www.collativelearning.com and he is also on YouTube. He has had to create another account on YouTube because of his videos being deemed full of copyright content which he obviously doesn't own but even so it is used for educational purposes.
 
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