Technical Aspects.

Analyzing a film can mainly be split into two separate categories; context and form.

Context is about what the film is trying to show or explain. For example, the themes or issues of the film. A theme is generally the bigger, overall picture of the ideas and issues within the film - such as good vs evil, or love are two examples of a theme that can be running throughout it.

Then there is the narrative of the piece. The narrative is basically the story and the plot line of the film, and can generally be more easier to notice and pick out than the theme(s). The story is the events that take place within the film, whilst the plot is the sequence, or order of events. The plot is normally structured with a beginning, middle and an end, whereas the story may not.

Then we have the form of a film. The form is generally how the film makers manage to to make the audience feel one way or another about certain parts of the film, or makes it easier for them to understand the themes and narrative of the piece.

Cinematography/camera angles are one way that this can be done. For example, a long shot (L/S) leaves the audience quite distanced from the main characters, showing that they may not be quite as important at that time as other characters, perhaps. A medium shot (M/S), however, is quite closer - although still at a comfortable distance. This allows the audience to see clearly that the character(s) in the shot are important at the time, and also is at a good distance to allow a conversation to take place in the scene. A close up (C/U) is at an uncomfortable distance for the audience, which can easily show fear, anger, sadness etc. and is a good way to build tension within a scene.

The camera angle can also give the audience a good impression on different characters. A low camera angle makes the character appear more powerful and important, whereas a high camera angle makes them seem less powerful and insignificant, and finally a wide shot simply puts them on the character's level.

Meanwhile, the camera's movement itself can help set up a scene. A stationary shot is a relatively still shot, and is used mostly in calmer scenes, such as during a simple conversation, for example. A camera pan can help show what a character may be looking at, or put an importance on something within the scene, whereas a zoom can easily build tension or fear. A tracking or dolly shot can follow the movement within a scene, and helps put the audience in the middle of the action, whilst a handheld camera can be extremely effective if used correctly. Films such as Cloverfield and the Blair Witch Project use handheld cameras to allow the audience to see things from a character's point of view, and can easily make things seem more tense or scarier than they would with a normal shot.

There are two types of sound within a scene. Digetic and non-digetic. Digetic sound is the noise and audio which would be there in the film environment, and the characters would be able to hear it - the sounds of traffic, or passersby talking, for example. Non-digetic audio are things that were added within post-production, such as a character's thoughts or a soundtrack, and are added to evoke mood, or thoughts within the audience.

Mise en scène is generally everything visual in the shot, such as the setting, props, lighting, colouring and even the physical details of the actors, such as hair colour.

Editing is another big feature that takes place during post-production. A lot can be done with editing, such as taking out mistakes, or even adding to the mood and atmosphere of the scene. Normally, we would want the film to have good continuity - which means we would not want the audience to notice each individual shot, and would prefer them to flow into each other, and not draw attention to the fact that it really is just a film, as it would take away the atmosphere for the audience. Ways to hide this can be simple things like adding a soundtrack, or even just overlapping audio on the different shots to help take their attention away from it.

Transitions are another thing that can be done with editing. This can help cut out unessential and boring details of the character's day - such as going to the bathroom, eating breakfast etc. Examples of transitions can be straight cuts, fades, wipes or even fades to black. They keep the audience interested with the film, as they are cutting straight to interesting and/or important parts of the story instead of dragging things out.