Use of Sound in Fritz Langs M Film Noir Sequence Analysis

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Please choose a 1 to 2 minutes sequence from M (Fritz Lang, 1931)(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ6Z8jn-BQQ&t=3314s) and write a sequence analysis. Your sequence analysis should focus on how this sequence uses sound. Do not write a summary or any history background of the film. (Nevertheless, our advice is to keep the sequence very short because the form of this assignment requires extremely close attention to detail. The longer your sequence, the more you have to analyze. Use this fact to your advantage when deciding what to strategically include and exclude from your analysis.) I have uploaded advise structure and a model essay.

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Emily Carpenter / Department of Film & Media Sequence Analysis The objective. The objective or purpose of a sequence analysis in film studies is to interpret a sequence of film by demonstrating which elements of the film help to construct its cinematic and cultural meaning. When we “do” sequence analysis, we are asking how the sequence’s cinematography, mise-en-scène, editing, sound, and story construct its meaning for us. We are asking how what we see on-screen “does cultural work” by contributing to our understanding of the world we live in off-screen. Guiding questions. This approach asks you to consider the “how” of the filmmaking more than the “what” of the content. As a result, when you sit down to watch and take notes on your sequence, what you are watching for is not merely the “what happens” of the story unfolding onscreen, but the “how” of its presentation to us. Indeed, one way to think about this kind of exercise is to define it as an opportunity to consider how, given all of the possible ways the filmmaker might have conveyed the same subject matter, the method s/he chose makes specific meanings for us. The guiding principle in such an analysis is often one of selection. Out of all possible elements that might contribute to the shaping of a film, what is present (selected) in the film? What is not? What emerges from this form of analysis is a deeper contextual understanding of the possibilities of cinematic expression. Procedure. In what follows, we describe the method that we find most useful in preparing our own sequence analyses. It takes you through the process step by step – how to watch, what to look for, what to select as your own “most significant” elements, etc. Before you Watch: Preparation/Research. 1. Familiarize yourself with the glossary of film terms on bCourses in Files / Syllabus & Handouts. It will take time to learn this vocabulary, but if you try to learn five new terms every time you look at it, you’ll rapidly expand your understanding of the choices that filmmakers make and how they affect what we see and feel when we see a film. 2. Take a mental inventory of the major concepts that have emerged in recent course texts. I have designed this course around texts which, whether they are from a textbook or a scholarly essay, are pointing you toward specific film techniques, developments in film history, or cultural shifts. If you sit down to watch your sequence with these major concepts in your mind, you will find it much easier to “see” the point of each sequence – to see how it is constructed, how it fits into film history, or how it dramatizes cultural shifts. 3. Combine this mental inventory with a general sense of our course topic this week, and make a list of 3 or 4 things that you’ll be watching out for. Now, a warning: this can be tricky! Sometimes, when we are determined to look for/at a select number of techniques or ideas, we may experience “confirmation bias.” That is to say, we may see only what we are looking for, at the expense of ideas that might challenge our view and open us up to new ways of thinking. When we do this in academic writing, we reduce a complex text to an overly simplistic interpretation that can be easily challenged or invalidated. So, even as you give yourself a mental list of things to watch out for, remember to be on the lookout for elements of the film that disrupt or challenge a simple reading. Watching actively: Collecting Evidence, Building Interpretation 1. Watch your sequence many times, and build a solid sense of the sequence “from every angle” – that is, using different topics as your “lens” every time you watch. You might choose to watch the sequence five times, each time looking for/at – and taking detailed notes on – things like: a. What do I notice about cinematography in this sequence? b. What do I notice about mise-en-scène in this sequence? c. What do I notice about editing in this sequence? d. What do I notice about sound in this sequence? Emily Carpenter / Department of Film & Media e. What do I notice about how this sequence advances or seems to delay the narrative? f. What do I notice about how this sequence participates in (or challenges/complicates/refines/extends) discourses of race, class, sex, and gender? 2. Interpretation: Selection. Look through your answers to the above questions and find the ones that seem to be most significant. The “most significant” elements are the ones that have the most influence on the sequence. These are the ones that matter, that contribute most directly to your interpretation of the sequence. In one sequence, the cinematography might be doing the most interesting narrative and cultural work. In another sequence, it might be the interaction between sound and image. In some sequences, you might notice only some expressive element of mise-en-scène. In another sequence, it might be the way that different actors in the frame illustrate different idealized performances of masculinity or femininity. Whatever it is, it will probably stand out to you! This is where you prioritize elements that contribute to a single reading of the sequence – but without discarding any that challenge your reading, as this will add complexity and depth to your essay. 3. Interpretation: Synthesis. At this stage, you should have a sense of what elements you’d like to talk about as you begin writing your sequence analysis. It is OK not to have a thesis/argument clearly formed in your head at this stage! As this procedure is mapping out for you, good essay writing works from the ground up, moving from evidence to interpretation to claim. Writing. 1. Identify your sequence! Identify your sequence at some point in your first paragraph, so that your reader knows where you are in the film and, if necessary, can go watch your sequence if they wish to do so. This can be as simple as saying, “In the following paragraph(s), I will analyze the sequence in which X happens.” 2. Avoid plot summary! Assume that your reader knows the film in question, and do not spend (waste) your time explaining “what happens” in the sequence. Instead, focus on how it happens, by crafting… 3. Descriptive analysis. In order to make an argument, you must present evidence – but the most efficient and elegant way to do so is to use prose that describes and analyzes at the same time. This is to say that, in the same sentence, you will describe whatever element of the film you want to bring attention to and analyze/interpret it. This is called descriptive analysis, and it’s the best tool in your toolbox as a film scholar. Here is one example of how a film scholar might work from evidence, through interpretation, from a sequence analysis of a scene in the film Broken Blossoms (D. W. Griffith, 1917). If you’d like, check out the scene in question at https://youtu.be/ZdIiZzc0Ceo?t=1h21m28s. Evidence / Description / What I SEE Interpretation / Analysis / What I UNDERSTAND Descriptive Analysis / What the film IS DOING A long shot of a bedroom. A Chinese man named Cheng Huan, and a white man named Battling Burrows are standing on opposite sides of the film frame. Burrows has just entered through a door in the middle background. Between the two men, on a bed positioned low to the ground, lies Lucy, the daughter of the white man. She has just died after being beaten by her father. Confrontation in domestic space between white man and “Other” man, over body of white woman. White woman as the person they fought over, the object of their competition and some cultural angst over innocence/purity of white femininity. This sequence dramatizes a confrontation in domestic space between Battlin Burrows and Cheng Huan: the white father and the man of color who Lucy has chosen as her friend and protector. The sequence literally happens over her dead body, which is framed on left and right by the men in question. Alternating medium close ups of Cheng Huan and Battling Burrows, so that we note their Medium close-ups showing the form of each man’s contempt for the other, then this strange dark A series of close-ups magnifies their emotions as they stare each other down and size each other up. Lucy’s father, the Emily Carpenter / Department of Film & Media expressions: Burrows makes angry/fearful faces, Cheng Huan makes angry/amused faces, Burrows seems to react by smiling darkly. humor between them as they size each other up and prepare to fight White man seems angry and fearful, Chinese man angry and darkly amused by Burrows’s fear – Burrows’s grin seems awful, but Cheng Huan’s response more understated, feels almost contemporary – we are invited to side with him. boxer who has violently victimized her for the majority of the film, contorts his face with rage, but underneath his anger lurks a fear of the “Other” man; this combination of feelings belongs to Burrows but simultaneously refers outside the film to a wider cultural context of anti-Chinese sentiment during the 1910s. And Cheng Huan’s face alternates between hatred and a subtle, sardonic smile that holds Burrows in contempt while also enjoying the cracks in the façade of this white man’s tough masculine act. Cheng Huan’s response is eerily calm; while Burrows mugs for the camera, Cheng Huan remains almost completely motionless. While audiences of the time might have found his posture exotically threatening, audiences today can see a space in which the film allows us a powerful moment of identification with this protagonist of color. Quick alternation of long shot and medium shot: Battling Burrows edges his foot backward onto an axe, turns to pick it up, turns back to brandish it at Cheng Huan; Cheng Huan pulls a pistol from his cloak and shoots Burrows several times. Link between white man and traditional masculinity thru the axe; the Chinese man who brandishes a modern firearm becomes the hero by punishing the white patriarch for violence against the innocent woman When Burrows reaches for the axe, and Cheng Huan shoots him, the violent exchange comes to a head in a way that mobilizes the film’s race and class discourses. The coarse, violent white boxer wields the primitive axe; the Chinese Buddhist brandishes a modern firearm in the name of justice. Contrary to what we might have expected entering this scene, the confrontation ends in a shot (figuratively and literally) that deals death as punishment for the woman’s abuser and that defends the man who tried to protect her from toxic white patriarchy. Burrows waves goodbye to dead Lucy, raises his fists toward Cheng Huan, then falls backward, dead. The final gesture of the dying white man alternates between love/regret and anger/violence. As he dies, Burrows waves goodbye to Lucy and then raises his fists once more; each gesture conjures the potent combination of love, regret, anger, and violence that has animated this figure since his first moment on screen. It’s a moment of tremendous pathos, as the gestures seem sad and futile. But we are not meant to mourn this man. Indeed, the film’s narrative of racism comes to an unexpected temporary conclusion: it is not the Chinese man who is condemned, as we might expect given the virulent anti-Chinese sentiment that circulated in the 1910s, but the violent white man. Moreover, the righteous violence of people of color is justified – although only in defense of Doesn’t feel sad, though! Emphasizing the film’s interest in critiquing (and challenging the cultural privilege of) white masculinity Emily Carpenter / Department of Film & Media white womanhood. A NOTE ABOUT DIALOGUE: You will have noticed that this example does not use dialogue as evidence. This is because this example comes from a sequence that contains no speech. The most important evidence in this scene, according to what is presented here, is the evidence of cinematography, mise-en-scène, and editing. But dialogue can be important evidence, too – as can sound. As we move through films that include spoken dialogue, pay attention to how certain lines of dialogue carry meaning – and incorporate them in your evidence and analysis. With dialogue, it is best to present and then interpret a direct quotation! 4. Organize your ideas. When you are organizing your thoughts, move chronologically through the sequence and build from evidence to argument. That is to say, each paragraph should move from descriptive analysis toward a mini-claim, and your final paragraph should conclude with a thesis statement that makes an argument about what your sequence does cinematically in the context of the whole film and culturally in terms of the interpretive frameworks we are focusing on in class during the week in question. 5. Make an argument! In the context of this course, an argument, expressed in a thesis statement, is an evidencebased but debatable interpretive assertion about the cinematic and cultural significance of a sequence of film. (If, when you are done with your essay, you look at your thesis statement and see that it does not complete this objective, you are not finished with your essay!) How does this sequence create meaning in the context of the film? What cultural values does it transmit cinematically? Does it call forward or backward in the film toward another scene, thereby creating associational meaning in the context of the larger narrative? Why is this sequence worth looking at, and what does it show us that can help us understand this film (and thereby film in general) more fully? Assignment Parameters. Your sequence analysis should be 1000 words long. Use the model sequence analyses and my “How to Write for Me” handout on bCourses as guides. You do not need to cite any texts, but if you do please follow MLA format for in-paragraph parenthetical citations. There is a “do” and “don’t” guide on this in the “How to Write For Me” handout. How to Submit. Submit your sequence analysis using the Assignments function of bCourses. Due dates are listed by assignment in bCourses. A reminder about late work policy. I will accept late work only if you have made an arrangement with me in advance. Your late work will receive a grade penalty of one letter grade per 24 hours that pass between the deadline and your submission. Please contact me if you anticipate a problem completing this assignment by its deadline. Grading. The following grading brakedown should supplement the departmental grading standards on the course syllabus. A AB+ Strong original argument/reading, excellent descriptive analysis of evidence, excellent structure, flawless style Weak original argument/reading, excellent descriptive analysis of evidence, strong structure, extremely few flaws in style No original argument/reading, excellent descriptive analysis of evidence, strong structure, some flaws in style Emily Carpenter / Department of Film & Media B BC+ and below No original argument/reading, strong descriptive analysis of evidence, strong structure, some flaws in style No original argument/reading, solid descriptive analysis of evidence, solid structure, some flaws in style No original argument/reading, weak/insufficient descriptive analysis of evidence, weak/insufficient structure, many flaws in style Model 2. This model does not use a course text as critical framework, but does demonstrate the "close reading" practice we are helping you develop. It moves chronologically through the sequence, using descriptive analysis to present and interpret evidence from the film's images and dialogue. The outline that follows the model essay shows what we like about it: what it does, how it's put together, how it flows. This model is shorter than model 1, but would be of a similar length if it included a course text as its critical framework. You can watch the sequence in question here. The Moral Crossroads The opening sequence of The Grapes of Wrath establishes several key themes using a visual style that establishes patterns that recur over the course of the film. This sequence's cinematography, mise-en-scène, and dialogue progressively isolate Tom: first in the landscape, then in visual and dialogic social conflicts where dominant views of commerce and class relations figure him as an outcast. This sequence critiques these dominant views, makes an argument about the redemptive moral value of labor, and foreshadows Tom's fate. The sequence opens in a brightly lit and dynamically composed location shot. It seems to be morning, and we hear the diegetic sound of birdsong. In the middle distance, toward the left of the frame, two country roads meet; one road runs on vertically into the far distance, flanked on the left by telephone poles and power lines that give a sense of the grand scale of this open world. A lone man approaches on foot. We don't know it yet, but this is Tom Joad. As we will soon find out, Tom has just been released from prison, and the bright, open composition signifies his new freedom. Unfortunately, interactions with other people, and the commercial and class relations that rule their worlds - will sour the sense of optimism that characterize Tom's approach to the proverbial crossroads. A quick dissolve indicates the passage of time; now, the camera sits to the left of the intersection, and pans slowly right to observe Tom's arrival at a store, in front of which sits a large truck labeled “Oklahoma City Transport Company.” A cut moves us still closer to the front of the store as Tom, with his back turned to us, approaches and leans against the corner of the truck in the far left of the frame. The shadow of the truck is long across the ground, and the storefront looms over it; beneath Tom's outstretched arm, in the far distance, we observe a tractor turning slowly in the field. The institutions of commerce and the systems of transport that support it loom large in this shot, in which Tom seems a reluctant (or perhaps defiant) outsider. A woman and second man exit the store, exchange a few words, and this man gets into the truck. In a new shot, Tom approaches from the far side of the truck, and asks for a ride. The man refers Tom to a sticker on the windshield; a close-up shows it: “No Riders Allowed – Instructions of Owner.” This exchange signals something important about what is to come: an individual using someone else's authority to avoid helping a fellow human being. Tom challenges this response in a way that foreshadows a major conflict of the film: “Sure, I saw it... but a good guy don't pay no attention to what some heel makes him stick on his truck.” Tom defies the order of things that places power only in the hands of the company men who make rules for their subordinates to follow. In doing so, he appeals to the man's own sense of right and wrong. This exchange sets up a tension between personal agency and responsibility and the more amorphous power of larger institutional forces (the bank, the company, the state) that will operate throughout the film. As the truck driver questions Tom about the evidence of hard labor on his hands, what emerges is not only a class divide but a divide between those trapped in fear and judgment and those who are willing to break a rule when that rule is unjust. This first conversation in the film thus establishes themes of competition and unconcern for others - and the desire to challenge them - that will organize most of the human relationships and narrative turning points in the film. When Tom leaps from the truck, he is not leaving these conflicts behind him. Indeed, the feelings of frustrated violence that he feels in response to his own powerlessness will lead him down a course of action that requires him, at the end of the film, to take to the road alone again. Model 2 Structure and Function Title NOT the assignment title Describes your argument 0 . Paragraph 1 Soft thesis or mapping statement that Identifies which sequence you will examine and What about it you find interesting, In a way that makes clear how you will be linking film technique to film themes. 2-3 sentences long! Write this LAST, only when you know what your argument really is! NO VAGUE/ GENERAL STATEMENTS ABOUT THE FILM, LIFE, ETC. 0 . 0 Paragraph 2-3 Chronological descriptive analysis of the sequence that Notes only those details which are relevant to the argument and Immediately analyzes/interprets them In a way that leads you back toward the thesis you started with and Transitions smoothly to the next paragraph. Write this first, so that you use the process of examining evidence to build a claim, rather than trying to force a preconceived notion onto the evidence! . 0 0 Paragraph X (Conclusion) Presents evidence from the end of your sequence that helps you cap off your descriptive analysis, leading directly into the final version of your thesis statement and Further develops - without summarizing - the points you've made so far by presenting the most clear and robust version of the thesis, Explains how this sequence is important in relation to the rest of the film and Explains how this sequence reveals something interesting about the construction of California and the American West – IF this is relevant to the specific argument you are making about the sequence! Write this second, so that you can sharpen your argument and figure out how it's related to the film and the class! . . Final Pieces of Advice 1. Don't name-drop techniques or vocab just to sound impressive. Only use it when it helps you be specific about a detail that is significant to your argument. 2. Give plot information/summary only when it helps you explain the significance of what you are seeing - and how the sequence you're examining relates to the rest of the film.
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Course Title
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The use of Sound in Fritz Lang’s Film, M
Fritz Lang produced M 1931, a film noir antecedent which was his first sound picture. M
is a transitional film which teeters between the realm of talking and silent pictures. The film
mergers silent sequences comprising sound effects with dialogue sequences. In the following
illustrations, I will analyze the sequence of sounds in the film.
When the young girl, Elsie, is kidnapped early in the movie, we hear the killer converse
with her along with the captor’s characteristic whistle of a song, but we only see his shadow. The
whistle occurs in the whole film to give clue of the presence of the murderer before we see his
face. The blind man ultimately figures the mystery of occurrence which coincides with the
whistling. Lang edited sound as visuals and use them controllably and sparingly to accomplish
particular effects. The audience can pick out the marvel of the whistling sound and relate it to the
murderer. The film director demonstrates the importance of sound in solving the terrible murder
crime.
Following the young girl’s capture, the director uses a clock on the wall of Elsie’s family
apartment to express a sequence of sounds. The coo-coos and ding dongs on the clock, however,
are louder than in a real ...


Anonymous
Excellent! Definitely coming back for more study materials.

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