Thomas Caldwell,
Film Analysis Handbook: Essential Guide to Understanding, Analysing and Writing on Film.
Victoria, Australia: Insight publications, 2005.
ISBN: 1 920693 77 7 (pb)
228pp
Au$39.95
(Review copy supplied by Insight Publications)

This text seems designed for secondary pupils and those of their teachers who have had limited experience with film analysis or who seek teaching activities reinforcing basic concepts. Caldwell recognises his debt to the classic Film Art: An Introduction but believes his text is more accessible for those students beginning to explore film beyond casual entertainment. There is a recognition that films are culturally significant although little discussion is invested into reasons for this significance, except that ‘they [films] simply cannot be ignored’ (ix). According to the author this text offers concepts and skills that enhance engagement and increase enjoyment. The engagement itself implies an approach framed by semiology – ‘reading’ seems to replace analysing as operative analytical process and the statement ‘a film is a text’ (1) confirms this genealogy. Further there is an implied bias toward the visual with statements such as ‘cinema is a visual art form’ although there is a chapter on sound – with the audio acting as ‘significant source of meaning for the visuals in a film’ (105).

These philosophical underpinnings reflect the traditional approach undertaken by the author as he proceeds to outline an easy to follow trajectory through some of the significant arenas of film analysis. There is an initial chapter on basic terminology which is supported by contemporary examples and is arranged in a schematic format with bullet pointed statements allowing for easy reference. Then chapters on mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, sound, narrative and genre to allow a more detailed conceptualising. Further chapters on intertextuality, the process of engagement as viewer and some strategies for writing complete the structure of the book.

The format of this text is very user friendly, appealing to a visual as much as text-oriented engagement. The images used, and these are prolific, are fresh and convincingly utilised to illustrate concepts. For instance, images play a significant role in reinforcing ideas within the chapter on cinematography. They are simple, clearly titled and positioned to act as illustration to shots involving tilts, pans, tracking, distance and angles. The text itself is structured with the use of frames, colours for highlighting, different font size to establish a hierarchy of headings and subheadings, and there is even a flick-book in the centre at the edge of the page to add to the dynamic and playful quality of the book’s design. The book also has brief inserts which act as commentary on a variety of particular elements of film interest including statements on early cinema, the use of blue light, light as framing device, shadows, interviews and the final cut. There are also a series of activities designed to reinforce the material discussed and to allow the reader to practice with the ideas and utilise these through a range of decision making and conceptualising agendas.

None of this can be criticised as the book deals with the basics of film analysis in a positive and very concise manner, using contemporary filmic examples and assisting in developing an active engagement in analysis. The final chapters on strategies for film viewing and writing about film are strong in examples and helpful in their support of varying options although I do believe that these approaches are unnecessarily general in terms of viewing and analysis, implying at least, that a film should be engaged in its entirety rather than offering strategies that might focus in greater detail on aspects of the film. For example the viewing strategy suggests a tripartite viewing procedure, with an initial viewing requiring the viewer to ‘simply appreciate and experience the film as audience member’ (160); the second time the viewer ‘will need pen and paper to take elaborate notes on the entire film’ (160); and the third viewing as confirmation of arguments.

I can understand and sympathise with the author who is attempting to develop a text accessible to secondary school pupils and their teachers. I applaud his attempt to establish a text that has appeal to those who need a vocabulary and practice in a more intellectual engagement with film and can understand why this text will be a useful supplement to works of a similar nature, all designed to absorb the demand that has arisen through the advent of a more formalised media and film studies in the school curriculum. Unfortunately this work continues to reinforce ideas that are being challenged in parts of the academy. Although it helps to implement a foundation for cinema studies, especially in relation to terminology, it does not recognise that there are increasing concerns about the marginalisation of the body as part of the viewing process, that there are direct material sensations invoked as affect in the screening experience, that there is a necessary challenge to the dominance of narrative as prime structuring device and a recognition that Hollywood filmic strategies are only one of many and have hampered the creative possibilities of film as audio-visual medium.

This book offers a conservative approach continuing a particular focus on film studies well entrenched but now under significant revision. This is not a text instigating a new wave of approaches to film analysis although this I believe is something that we need. We need new texts acting as a way of energising our approaches not only to the philosophy of film studies but also to the teaching of this subject area. The implementing of new ideas, new approaches and new attitudes to this audio-visual medium is a necessary part of the revitalisation of the understanding of our engagement with film especially if we actually do believe that it is culturally significant.

Bevin Yeatman
Waikato University, New Zealand.

References

Bordwell, D. and Thompson, K. (7th edition 2003) Film Art: An Introduction, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Caldwell, T. (2005) Film Analysis Handbook: Essential Guide to Understanding, Analysing and Writing on Film, Victoria Australia: Insight Publications.

Created on: Tuesday, 7 March 2006 | Last Updated: 7-Mar-06