Name: ________________________ Teacher: ________

Film Study Booklet for

‘The Lovely Bones’

Directed by Peter Jackson

Contents

First Viewing - Overview Plot Summary	p2
Character Important Characters In-Depth Analysis Relationships	p3-7
Plot Structure	p8
Events	p9
Themes	p10
Societal Issues and Historical Connections / Intent of Director Impact on Audience	p11-12
Response to Issue	p13
Setting	p14
Symbols	p15
Creative Writing Letter to Someone Unknown	p16-17
Film Techniques Props Dialogue Important Quotes	p18-22
Scene Analysis In-depth Scene Analysis	p23-25
Music and Sound Soundtrack Analysis	p26-27
Essay Questions Breaking Down Essay Questions Essay Scaffold	p28-30
Hexagons	p32

First Viewing

Character Names	Important Events	Issues and Themes	Possible Symbols

Important Relationships	Setting and Locations	Music Used	Important Quotes

Director’s Intent	Impact on the Audience	Historical Connections

Plot Summary

What happened in the film? Write a brief plot summary below:

Important Characters

Name the characters below:

Characters in the film

Main Characters

Minor Characters

Unseen Characters

Obstacles for Characters to Overcome

What are some of the obstacles that the characters try to overcome? What do we learn from their efforts?

Important Relationships

What are some of the most important relationships in the film?

Relationship	Connections and Importance of Relationship

Choose one relationship and explain the different ways that the relationship develops over time:

What important lessons can we learn from this relationship?

Choose two characters who make the most significant change over time: __________ and _________

First Character: _________________________	Second Character: ________________________
How does this character change over time?	How does this character change over time?
Why is this character’s change significant?	Why is this character’s change significant?
What techniques does the director use to develop this change in the character?	What techniques does the director use to develop this change in the character?
What does this change help the audience to understand about the character in more depth?	What does this change help the audience to understand about the character in more depth?

Indepth Character Analysis

Character:

Why is this character so important in the film?

What do they teach us?

How does this character connect with you or society?

Choose one character from the list above: _____________________________

Why is this character so important to the film? What can we learn about the way they interact with their society around them?

Character Comparison

What are the connections, comparisons and differences between Mr Harvey and Susie’s Dad?

Choose two other characters in the film. What similarities and differences do they have?

Plot Structure

Diagram

Read the handout and explain in your own words what the below terms mean:

Exposition:

Inciting Incident:

Rising Action:

Climax:

Falling Action:

Resolution/Denouement:

Brainstorm the important events here:

Plot the important events on the diagram below:

Important Events

What are the important events in the film?

Events

For each event - explain the importance of it and what it teaches us about the characters. What characters are part of this event?

Events	Importance

Important Themes

What are the important themes in the film?

Themes

For each theme - write a definition to help explain what the theme means. What characters are part of this theme? What scenes are related?

Themes	Definition	Characters Involved	Scenes

Societal Issues and Connections

What are some of the societal issues and the connections to characters or theme?

Issue	Connection to Theme	Connection to Character	Connection to Society

Historical Connections

What connections can you make with this film and past events in our global and own histories?

Director’s Intent

Explain what director’s intent is:

What does the director try to make us understand with these connections?

How does the director teach us about this using techniques in the film?

Impact on Audience

What impact does this film have on the audience? Think emotions and reactions you had to certain events…

What do we learn about our society and the issues in our world from this film?

Response to an Important Issue

Discuss an important issue or theme portrayed in the film. Think about the events that occurred in the film, director’s intent and the impact on the audience. Remember to use your paragraph structures too!! (pg 28-29)

Brainstorm here:

Setting

What are some of the places, time periods and social environments?

Setting	Important Events at the Setting	Characters Related

Director’s Intent in using Setting

Choose two different settings in the film - why did the director use that particular setting and what effect and impact did it have on the audience?

Symbols

What are some of the symbols portrayed in the film?

Symbols	Connection to Events in Film	Importance and Relevance of this Symbol

Creative Writing

In the film Ray writes a letter to Susie. It would have been part of her first experience of ‘love at first sight’ if she had read it. Unfortunately, she lost it in the cornfield....

Write a letter from Susie’s perspective to one of the main characters - Ray, Mr. Harvey, her Dad etc.

Film Techniques

Basic Camera Shot types

Extreme Wide Shots (EWS) act to establish the area. Used to set the scene. (aka Establishing Shot)

Wide Shots (WS) show the entire person or area. They’re great for establishing the scene and allow for good action of the characters. Sometimes this is known as the long shot.

Long shot (LS) Shot which shows all or most of a fairly large subject (for example, a person) and usually much of the surroundings.

Extreme Long Shot (ELS) - see establishing shot: In this type of shot the camera is at its furthest distance from the subject, emphasising the background.

Medium Shots (MS) frame the subject from the waist up. This is the most common shot and allows for hand gestures and motion. Medium shots are frequently used for the tight presentation of two actors (the two shot), or with dexterity three (the three shot).

Medium Close Ups (MCU) shots show the subject in more detail and are often framed from just below the shoulders to the top of the head.

Close Ups (CU) show a particular part of your subject. For people this usually means the shot frames just the head! Close-ups focus attention on a person's feelings or reactions, and are sometimes used in interviews to show people in a state of emotional excitement, grief or joy.

Big Close-Up (BCU): forehead to chin.

Extreme Close Ups (ECU) are much tighter close-up shots in which you get detail greater than the human eye might be able to normally perceive. An example of this shot might be of the mouth and eyes together

Two Shot: This is a shot of two peoples (or other individuals) together.

Cut Away (CA): Cutaways are used in the editing process to fill in footage which is different from the main action. An example might be a cut away of a bird singing if the shot is focused on a couple in the woods.

Over the Shoulder Shots (OSS) are shot from behind the person towards their subject. Generally the frame is cut off just behind the ear, although there are several variations. A good technique to use to get this shot is to frame the person facing the subject with about one third of the frame.

Point of View (POV): This is an effective shot that gives the audience the feel that you’re seeing it from the eyes of the performer. It is taken from near the eye-level of the actor and shows what he might see. It could be used to give the perspective of other animals too like a frog, a bird, or a fish.

Angles

High Angle - In a high angle the camera looks down at a character, making the viewer feel more powerful than him or her, or suggesting an air of detachment.

Low Angle - A low angle shot places camera below the character, exaggerating his or her importance.

Overhead Shot - An overhead shot is one made from a position directly above the action.

Tilted shot - When the camera is tilted on its axis so that normally vertical lines appear slanted to the left or right, ordinary expectations are frustrated. Such shots are often used in mystery and suspense films to create a sense of unease in the viewer.

Sound

Direct sound. Live sound. This may have a sense of freshness, spontaneity and 'authentic' atmosphere, but it may not be acoustically ideal.

Sound bridge. Adding to continuity through sound, by running sound (narration, dialogue or music) from one shot across a cut to another shot to make the action seem uninterrupted.

Sound effects (SFX). Any sound from any source other than synchronised dialogue, narration or music. Dubbed-in sound effects can add to the illusion of reality: a stage- set door may gain from the addition of the sound of a heavy door slamming or creaking.

Music. Music helps to establish a sense of the pace of the accompanying scene. The rhythm of music usually dictates the rhythm of the cuts. The emotional colouring of the music also reinforces the mood of the scene. It is not normally intended to be noticeable. Conventionally, background music accelerates for a chase sequence, becomes louder to underscore a dramatically important action. Through repetition it can also link shots, scenes and sequences.

Silence. The juxtaposition of an image and silence can frustrate expectations, provoke odd, self-conscious responses, intensify our attention, make us apprehensive, or make us feel dissociated from reality.

Diegetic sound -

Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film:

voices of characters
sounds made by objects in the story
music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world. Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. Another term for diegetic sound is actual sound

Diegesis is a Greek word for "recounted story"
The film's diegesis is the total world of the story action

Manipulating Time

Slow motion. Action which takes place on the screen at a slower rate than the rate at which the action took place before the camera. This is used: a) to make a fast action visible; b) to make a familiar action strange; c) to emphasise a dramatic moment. It can have a lyric and romantic quality or it can amplify violence.

Flashback. A break in the chronology of a narrative in which events from the past are disclosed to the viewer. Formerly indicated conventionally with defocus or ripple dissolves.

Flashforward. Much less common than the flashback. Not normally associated with a particular character. Associated with objective treatments.

Camera Movement

Zoom. While zooming in the camera does not move; the lens is focussed down from a long-shot to a close-up whilst the picture is still being shown. The subject is magnified, and attention is concentrated on details previously invisible as the shot tightens (contrast tracking). It may be used to surprise the viewer. Zooming out reveals more of the scene (perhaps where a character is, or to whom he or she is speaking) as the shot widens. Zooming in rapidly brings not only the subject but also the background hurtling towards the viewer, which can be disconcerting. Zooming in and then out creates an ugly 'yo-yo' effect.

Following pan. The camera swivels (in the same base position) to follow a moving subject. A space is left in front of the subject: the pan 'leads' rather than 'trails'. A pan usually begins and ends with a few seconds of still picture to give greater impact. The speed of a pan across a subject creates a particular mood as well as establishing the viewer's relationship with the subject. 'Hosepiping' is continually panning across from one person to another; it looks clumsy.

Surveying pan. The camera slowly searches the scene: may build to a climax or anticlimax.

Tilt. A vertical movement of the camera - up or down- while the camera mounting stays fixed.

Crab. The camera moves (crabs) right or left.

Tracking (dollying). Tracking involves the camera itself being moved smoothly towards or away from the subject (contrast with zooming). Tracking in (like zooming) draws the viewer into a closer, more intense relationship with the subject; moving away tends to create emotional distance. Tracking back tends to divert attention to the edges of the screen. The speed of tracking may affect the viewer's mood. Rapid tracking (especially tracking in) is exciting; tracking back relaxes interest. In a dramatic narrative we may sometimes be drawn forward towards a subject against our will. Camera movement parallel to a moving subject permits speed without drawing attention to the camera itself.Hand-held camera. A hand-held camera can produce a jerky, bouncy, unsteady image which may create a sense of immediacy or chaos. Its use is a form of subjective treatment.

Lighting

Soft and harsh lighting. Soft and harsh lighting can manipulate a viewer's attitude towards a setting or a character. The way light is used can make objects, people and environments look beautiful or ugly, soft or harsh, artificial or real. Light may be used expressively or realitically.

Backlighting. A romantic heroine is often backlit to create a halo effect on her hair.

Editing

Mise-en-scene. (Contrast montage). 'Realistic' technique whereby meaning is conveyed through the relationship of things visible within a single shot (rather than, as with montage, the relationship between shots). An attempt is preserve space and time as much as possible; editing or fragmenting of scenes is minimised. Composition is therefore extremely important. The way people stand and move in relation to each other is important. Long shots and long takes are characteristic.

Montage/montage editing. In its broadest meaning, the process of cutting up film and editing it into the screened sequence. However, it may also be used to mean intellectual montage - the juxtaposition of short shots to represent action or ideas - or (especially in Hollywood), simply cutting between shots to condense a series of events. Intellectual montage is used to consciously convey subjective messages through the juxtaposition of shots which are related in composition or movement, through repetition of images, through cutting rhythm, detail or metaphor. Montage editing, unlike invisible editing, uses conspicuous techniques which may include: use of close- ups, relatively frequent cuts, dissolves, superimposition, fades and jump cuts. Such editing should suggest a particular meaning.

Non-diegetic sound

Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action:

narrator's commentary
sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
mood music

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from a source outside story space.

The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening. We know of that certain sounds are represented as coming from the story world, while others are represented as coming from outside the space of the story events. A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror), or to surprise the audience (comedy). Another term for non-diegetic sound is commentary sound.

Film Techniques - Worksheet 1

Camera Shots and Camera Angles	Camera Movement	Music	Special Effects (SFX)
What camera shots were used? Eg. close ups, wide shots, over the shoulder, two shot, mid shot, long shot, high angle, low angle	What camera moment helps the audience to understand the characters and themes? Eg. tracking, panning	What music was being used in the film? What effect did the music have?	What special effects were used in the film? Eg. explosions, animation etc

Lighting	Costume	Editing	Actor’s Performance
What lighting was used in the film? What was the effect of using it?	What costumes are being used in the film? Why does the director use them for the characters?	How has the director edited the film together? Eg. Parallel structure, cross cuts, fade in and out	How does the actor portray the character effectively? Eg. Facial expressions, body language, gestures etc

Props: What props are being used in the film? What do they symbolise? What characters do they connect with?

Use of Dialogue

Dialogue: Write some of the most important quotes below and explain the importance of the quote

in relation to the other characters, themes and events.

Dialogue	Significance?	Said by….who?

Important Quote Analysis

Choose four quotes that you think are the most important in the film. Explain why these are important in relation to important issues, character development and change in awareness of the audience.

Quote	Connection to Issue or Theme	Character Development	Awareness of the Audience

Scene Analysis

What is important about each scene? What do we learn about the characters?