T HREE T RACKS OF N ON -F ICTION F ILMS
C ONSIDER Image + Audio + Text = Possible Meaning
D OES E VERY T EXT H AVE A B IAS ? Bias = point of view? YES Films are made by humans. Choose what to film Choose what to edit out Choose what music to overlay All of these choices reveal the bias of the text
T HE T HREE T RACKS R EVEALED.... 1) Visual Track 2) Audio Track 3) Text Track
1) V ISUAL T RACK What we SEE on screen Parts of the visual track 1) Main story being told 2) Can be interrupted by…. Cutaway Archival / found footage Stills
V ISUAL T RACK Main footage created / filmed for movie Often interview footage of a subject Can be the filmmaker him or herself
A RCHIVAL F OOTAGE Primary source photographs Primary source film Footage from ANOTHER movie
E XAMPLE …. Interview with a guitar player… Guitar player talking about his childhood in Chicago Cutaway to pictures of Chicago (when he was growing up) Back to player talking about his heroes Cutaway to film of player’s heroes playing guitar He says he’ll play Close-up on his fingers as he plays.
2) A UDIO T RACK What we hear! Narration On screen Off screen “Voice of God” narration Soundtrack Music in the background
M USIC Diegetic Logically heard by someone at the time of filming Non-diegetic Sound track Sound effects! What EFFECTS are created with the music choices?
E XAMPLES Outfoxed Supersize Me
3) T EXT / G RAPHICS T RACK Overlays of the visual track Charts Drawings Graphics Subtitles
T EXT Identify who is talking Title of the person talking Location of a scene Who IS identified; who is NOT? HOW are they identified (Big BIAS clue!)
B E C AREFUL Just because a person on screen has a t-shirt with a word on it Not the text track Part of the visual track
E XAMPLES Religulous Where in the World…
H OW MIGHT THE FOLLOWING BE IDENTIFIED WITH A POSITIVE BIAS ? George W. Bush Michael Jackson Lady Gaga Barak Obama
H OW MIGHT THE FOLLOWING BE IDENTIFIED WITH A NEGATIVE BIAS ? George W. Bush Michael Jackson Lady Gaga Barak Obama
C ONSIDER Image + Audio + Text = Possible Meaning