Red Dog - Film Analysis Assignment
You are to analyse the studied film and show your understanding of the various elements of the film. Follow the questions as a guide.
You can present the information (with visuals) in a booklet or a poster.
Guiding Questions:
What is the storyline of this film?
What is the plot of this film?
Is there a larger theme or cultural worldview inherent in this film?
How is this theme(s) or worldview(s) expressed?
What types of “voices” are used in this film? Is there a match between the speaker who you see and the voice associated/assigned to him/her? Are voices manipulated – how and for what purpose?
What genre/type of film is this (e.g., ethnographic, educational, popular/feature, documentary)?
What cinematic strategies and techniques are used to reinforce particular themes or messages? (E.g. lighting, montages, creative “cuts”, camera angles)
What images or symbols are employed in the film? Are these symbols presented strategically? If so how?
What is the narrative structure of this film?
Is there a narrator? What is the narrator’s primary function in the film?
Who are the major characters in the film? Are women visible in the film?
How is the viewer positioned in relation to the characters? How is sympathy or empathy elicited?
Whose perspective(s) guides the film?
Does the film rekindle any thoughts in regard to the politics of representation?
Are there any stereotypes challenged or reinforced in the film?
Does the film represent aspects of a specific culture? If so, what culture is being represented? Is the representation objective or subjective? Biased or unbiased?
Arethere any power relations between the filmmaker and those filmed apparent in the video?
How “real” is this film? Does it seem more like a highly edited production (as are all texts) or less-produced/ethnographic?
Is the focus of the film properly contextualized? How so? How might the film be better contextualized (historically, socio-culturally or politically etc.)?
Choose a significant scene from the film, describe it and discuss the mis-en-scene used to convey ideas.
What is the final ‘coda’ of this film? What final message or lesson are we left with, as a legacy of the film?