Apr.13 event w/SIETAR-- Film analysis: Word and image combinations in romantic comedy scenes

Film analysis: Word and image combinations in romantic comedy scenes

Date and Time:
Sunday, 13 April 2014 - 3:00pm - 5:00pm

This event is co-sponsored by Osaka JALT with SIETAR Kansai, in Nishinomiya.

Speaker: Kumiko Kizu

Films are multimedia. They are constructed of images and sounds (language, music and sound effects), and we understand scenes based on the combinations of these two media.

How are the two media combined? Are there any regularities found in the combinations of sounds and images in films?

These matters have often been discussed in the fields of film criticism and film studies.

It has been argued that the two media are instinctively combined by the filmmakers (editors) and that priority is given to images over sounds in deciding their combinations.

This may be reasonable given that images are indispensable to films; without images films would no longer be films.

However, how about conversational scenes where words play a major part?

This presentation analyzes the combinations of words and images in films from a linguistic point of view, borrowing the methodology of Conversation Analysis.

The focus is on typical two-party conversational scenes in which two characters are shown in close-up one after the other (this pattern is called the shot/ reverse-shot exchange).

Close attention is paid to how turn-taking between the characters is displayed on screen.

Scenes from romantic comedies, such as Before Sunrise and You’ve Got Mail will be cited as examples.

This research aims to contribute to a better understanding of our comprehension of multimedia discourse.

Dr. Kumiko Kizu is a native of Kobe. She received her PhD from Kobe City University of Foreign Studies in 2013. Her doctoral dissertation, Taking Turns at Talk on Screen, is about the correlation between words and images in films. She studies cinematic discourse particularly from a pragmatic and communicative point of view. Her research interests include Conversation Analysis and multimedia discourse. She teaches at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, Kobe City College of Technology and the University of Hyogo.


Location:
NIshinomiya Daigaku Koryu Center (ACTA East Tower 6F, Room2) Tel.(0798)69-3155

Two minutes walk from Nishinomiya Kitaguchi station.

Guide to Location:
http://www.nishi.or.jp/homepage/daigaku/info/index.html

Fee for JALT members: FREE for JALT and SIETAR members and students

Fee for one-day members: 500 yen