Four points of Film

Four Points of Narrative Film

Throughout time, narrative film has always tried to bring us as close to the action as possible, just as if we experiencing the action first hand. Whether it is a battle scene full of hundreds of people or an emotional love scene, it has attempted to provide the voyeuristic eye (and more) to the viewer. Some films move beyond the typical storytelling techniques set by classical cinema though, and bring the viewer to a point where we live vicariously through the characters so that the storytelling is now an experience. This being said, as film captures life (whether it is set in suburbia or a planet far far way) and the human emotions that allow viewers to relate, it stays true to capturing one or more of the following:

1) What is, the reality of real time in that world.
2) What a person, the character or viewer, experiences (slow-mo, real-time, distorted points of view)
3) What is remembered.
4) How we wish we could have experience it.**

Now, as filmmakers evolve or choose to stay true to more conventional filmmaking, true cinema will stay loyal to these four points of creating stories and experiences for the viewer.

The Reality of a World

This can be described as depicting a world for what it is, more particularly, from a pure and objective point of view. Almost as though a higher being were to be watching. It can be argued that documentaries fall into this category, but for the sake of the argument, we will exclusively stay with narratives.
It can also be argued that every film is in fact telling a story and giving the reality of a world, but this can contradicted by films that taint the world depicted by voicing misconstrued opinions. Let’s take for example the 1938 film, “Tell Your Children (reissue title: Reefer Madness). A propaganda film from the very beginning, it portrays a world from a skewed perception. Compare this to a film such as Wes Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaum’s” where the world is created for telling a story and a world that we know of in which character’s act ‘out of character’ for the sake of propaganda.
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The Experience of a Character

Examples- 25th hour, Run Lola Run. More common in contemporary view due to the advance in editing, film technology and the narrative as a whole.

Point of view shots have frequently been used to show exactly that, the point-of-view of a character. Dances with Wolves, a film justly awarded several academy awards, uses point of view on several occasions. In my opinion, a little too much and unsubstantiated, but nevertheless show a perspective.
Subsequently, point of view shots, unless used at the right time can be quite trite and cliché; even to the point of being jarring at times. Other techniques that may enhance a viewers perspective are slow-motion, skewed camera angles/lenses, and even the saturation/desaturation of the actual film.
What it all boils down to though, is not the just these techniques or any other I have not mentioned or will come to fruition, but the basics of filmmaking. The beats of a scene, the writing, the camera placement; all of which are filmmaking essentials too often forgotten or overlooked because of the filmmaker’s desire to try something new and innovative to make them stand out from the pack.
This is where the objective and subjective ultimately come into play. All the Real Girls (2003), directed by David Gordon Green, not only said by others or ‘it has been said’, but said by myself, is one of the best directed films in the last 10 years. A Sundance selection that has been overlooked by the masses due to its slow pace and bland sounding plot summary, is a prime example of pace and finding the beats of not only a scene but a relationship set from the very start of the film.
No specials effects are used here aside from sped up establishing shot as none are needed in this film set to depict love in a small town in the Southern U.S.

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