Introduction to Film Analysis
FMS 85, Fall 2025
Analysis Assignment #2:
Editing and Sound
DUE by December 9, 2025, Tuesday 11:59 pm
https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/74993/assignments/1637938
This final written assignment focuses on two key aspects of film examined in the second half of the course: editing and sound. It is comprised of two parts:
I. Shot-by-shot worksheet that breaks down one specific scene (assigned); and
II. Scene analysis based on its shot-by-shot breakdown.
I. The shot worksheet has five categories for documenting and breaking down the assigned scene. The first two, shot number and length (i.e., its duration in seconds), should be self-explanatory. The following three are as follows:
• Brief description of the shot: Here you should briefly describe the action taking place in the scene––brief detail sufficient to identify the shot. While some shots might require more information than others, they need not, and probably should not, all be equally detailed.
• EDITING–Most significant aspect: Editing refers to the coordination of one shot with the next, and the relationship of shots across a scene (or multiple scenes, or an entire film). These may include: graphic relations between shots (matching/contrasting their pictorial/cinematographic qualities); rhythmic relations (pacing created by constant and varying lengths of shots); spatial relations (parallel editing, a.k.a. crosscutting; ‘Kuleshov effect,’ i.e., effect or meaning inferred by juxtaposition of non-continuous shots); temporal relations (order of shots and events; temporal condensation [elliptical editing] or expansion [overlapping editing]); continuity editing (smooth flow of space, time, and action over a series of shots, often relying on camera distance); discontinuity editing (e.g., montage or jump cut), and spatial continuity (axis of action established by 180-degree system).
• SOUND–Most significant aspect: Sound refers to all auditory elements accompanying a scene or film, diegetic and non-diegetic, and the ‘sonic texture’ they create. These may include music, voices and dialogue, voice-over narration, noises, silence, and sound effects. Sound also refers to perceptual properties such as loudness (volume and distance), pitch (high/low), and timbre (tone quality, e.g., nasal, mellow, abrasive, harmonious). Repeated music, phrases, and/or sounds can create a motif or pattern. Sound dimensions include suchqualities as rhythm (beat, tempo, or sonic pattern synchronizing visuals with sound), fidelity (i.e., whether a sound is faithful to its source), space (sound sources in the story world, whether onscreen or off [diegetic], and/or from outside the story world [non-diegetic]), and time (synchronous/nonsynchronous, sound bridges).
Pay attention to consistency and contrasts in editing and sound. In many cases, the pattern across several shots may be more significant than the discrete relation between any two shots. Also, drawing on your skills and knowledge from the first paper, make note in the appropriate categories of salient aspects of mise-en-scène and cinematography, i.e., how they resonate with editing and sound (e.g., cinematographic depth or quick pans coordinated with fast-paced editing to create particular point-of-view feeling or effect, or ironic music or dissonant sound in relation to mise-en-scène).
Suggestions:
• Rather than measure each shot in isolation, it may be more productive and efficient to note the time stamp for each shot––for example, 0:00, 0:05, 0:12, 0:15, etc.––then indicate their relative lengths later––5 sec. (shot #1), 7 sec., 3 sec., etc.
• Don’t worry about filling in details for every box before proceeding to the next shot. It will be more efficient to fill in those details that stand out to you most over several shots, then return later to address empty boxes and gaps. It may turn out that a key sound element or editing technique is repeated over several scenes; hence you could cut-and-paste or refer to it in abbreviated fashion over several shots. See the shot worksheet categories above for potential and relevant descriptors.
II. The scene analysis is a short paper, 800–1,200 words long, doubled spaced, that develops an interpretation supported by an examination of the scene’s use of editing and sound, and that assesses the scene’s significance in relation to the film overall. Please select one of the three scenes posted in our Google Assignments course folder for your shot worksheet and scene analysis. As you compose your worksheet, you should start to see larger patterns and/or stylistic features emerging. How does the editing rhythm/pacing convey the action or a character’s point of view, and does it enlarge or restrict our knowledge of the scene? What is the purpose and effect of diegetic and non-diegetic sound in the scene? More broadly, does the scene inaugurate or resolve a narrative problem? Does it set up or subvert an expectation, give us insight to a protagonist or villain, introduce or repeat a pattern, theme, or motif in the film?
Please allow yourself significant time to complete your worksheet well in advance of writing your scene analysis, and significant time to write the analysis itself. Expect to return to and revise your worksheet, as it would be best to fill it in over more than one viewing of the scene. You might also find it useful or necessary to revise the worksheet as you compose the scene analysis. DO NOT assume that either the worksheet or the analysis is simple and straightforward. The more careful and thoughtful you are in filling in your worksheet, the stronger and better your analysis will be.