Looking Closely at the Film Title Bar

Looking Closely at the Film

Prepared by William Costanzo, Professor of English and Film, Westchester Community College.

Bill Costanzo teaches English and film at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, NY. A former chair of NCTE's Committee on Film Study and director of the Media Commission, Bill speaks and writes regularly on the connections between English and media education. His book, Reading the Movies, is available through NCTE. Bill is a featured guest on To Kill a Mockingbird: Then and Now - Program 2: The Film.

Strategies for Teaching The Film | Elements of Fiction in Film | Elements of Film | Scene Analysis

In her introduction to Horton Foote's published screenplay of the novel, Harper Lee wrote, "If the integrity of a film adaptation is measured by the degree to which the novelist¹s intent is preserved, Mr. Foote's screenplay should be studied as a classic." There are many good reasons for studying the movie in an English class. First, it is very accessible: easy to get (on video tape or laser disc) and to understand (for its story, its characters, its themes).

Second, it is a well-made, perennially popular film. When it appeared in 1962, the film was honored by five Oscar nominations and Academy Awards for Best Actor (to Gregory Peck), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Black-and-White Art Direction. It also won special humanitarian awards for its treatment of racial injustice.

Finally, it is a landmark in the art of adaptation, beginning (in Harper Lee's words) "a new era of responsibility in Hollywood." As such, To Kill a Mockingbird offers a case study for ³comparative literature² in an age when more and more stories are told through the medium of movies.

Directed by Robert Mulligan Produced by Alan Pakula for Universal
Screenplay by Horton Foote Cinematography by Russell Harlan
Edited by Aaron Stell Art Direction by Alexander Golitzen and Henry Bumstead
Set Design by Oliver Emert Music by Elmer Bernstein
Title Design by Steven Frankfort Released in 1962 - Running Time: 129 minutes

Visit Looking Closely at the Film under Instructional Activities for a complete listing of cast members.

Strategies for Teaching To Kill a Mockingbird: The Film

Here are four ways of looking at a film that teachers have found useful.

Viewer Response: The Why and How of Adaptation
Help students to clarify their personal responses to the film. As them to describe and account for their reactions to particular scenes and to the movies as a whole. Get them to notice where their responses differ and to weigh the possible explanations for these differences. The process of comparing responses and trying to undersand the responses of others gives students a good chance to "walk around in someone else's shoes." Why are so many books made into movies? What is involved in transferring a story from the page to the screen? What are the benefits and risks fo adaptation. By posing such questions, you encourage your students to think about what is lost and what is gained when they see a movie rather than reading a book.
The Art and Craft of Filmmaking: Evaluation:
To appreciate a movie like To Kill a Mockingbird, it helps to know something about the medium of motion pictures: how films are made, who contributes to their production, and how the basic elements of filmmaking‹like lighting, sound, and editing‹shape a film into a work of art. The Lyceum offers you and your students a rare opportunity to ask the artists themselves about what happens behind the screen. What makes a good story? What standards do we bring to stories told on film? What makes an adaptation successful? Screening To Kill a Mockingbird can be a good occasion for considering such questions of quality and judgment. Get your students thinking about movies with some general questions before and after your screening of the film.

Viewer Response:	The Why and How of Adaptation
Help students to clarify their personal responses to the film. As them to describe and account for their reactions to particular scenes and to the movies as a whole. Get them to notice where their responses differ and to weigh the possible explanations for these differences. The process of comparing responses and trying to undersand the responses of others gives students a good chance to "walk around in someone else's shoes."	Why are so many books made into movies? What is involved in transferring a story from the page to the screen? What are the benefits and risks fo adaptation. By posing such questions, you encourage your students to think about what is lost and what is gained when they see a movie rather than reading a book.
The Art and Craft of Filmmaking:	Evaluation:
To appreciate a movie like To Kill a Mockingbird, it helps to know something about the medium of motion pictures: how films are made, who contributes to their production, and how the basic elements of filmmaking‹like lighting, sound, and editing‹shape a film into a work of art. The Lyceum offers you and your students a rare opportunity to ask the artists themselves about what happens behind the screen.	What makes a good story? What standards do we bring to stories told on film? What makes an adaptation successful? Screening To Kill a Mockingbird can be a good occasion for considering such questions of quality and judgment. Get your students thinking about movies with some general questions before and after your screening of the film.

Elements of Fiction in Film

Since films tell stories, they involve many of the elements of fiction that novels do. After students have read the book, you might look at the way these elements are treated in the film.

CHARACTER.: Movies speak to us in images and sounds, so every character is a performance, an interpretation of the script. Our conception of character depends heavily on the way a particular actor looks, acts, and speaks. Note how the main characters are introduced. Scout swings into the frame from a tree. Dill is first seen from a high angle as a small figure almost lost among the leaves of a cabbage patch. We hear Jem¹s voice coming from the treehouse before we ever see him.
What do the entrances of these and other characters emphasize about them?
POINT OF VIEW.: Point of view in film is often conveyed literally, by the position of the camera. We see Jem in his treehouse in a low angle shot from Scout¹s point of view. We see Dill in a high angle shot from Jem¹s position in the tree. Since most of the story is narrated from Scout¹s perspective, the camera usually shows us only what she would see. A good example occurs when the three children enter the courthouse to find Atticus. Scout and Jem lift up Dill so he can peer into the courtroom, and we are limited to what Dill sees and what they hear. That makes the shift in perspective all the more striking after the children leave and Atticus faces Bob Ewell as one adult to another.
Where else in the film does the camera make you aware of a particular character's point of view?
SETTING.: The film establishes the story¹s time and place with a voice-over narration, taken directly from the novel, spoken over images of rural Maycomb. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the camera can set a scene in an instant. On the other hand, while novelists can construct vast panoramas with a pen, filmmakers must labor with hammer and nails, which may explain why a director might exclude a fire or a church scene from a script.
Where in the film does location seem most important?
How do the filmmakers help us to believe that we are in another time and place?
PLOT.: Since a film has less time to tell its story than a novel does, the plot is often streamlined, designed for a single sitting. Notice what the film omits from Lee¹s meandering story: characters like Uncle Jack and Mr. Avery, details like Mrs. Dubose¹s morphine addiction, and the seventeen shots that kill Tom Robinson.
How many of these omissions might be explained as concessions to length?
Some viewers have observed that the film concentrates on the story¹s two main strands, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, and weaves them into a tighter narrative.
Do you and your students agree?
SYMBOL.: Symbolic objects and actions are more literally defined on the screen than on the page.
How does the movie represent the symbols found in the novel?
Did you imagine these things differently when reading than when you saw them on the screen?
Pay particular attention to the opening title sequence and the symbolic objects used in the cigar box.
Why do you think the title designer chose these objects?
If you have unanswered questions about the opening credit sequence, decide how you might pose them to the designer during the teleconference.

Elements of Film

Although films and novels use common elements of fiction to tell stories, filmmakers use special tools to develop character, setting, plot, point of view, symbols, and tone. Invite your students to think in cinematic terms by drawing their attention to these elements of film.

Acting: How do the actors interpret their roles? Do they look and act as you imagined them when you read the book? How believable are their performances?

Camera Work: How does the camera frame events? Notice when it moves, shifts angles, or otherwise changes the focus of attention. What does this camera work emphasize in each shot?

Lighting and Set Design: Consider the location chosen for each scene. How was the place made to look as if it belonged to the 1930s? How would you describe the overall tone or atmosphere? How does the lighting contribute to this atmosphere?

Editing: How are the separate shots within a scene combined into a continuous sequence? Notice how often the camera cuts, fades, or dissolves into a new view of events. Consider the reasons for each of these transitions.

Script: Horton Foote, the script writer, had to capture the 300+ pages of Harper Lee¹s story in a 129-minute film. What decisions did he make? Notice where he trimmed the story or rearranged its parts. Can you justify these changes? How successful is his adaptation on the whole?

Sound: TKM uses all four forms of sound available to filmmakers: music, sound effects, voice-over, and dialogue. Notice how Elmer Bernstein¹s original music helps to create and guide the story¹s moods. Listen for the creaking stairs, the crickets, and other sound effects that contribute to these moods. What does Kim Stanley¹s voice-over narration add above and beyond the dialogue?

Scene Analysis

A good way to see how these elements of film work together is to analyze particular scenes. Watch the same scene several times, using the remote control features of your VCR or laser disc player to scan, slow down, and freeze the image. Note how the scene moves the story forward, sets the time and place, develops characters, establishes a point of view, creates a mood, or suggests symbolic meanings. If you have access to Horton Foote's screenplay (NY: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962), use it to study the art of adaptation. The goal here is to understand how scenes are constructed: what artistic and technological decisions were made and why.

Sample Scenes for Analysis

Opening Credit Sequence.

The objects that appear behind the opening credits include a pocket watch, harmonica, pearl necklace, whistle, marbles, and a child's drawing of a bird - items that gain meaning as the story unfolds. The sequence is a good introduction for the story's symbolism and themes. It also shows (to quote Harper Lee again) how a film can have "a life of its own as a work of art." Notice how the camera moves in, like a child's vision, to closeups of these valued objects, tracking from left to right along the row of treasures carefully arranged. Notice how the nostalgic music and humming of a child create a mood. And notice what happens to the drawing at the end of the sequence.

Boo Radley's Porch.

The night scene in which the children sneak up to the Radley house dramatizes their fascination with and their fear of the unknown. How do the filmmakers use lighting, music, sound effects, and camera work to heighten suspense? How suspenseful does the scene seem to viewers today?

For a detailed scene analysis by Costanzo, visit Looking Closely at the Film under Instructional Activities

Directed by Robert Mulligan	Produced by Alan Pakula for Universal
Screenplay by Horton Foote	Cinematography by Russell Harlan
Edited by Aaron Stell	Art Direction by Alexander Golitzen and Henry Bumstead
Set Design by Oliver Emert	Music by Elmer Bernstein
Title Design by Steven Frankfort	Released in 1962 - Running Time: 129 minutes