Cinematic character presentation checklist Explicit/direct presentation

Voice-over (VO) and/or voice-in (VI) narrator description (homodiegetic/heterodiegetic) presentation of characters.

Implicit/indirect presentation

1. Linguistic features (dialogue and speech)

Conversational structure (e.g. turn length, turn taking, turn allocation, topic shift, topic control, incomplete turns, interruptions, hesitations)

Deviation from the conversational maxims, conversational implicature

Lexis (lexical choices/diversity, surge? features, affective language, terms of address, key words)

Syntactic structure Accent and dialect

Pragmatic aspects (speech acts, (im)politeness)

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2. Paralinguistic feature

Vocal qualities (pitch range/variations, tempo, loudness, voice quality) Physical qualities (facial expression, posture)

3. Film style and techniques

Framing (close-up/medium-shot/long-shot)

Camera works/effects (camera distance, camera angle, camera level) Costume and make-up

Setting and context (including characters’ physical setting and company Film score/soundtrack

Editing

Explicit/direct presentation refers to when a character is presented or described in a direct and unmediated way. Characters can be described by a voice-over (VO) narrator; a narrating voice that gives a direct description of events and characters. The VO narrator can narrate from different levels of the narrative; they can be a ‘homodiegetic’ (Genette, 1983) character-narrator in the narrative or a ‘heterodiegetic’ omniscient narrator who is not present in the narrative but has an authoritative role. For example, in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007) a heterodiegetic VO narrator tells the story of Jesse James in an omniscient voice. At the beginning of the film, the VO describes Jessie, while we see Jessie doing daily chores:

He was growing into middle age and was living then in a bungalow on Woodland Avenue [...]. He installed himself in a rocking chair and smoked a cigar down in the evening as his wife wiped her pink hands on an apron and reported happily on their two children. His children knew his legs, the sting of his mustache against their cheeks. They didn’t know how their father made his living, or why they so often moved. They didn’t even know their father’s name.

The VO’s description of Jesse’s character is accompanied by a visual presentation of him. The VO adds specific details about Jessie which can hardly be presented visually. At times, the VO has a reinforcing function and places emphasis on what is presented visually. For example, when the VO talks about Jesse’s scars, a few seconds later his scars are shown.

Characters may also be presented by means of other characters’ words in the film. An example is a scene in Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers (1972) in which the sisters sit successively in front of the camera and describe each other in long takes (see 3.5.5).

In contrast, indirect or implicit character presentation is achieved by demonstrating, exemplifying and dramatizing the individual’s traits rather than describing/presenting them explicitly. A character’s speech and dialogue – whether in a conversation or as a soliloquy – are indicative of their traits and contribute significantly to characterization. For instance, the fact that someone speaks slowly may reveal something about the speaker, as, on the basis of our assumptions about slow speakers, it can be inferred that they are hesitant or ponderous. Here, it should be pointed out (as discussed in the RQs in 1.3) that of all the pragmatic aspects of dialogue listed as linguistic features of implicit/direct character representation, this study will – along with considering the physical qualities such as facial expression and posture – focus on characters’ SAs and their functions in character creation due to the significant role of SAs in characterization (see chapter 3).

The other key aspect of implicit/indirect cinematic character presentation is the style and techniques on which film distinctively draws to communicate. Framing, as ‘the arrangement and composition of elements in a film frame’ refers to ‘the entire rectangular area of a film image as projected or as visible on the screen’ (Kuhn and Westwell, 2012:186), can dramatically affect how viewers perceive characters. For example, Thompson (2008:182) assumes that a ‘frame is not simply a neutral border, it imposes a certain vantage point onto the material within the image’. Framing determines the position from which the character (or an event) is viewed and perceived. The qualities of framing include the distance between the camera and the character or object being framed, the angle of the camera and the level from which a character is shot. Framing an image may supply a sense of closeness to or distance from the object being shot. The distance of framing can produce different kinds of shots, which is a continuous action on the cinema screen resulting from what appears to be a single run of the camera (Kuhn and Westwell, 2012:373). By using different types of shots, from extreme long shots (ELS) to extreme close ups (ECU), the filmmaker can highlight the importance of anything, from a character’s subtle emotions to giving us a view of a whole world – a city or town – where the story is set. For instance, the character of the Tramp in Charlie Chaplin’s films is usually framed in long shot (LS) which allows the character to act out through pantomime while at the same time, the dramatic facial expressions can also be captured from a distance. LS has also a diminishing effect, as for instance, framing a lone character in a vast landscape can make him/her appear overwhelmed by surroundings. In Abbas Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)

the LS and the ELS of the moving motorbike may suggest how inconsequential human beings are in comparison to nature.

Medium shot (MS), as the most common type, captures characters from the waist up and provides effective framing for conversation scenes especially if hand movements are part of the performance. Close-up shot (CUS) focuses on the face or a part of the character’s body (such as hand or lips) to present and amplify details. When a character is shot in CU, viewers’ attention is drawn to an important detail. For example, by simply framing a character’s eyes, hands or lips, a sense of horror, love, anger, or happiness may easily be conveyed even in the absence of dialogue. In Kiarostami’s Shirin (2007), by using simple CUSs, the filmmaker focuses on characters’ emotions as they are watching a dramatic film. A wide range of reactions such as sobbing, biting of lips, fiddling with scarves, and the expressions of absorbed attention are all captured closely through CUSs.

Camera effects, including the level, height and the orientation of the camera in relation to character, can also be used to affect viewers’ understanding of characters by guiding their judgment. A specific scene can be shot from different camera angles and levels – each one motivating different impressions. For instance, a low-angle shot, as a common technique in classic horror films, can make a character look threatening, powerful or intimidating. Conversely, an oblique/canted angle, in which the camera is tilted, may suggest a sense of imbalance, transition and instability, and is mostly used in horror films to amplify apprehension and suspense. Although framing and camera effects may conventionally convey specific impressions, they have no absolute and established meaning. In other words, meaning of a scene should be taken into account in the interpretation of camera work in relation to characters, as it is the context which determines the function and meaning of the framing. This is mostly true in art film, in which there are frequent and extensive deviations from the conventional functions of film techniques and style (see 1.4 and appendix 1 for further explanation of art film).

In addition to camera work and movement, aspects of mise-en-scène such as characters’ costume and make-up can play an important role in characterization. Such visual aspects are capable of quickly conveying subtle details of characters’ personality and history to viewers. Along with costume, makeup may also help communicate physical aspects of character – especially facial aspects. Makeup can transmit physical and temporal changes such as age, or accentuate expressive qualities of characters’ face. For example, the Dude’s costume and makeup in the Coen brothers’ Big Lebowski

(1998) reveal who the Dude is from the first moment he appears on the screen. At the beginning of the film, the Dude is seen in a supermarket, wearing sunglasses, a bathrobe, shorts, V-neck t-shirt, and slippers. In terms of his appearance, as well as his body language, his character can immediately be recognized: he is unemployed, a slacker and a loser. In fact, the character’s costume and make-up imply his socioeconomic position and lifestyle as well as more personal features, including his age, race, and temperament.

Next, characters’ physical context is another expressive indicator as the setting in which characters appear implies their emotional and social state. In White Night (2002) – an Iranian free adaptation of Dostoevsky’s short story by the same name – the bleak and gloomy house of the nameless narrator reflects his pessimism and loneliness. As a literature professor, he is a perpetual dreamer who lives in his own world, in which writers are his family members. The portraits of his favourite writers (mostly such authors as Hemingway, Camus, Maugham, Proust and Sartre, who are usually associated with existentialism and cynicism) cover his grey and dark green walls. The dusty bookshelves with disorderly piles of books symbolize his disorganized mind. In this film, the character’s physical context can be understood as reflecting his lonely and pessimistic personality.

Music, as another aspect of mise-en-scène, fleshes out what is not visually discernable in the image; its implicit content such as emotion and mood. With such a capacity, Kalinak (1992:86) asserts that ‘music is expected to perform various functions: provide characterization, embody abstract ideas, externalize thought, and create mood and emotion’. Highlighting the areas in which film scores can serve the image, Coupland (1949) mentions that it establishes a convincing atmosphere of time and place, and underlines character’s unspoken feelings and psychological state while serving as a kind of neutral background filler to the action. In another account, Gorbman (1987:12) asserts that film soundtrack, as ‘a signifier of emotion’, sets specific moods and emphasizes particular emotions suggested in the narrative. He discusses the referential and narrative functions of soundtrack, and notes that music can indicate point of view, and establish setting and characters and also interpret and illustrate narrative events. In addition, aspects of soundtrack, including rhythm, melody, harmony and instrumentation can function narratively and associate with particular aspects of narrative such as character, setting, situation, and time. (In 6.5, the role of music in characterization will be rigorously discussed through analyzing a piece by

Chopin in a sequence of Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata, which demonstrates how music can fulfil the functions of the characters’ SA in the absence of dialogue).

In summary, this section has discussed the character presentation checklist – a revised and modified version of Culpeper’s theatrical characterization – that will be used to systematically analyse the three films. The researcher believes that the suggested toolkit offers value in terms of replicability and can be used in the analysis of linguistic and non-linguistic, multimodal aspects of cinematic character.