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Conveying meaning through non-verbal action

A film scene study for individuals and groups

Copyright © 2007, Dorian Scott Cole 

In a story, meaning is understood, not thought about. If we expect the audience to mentally grapple with what they see to try to understand it, we are taking them away from the story for mental gymnastics. We are not only expecting too much, we haven't done our job of portraying the action. Meaning is conveyed directly by the action.

This scene study looks at individual scenes from four different films, two comedies, one drama, and one action:

  • Bullets Over Broadway. (1995 Oscar winning comedy. Writers: Douglas McGrath and Woody Allen; Dir: Woody Allen).
  • They Call Me Trinity (Lo chiamavano Trinità). (1971 classic comedy, western. Writers: Enzo Barboni and Gene Luotto; Dir: Enzo Barboni.) This movie is a spoof on spaghetti westerns (Italian, French, Spanish westerns).
  • The Rock. (1996 Oscar nominated action thriller. Writers: David Weisberg (story) & Douglas Cook (story - as Douglas S. Cook) David Weisberg (screenplay) & Douglas Cook (screenplay - as Douglas S. Cook) and Mark Rosner (screenplay); Dir: Michael Bay).
  • The Prestige. (2006 double Oscar nominated drama. Writers: Jonathan Nolan (screenplay) and Christopher Nolan (screenplay); Christopher Priest (novel)).

In each scene (or sequence of scenes) there is gunfire. In too many movies, gunfire is just of the shoot-em-up action variety and conveys little more meaning than a video game. In these four scenes, the gunfire is in context with preceding scenes and the music and acting. All of these elements communicate meaning that is important to the story.

Recommendation: Get each of these videos and watch them.

Bullets Over Broadway, a comedy, is a mobster movie set in New York in the 1920s. A mobster wants his girl friend to star in a Broadway play. There is gunfire in many scenes, but how do you include mob violence in a comedy?

Woody Allen combined various elements to squeeze unsuitable action into a comedy. He uses melodrama (also called "overacting") to increase the emotional distance (see melodrama in Emotional Distancing In Stories). In the first scene where this is used, to "send a message", a car pulls up to an industrial waterfront in the middle of the night. An upbeat tune, Up A Lazy River accompanies the action. The driver gets out, pulls the passenger out, and shoves him behind a fence. The man offers no resistance and his mouth is taped shut so he can't offer any verbal comment. He acts compliant but out of it (for whatever reason). With the man out of the scene, four shots are fired and we hear a splash. This scene is almost a motif (recurring thematic element), and lasts only ~45 seconds.

What meaning does this scene convey? That this is part of a comedy, and people die in this comedy - people dying isn't funny, but we aren't to dwell on it. The emotional distance is large, like it happened on Mars, we don't know the people, and don't identify with them.

How the scene might have been affected differently is shown by considering the other ways in which it could have been portrayed. What would the effect have been by:

  • A much longer scene?

  • We knew the character being killed?

  • The music had not been upbeat, but dramatic?

  • We saw the character as he was shot and went in the water?

  • The character resisted and begged for his life?

  • On our attitude toward the main character who did the shooting, by any of the preceding?

  • Any of the above differences would have portrayed drama rather than comedy?

    How could the scene have been made even funnier and made us laugh?

    They Call Me Trinity, a western spoof, has visual scenes that communicate fantastically in the opening. The opening motif communicates to the audience what kind of story it is (genre - western comedy), and tells the audience the attitude of the main character. Note the very limited dialogue in the opening scenes - everything is communicated visually.

    In the opening, we see a gun belt being dragged across the desert. We then see a canteen and a pair of boots being dragged. Our view widens to see a cot being dragged in the hot sun. A man is on the cot, dressed in very dusty and ragged clothes, his hat pulled over his eyes so he can sleep. He yawns. Our view widens again and we see a riderless horse is pulling the cot across the arid land. The man never moves, even when they cross a knee deep stream. Credits roll.

    When the horse finally stops, they are at a stage coach station. The man yawns, stretches, and pulls on a boot - immediately removes it, scratches his foot, reaches in the boot, plucks out a scorpion, and carelessly tosses the scorpion away. He throws the horse some hay, and goes inside dragging his gun in the sand. So we see that this is a western comedy, and the man is incredibly lazy and doesn't care about much of anything. First 3 minutes, no dialogue.

    After entering the station, the man slaps some of the dust from his clothes and sits at a table, leaving dust all over it. His clothes are full of holes. There are two other men, a wounded man, and the station attendants inside. When the stationmaster offers him beans and wine, and when others try to converse with him or insult him, the man responds affably in grunts and nods, speaking only when necessary.

    The stationmaster brings a large skillet to the table and serves some beans. After a couple of scoops, the man takes the entire skillet, a half loaf of bread, and a bottle of wine, and eats directly from the skillet. He shovels beans with both spoon and bread, stuffing it into his mouth, scoop after scoop, his cheeks bulging, stopping only to flush them down with a cup of wine and burp, spilling much of the wine on himself, and pouring wine while he shovels.

    Everyone in the station is transfixed by the spectacle. The men, who are bounty hunters and taking the wounded man in, try to identify the dusty man from posters, and he affably lets them. They find nothing (tells character). When the beans are gone, he uses the bread to swipe up the sauce until the skillet is empty.

    This is where the guns come in. He straps on his gun belt. "A man only eats like that if he's on the run," One man says. "Your name, Stinkweed?" "They call me Trinity." Everyone gasps. "The right hand of the devil." Trinity then takes the wounded man from the bounty hunters without a struggle.

    One bounty hunter remarks that they say he has the fastest gun in the West. Trinity downplays it, saying, "Is that what they say? Geeze." As he walks out, the bounty hunters open a window to kill Trinity. Without looking, he shoots from behind his back, hitting both men with one bullet.

    The bounty hunters had been abusing the wounded man, but Trinity treats him much better. Later he releases him - so by his actions we learn more about his character.

    The 6 minute station scene is at least 90% visual, and less than 10% dialogue. So primarily through visual action we learn that Trinity is not an outlaw, but is terrifyingly skillful, doesn't care much about material things, is lazy, but is good to people. The visuals do characterization, produce comedy, and move the story forward much better than 9 pages of dialogue could have.

    So what do the guns and gunfire tell us? One, it's a comedy and we're not to dwell on the gunfire. Two, it's a spoof - no one is that good with a gun. Three, he lives up to his reputation.

    How would the gunfire scene have been interpreted differently by the audience if:

  • It was a much longer scene?

  • Trinity had drawn the gun while inside, to take the captive?

  • Dramatic music had accompanied the scene?

  • Trinity had missed the shot?

  • Dramatic music had accompanied the scene?
  • European style films are often different than those directed by US directors. Jean Mitry inspired many of the French school of film-making toward a much more visual style, and is well worth studying. Enzo Barboni, director of the Trinity series, became famous for his "spaghetti westerns." The Trinity series included They Call Me Trinity, and Trinity Is STILL My Name! It was followed by They Call Me Renegade. In a 1995 release, he continued the Trinity legend with Sons of Trinity (Trinità & Bambino... e adesso tocca a noi). Enzo Barboni's visual style, as shown above, is well worth emulating.

    In the drama, The Prestige, rival magicians become compelled by revenge to destroy each other's careers, with obsession leading to death. Originally they worked together, including the rival's wife, but the magician fails to properly tie the woman's hands and she dies in a failed underwater escape. Revenge is the only satisfaction.

    We are set up for the gunfire scene when the magician tells his wife that there is one magic trick that magicians dare not do: the bullet catch. The reason is because the person from the audience who fires the gun often puts a real slug in the chamber, and the magician dies. But because of their rivalry, he decides to do it. We are also set up by the rival magician who has before appeared in disguise in the audience and become selected to verify the trick - but then wrecked it.

    In the gunfire scene, an audience member is selected. Both the magician and the audience realize that again it is the rival magician in a different disguise. The magician, with much fear for his life, goes ahead with the trick. The audience sees the rival place a slug in the chamber. No one knows if he will pull the trigger. After a moment of suspense, he fires. The rival shoots off one of the magician's fingers, thinking he has wrecked his ability to do magic tricks.

    The action in this scene conveys what meaning? That the rival might want to kill him for revenge, but can't? That the rival only wants to end the magician's career? That they are even and the battle is over?

    What meaning would have been interpreted by the audience from the gunfire scene if:

  • It was a much shorter scene?

  • The rival shot and killed the magician?

  • Upbeat music accompanied the scene?

  • The rival missed on purpose?
  • The Rock. Action thrillers aren't known for drama and close emotional distance. Emotion is glossed over in favor of adventure, just as it is glossed over in comedy in favor of comedic emotion (laughter). The gunfire scene in this action movie is rare in its purpose.

    In The Rock, a Marine general and several from his former platoons are outraged over the refusal of the government to pay casualty benefits to families of deceased veterans. They seize Alcatraz and threaten to blow up San Francisco. An intelligence political prisoner who is familiar with Alcatraz because he was once held there, leads a Navy Seal team to capture the Marines.

    The conflict scene between the Marines and the Seals is a very well developed scene that very effectively dramatizes the conflict in the drama.

    In this gunfire scene, the invading Seal team gets discovered and pinned down in an area with little protection. The two commanders argue their positions, and as the accompanying dramatic music picks up, the conflict ramps up, until finally the two groups are in mortal conflict. The Seal team is destroyed.

    What meaning does the gunfire convey in this scene? They both have positions that are legitimate and absolute? They have reached an irresolvable impasse? Armed conflict is inevitable? Both positions are of high value to their holders? The gunfire is tragic, but the honorable thing to do?

    What meaning would have been interpreted by the audience from the gunfire scene if:

  • Seals were simply picked off one by one?

  • The conflict had not ramped up to the point of gunfire?

  • Upbeat music accompanied the scene?

  • The men shot at, but missed each other, on purpose?

  • The noise of falling material had not triggered the firing?

  • In the four scenes, the action of gunfire conveyed meaning that was different for each scene. The meaning was modified by a minimum of: the preceding scenes, the scene length, what the shot hit, and the accompanying music.

    The meaning conveyed included character traits, intensity of purpose, revenge and obsession, emotional distance, identification with the protagonist, genre, and motif (establishes expectations).

    - Scott

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