Film Language makes or breaks a non-print text

If you read a written text and it has a certain effect on you, for instance it makes you scared, we can look closely at the way the text has been constructed to see how the writer has used the tools at their disposal to create the fear.

Reading a film works in exactly the same way except that the tools that are used to create meaning are different. We call these tools film language. Film Language generally consists of the use of Camera, Light and color, sound and editing.

It is therefore understandable that, without appropriate film language and direction, a film will fail to successfully convey a specific meaning or narrate a particular story.

Two films in recent times that have experimented and adopted a new film language style have been The Matrix and The Blair Witch Project in which their success relied on their film language style.

For most people, the first thing they say after viewing the Matrix is, the special effects were amazing or how did they do that?

The film features a complex and revolutionary plot that is accompanied by groundbreaking special effects.

The Matrix shows how the code of film is always changing and evolving with the arrival of new technologies and revolutionary techniques introduced by

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No stereotypical ‘monster’ icons are applied; the characters only see their adversary on the point of their deaths.

Now Imagine The Blair Witch Project created by a Hollywood director, with a higher budget and taking advantage of today’s technology. In each case the action is taking place in the characters tent. No Computer generated special effects here.

‘The Blair Witch Project’, released in 1999 ,features hand-held, shaky footage and, importantly, a written passage at the start explaining how the film-makers ‘disappeared’ leading to many people in America fully believing that the events depicted were for real.

The success of a film does rely on appropriate film Language and only when it is used in context with it’s narrative. It also featured the first digitally created character in a lead role. It is a perfect example of how choosing the wrong film language and medium and thus hollywoodising a film can disengage the audience. The speech and dialogue is the main narrative tool in this film. The atmosphere and realism wouldn’t be captured, which was the beauty of the first film. Picture

Or imagine the spaceship as a plastic model, held by a string, being pulled through a dark tunnel. The whole film was shot using professional camera men, it had a sound track, it was filled with atmospheric imagery, it was filled with special effects, and conveyed many supernatural elements. Trying to imagine a remake of the movie The Matrix with a tiny budget, no special effects and using primitive film codes proves that it simply wouldn’t work.

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