Great Films Text.... Words Without Words

I really enjoy the fact that this author is going into great detail about every aspect of film making. Now, as a watch films, or television I am paying attention to so much more than the plot, or soundtrack. As chapter 2 discusses the idea of using music, signs and signifers as a mean of communication to the audience, many films began to pop into my brain, but the Pixar film Wall-E I thought would be a great example.

"In the United States, during the days of silent movies, viewers were at first confused by flashbacks, crosscutting, and reaction shots, techniques understood by even the youngest filmgoers today." (pg 16)

First of all, I love Wall-E! If you have never watched this movie, you need to go out and get it AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! But back to the text, there is very limited dialog going on in this clip yet the audience completely understand Wall-E's feelings. As Pixar uses human body language and expression they make this machine become a main character. The audience can see his fear of the vacuum as he reacts in a similar fashion that a human would. The shakes/ quivering is a major human reaction to fear. At the end of the clip the audience can also portray Wall-E's guilt of making a mess with the vacuum has he slumps down and tries to swipe the floor clean looking for witnesses.


"The sounds may include music, sound effects, or speech. Filmmakers arrange these sounds systematically. The arrangement is meaningful to us because we understand the system." (pg17)

Now clearly sounds effects is crucial to this movie because it is a computer animated film. Without sounds, it would literally be a silent film. Within the actual film, music is built in the film to fill a lot of space because there is so little speech. But the speech that is included in this film is so crucial! From this clip above, the audience can tell Wall-E's interest in the vacuum and his fear for the cockroach pal after we gets sucked into the vacuum. Many times it is not actual words that Wall-E says but it is his demeanor of his body (machine) language or the noises he makes.