Narrative Continuity in Film Making

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Narrative Continuity in Film Making
Narratives are tales of genuine or visualized events that are either verbal or written. They are widely in production of cinemas. Film industry has grown to be a multi-billion dollar industry. In filmmaking, directors employ methods and styles when producing movies. Arrangement is one-technique producers' use in film production. It is defined as story structure that entails narration from the beginning to the end. It also involves prioritization of events according to the way the director wants the story to flow. Giving character traits to individuals in a story is also another way to make films (Bacchilega p. 102). Targeted viewers or listeners are also factors producers and directors put into consideration. This means viewers can be of the same or different age groups depending on the lessons producers want them to learn. This paper will analyze the characteristics of film styles used in two different films.
Citizen Kane and Double Indemnity are the two films that will be analyzed in this regard. The analysis of these films will give more similarities than differences on stylistic characteristics used. Double Indemnity is an interesting film that involves an insurance agent (Walter Neff) and a woman named Phyllis. The film portrays how Phyllis uses Neff to murder her husband so that she can benefit from the double indemnity clause. Mise-en-scene, camera movement, editing, lighting, sound design and set design are examples of styles used in these films. Citizen Kane influenced the production of Double Indemnity film meaning there is existence of the same stylistic characteristics (Ebert p1). Similar styles used in both films included camera angles, use of lighting and focus at the beginning of each of these films. For instance, camera tracks behind Neff as he walks into his office. The hero, Walter Neff, is very dark and surrounded by bright light. As he finds his way to his office, the camera moves with him showing a picture of the office building. This scene is similar to the way Citizen Kane film begins. Camera movement with scenes in these films makes it possible for the viewers to get the real picture of the movie.
Mise-en-scene is another similarity present in both movies. This occurs when directors avoid showing certain scenes of a movie. Normally this is the function of the cameras to bring out this stylistic characteristic of films. In Citizen Kane, camera movement starts on Susan singing then moves upwards past the curtain in a flashback. The camera does not reveal what takes place behind the curtains meaning the viewers can only speculate on it (Ebert p1). This is an illustration of mise-en-scene characteristic of film styles. Similarly, in Double Indemnity, we are not shown all the scenes as Walter Neff walks into his office. His movement is synchronized with pictures of the office where he works. These stylistic film features the meet the goal...