A comparative statistical film style analysis of four selected contemporary American movies within the drama genre in terms of their average shot length and scale

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject Film Science, grade: 1, , language: English, abstract: This case study investigates the average shot length and scale by using a comparative statistical film style analysis of contemporary American movies within the drama genre. This research was conducted in a systematic fashion; utilising appropriate tools and documenting each of the key stages. To ensure a high degree of validity the research investigates four successful box office movies of two award winning editors which were selected. The report is divided into ten sections. These are Introduction, Definitions of Key Terms, Scope and Limitations, Background Information, Literature Review, Research Plan and Analysis of Methodologies, Research Implementation, Presentation and Analysis of the Data, Comment and Critique of the Findings and finally the Summary and Conclusion. The scope of the work is limited to an examination of the descriptive statistics such as average shot length and categorisation of the shot scales. Correlations of the movie content were not considered. The research concludes with demonstrated support for the hypothesis that the use of digital nonlinear editing systems has had a significant impact on the shot length and framing in contemporary American drama feature films over the past fifteen years. Evidence is derived from primary, secondary and tertiary data including interviews with industry professionals.