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ENCODING AND DECODING MEANING: THE READER-VIEWER RESPONSE
The difference in reader and a viewer response to a novel and film
respectively is an important area of discussion in the process of
transformation from verbal to the visual mode of representation. To
understand this difference in response, one will have to explore the
production and consumption characteristics of a novel and a film.
A novel takes a reader several hours to read, as it may be many
hundred pages long whereas a film lasts for an hour or two. The
reader of the novel is in control of the process of reading; he can
pause at will, check back over incidents and facts and reflect upon
action but he is solitary in his engagement. The viewer of the film is
involved in a collective experience, in which the events or actions
relentlessly move on without the possibility of pause or recap.
However, a television adaptation of a novel in a serial form provides
an experience close to the reading of a novel. Television serials and
video recordings provide a flexibility of consumption, the ability to
pause and recap.
The transmission of the experience from producer to consumer is
also significantly different in both cases. Martin Esslin in his book,
The Field of Drama.1 points out that when we read there is a linear
progression, ordered and controlled by the reader. In dramatic
forms, including film and television, the words follow this structure,
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
but the other slgns come at the Vlewer simultaneously, and the
director can hardly control the order or the intensity· of
interpretation.
Charles Pierce and this successor Roman Jakobson identified three
kinds of signs. As a sign system the word on the page is different
from the screen and hence a discussion of signs is central to
understanding the difference in perception and response of a reader
and a viewer. When any communication system refers to an object,
person, concept and so on (the 'signified), it employs the signs at its
disposal ('the signifier'). An icon is a sign, which represents an
object mainly by its similarity to it; the relationship is not an
arbitrary one; a photograph of a man will resemble the man himself.
Whereas an index is a sign, which points to another object, in other
words it suggests an existential bond between itself and its object,
for e.g.: the 'the last resting place' may refer to a cemetery. The
third sign, the symbol, can only be understood by convention. It
does not resemble its object, nor possess any bond; there is no
immediate relationship other than agreed one among users of the
sign; for e.g., English speakers agree that the letters c-a-t are the
symbol for a domestic feline pet and such agreement has the force
of linguistic law2 . In film and television the iconic and the
indexical signs predominate while in prose the, symbolic sign is
used exclusively.
24R
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Film theorists like Andre Bazin and Christian Metz have debated
these distinctions at length. Bazin emphasises on Cinema's ability
to reveal, to create a perfect aesthetic illusion of reality whereas
Metz insists that the aesthetic of cinema must refer back to an
agreed code to achieve its full meaning. The film or the television
image implies a close relationship between signifier and the
signified, compared to the arbitrary relationship of verbal language.
The image, therefore, is specifically representational: not 'a room'
but a specific room; not a bird, but a swallow- i.e. the ability to
achieve precision, exactness the hence an 'illusion of reality'. 2
Martin Esslin identified the following non-iconic signs developed
exclusively by film and television that constitutes in a lay man's
term the grammar of the screen:
1. Sign Shots: - long shots, close ups etc.
a. Panning shots
b~ .- Travelling shots
c. Slow motion and accelerated motion.
2. Signs derived from the linking of shots
a. Dissolve
b. Cross Fade
c. Split Screen
d. Sharp Cut.
3. Signs derived from editing:
a. Montage
b. Rhythmic flow of images.
249
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
There could be yet another category of signs which has emerged as
a major influence on film making and i.e. the arena of 'special
effects' employed extensively in science fictions, action thrillers,
space odysseys and animations. The 'Computer Graphics' and the
Digital Technology has added to the special effects thereby
producing a new brand of reality, i.e. a virtual reality. The web
space on the computer Internet sites is an example of such a virtual
reality and is called the virtual space. In virtual reality the viewer
becomes an active participant m the action and he almost
exp-eriences a 'lived reality' and his involvement is palpable and
tangible. These non-iconic signs or effects simulate a reality, which
is both illusory, and a lived experience. The inherent contradiction
of this category makes the cinematic medium even more
challenging.
The soundtrack forms yet another level pf non-iconic signs. The
dialogues, music, sound effects all together form a level of meaning
which adds to the visuals. The soundtrack and its juxtaposition
with silence make it possible for the director to enrich the
experience of a literary work when he transforms it into a film. The
sound plays a very powerful role in evocation of varied emotions,
ranging from suspense, horror, sorrow, happiness etc. The sound of
an approaching train in Ray's Pather Panchali (1955) and the sound
of whiplash highlighting the protagonist Neera's anguish and pain
in Ritwik Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960) till date remains a
250
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
historic landmark in the use of sound in the film. The non
synchronous nature of the soundtrack, which can be superimposed
over any visual, constitutes its own brand of meaning. Thus the
soundtrack in conjunction with the visual-track is an important
category of non-iconic signs which lends itself to similar sub
categorisation.
Foremost among the non-iconic signs in a cinematic medium is the
editing. Editing achieves continuity and a sequence in a narrative
structure, so that the reader could effortlessly read the film. Editing
bridges over gaps in space and disjunction in time. Techniques that
have been developed to achieve this are:
Match on action.
Consistency of screen direction.
The 300 rule (a change of shot must be at a different angle
from the previous shot by at least 300 ).
The 1800 rule- an imaginary line on the floor in front of the
camera, which is not crossed by the actors during shooting,
as otherwise the points of view- would be confusing.
The basic assumption of these techniques is that the screen
signifies a tridimensional space. These techniques produce a notion
of space, along with various kinds of shots like long shots and
close-ups. The interaction of the protagonists is portrayed by an
exchange of looks between them. Editing is then done according to
the principle of eyeline match. This particular method of editing was
251
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
a characteristic of the classic narrative. Noel Burch called it the
(Institutional Mode of Representation' which is not only a manner of
representation but also a way of making the spectator see. Gaston
Roberge 3 says that, the spectator is made to see through
identification and his insertion into the fiction is the source of
narrative pleasure. He goes on to elucidate the strategy i.e.
employed to achieve this. Nick Browne4 calls it the shot-reverse
shot editing. Suppose A and B are in conversation and it is through
shot-reverse- shot technique the faces of A and B are shown in
alternation. In shot 1, A is seen from above B's shoulder. The
spectator thus looks at A and thinking it as his look experiences a
certain pleasure. In the next shot B is seen from above A's shoulder.
Thus what the spectator thought was his look is revealed to be in
actuality B's look and so on so forth. Through this technique the
spectator is constantly dispossessed of his look. However, very soon
the spectator identifies with one of the protagonists and his look
becomes the spectator's look.
This according to Gaston Roberge has two effects.5 Firstly the film
creates an illusion of ontological reality and is completely authentic
in itself. This is known as suturing, stitching i.e. closing the film
unto itself. Secondly, by the succession of identification the
spectator is inserted into the text. The spectator not only
participates but is written into the text, and the text is as if written
and directed from his point of view. The spectator in the text is like
252
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
a king or queen beholding with pleasure the resolution of an
enigma, the solution of a problem and perhaps even resolving the
problem. Restricting the discussion to screen adaptations of the
literary texts and the difference in perception and response of a
reader and a spectator/viewer we shall have to steer the discussion
to certain specific problems of transfer. These would necessarily
include points of view, time, imagery, psychological realism and
selective perception. Joseph Boggs in his book The Art of Watching
films7 talks about five modes of points of view (the perspective from
whiCh a story is told) in a novel, which are noe available to the
camera.
1. First person;
2. Omniscient author;
3. Limited Third Person (where the narrator IS privileged and
omniscient but only on one character);
4. Dramatic point-of-view (in which the reader is not conscious
of the narrator, since he does not comment but merely
describes the scene);
5. Stream of consciousness - interior monologue. The first
person narrative in a novel, which often involves close
relationship with the reader, cannot be depicted by the
camera. One of the greatest challenges of a screen adaptation
is to not only present the actions and the events of the novel
but also capture the attitudes and subjective tones of the
author.
253
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
The camera with its unique technique of changing a point of view
within a scene, the editing which causes frequent and extreme
shifts in perspective, depths of field, focus, zooms, angle specifying
characters and objects, montage creating mood and emotion, goes
on to produce a metalanguage in which the characters are
encrypted in a film. The point-of-view in a way passes to the
spectator or the viewer, who with the aid of the cinematic tropes
"becomes a kind of fictional god: one who, if not omniscient, can
nevertheless move about with seemingly magical powers.s
Robert Scholes calls this Narrativity. Narrativity is a process by
which .. , "a perceiver actively constructs a story from the fictional
data provided by any narrative medium"9 Robert Scholes says that
a well-made film will require interpretation while a well made novel
may only need understanding. The images presented to us are
narrational blueprints for a fiction that must be constructed by the
viewer's Narrativity. Narration, which is common to all modes of
representation, is different from Narrativity, as it is the process of
enactment or recounting, depiction or description.
Film theorists have in fact stressed the passivity of a viewer in the
viewing process. Theorists like Stanley Cavell and Edgar Morin have
described the viewing process as an inherently voyeuristic and
pornographic, the viewer himself as impotent and passive. These
theorists have obviously ignored the visceral and physiological
response of the viewer to the emotions of violence, horror, romance
254
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
etc evoked in the film. On the contrary the literary theorists like
Louise Rosenblatt, Wolfgang Iser and Stanley Fish conceived
literature as a lived experience in which the reader, actualizing the
text participates in the work of art. While Stanley Fish refers to
literature as Kinetic Iser stresses the "inevitable omissions" or
"gaps" in a text which the reader must necessarily fill. Both Iser and
Fish use cinematic terminology to explain the Narrativity of the
reader and it is interesting to note that a stress on the reader
response arises in this age of films. Applying a reader-response
theory to viewing a film, we can naturally assume that if a reader is
resymbolising a text or through 'anticipation and retrospection'
animating a text then the viewer does the same while watching a
film. However the process becomes even more complex when
watching a screen adaptation. The viewer tries to coincide the film
experience with his prior reading experience of the source text. The
film experience of such a viewer will never be the same as his
individualistic encounter with the source text.
Joy Gould Boyum says in his book Double Exposure, that we often
tend to be disappointed by the film up there on the screen because
each of us who has read the novel will owe an allegiance to our own
imaginative recreation. 10 . Boyum says that the act of watching an
adaptation is like watching a narrative framed in double vision
wherein we are forever juxtaposing our film with the film on the
screen. We try and force the two narratives to achieve a fusion and
255
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
failing to do that we accept the tension and the distance. This
double vision leads to identifying omissions, additions and
interpolations in the screen adaptation. It intrudes in the viewing
process by dissuading the viewer from identifying with the
characters on the screen. The association that an actor has because
of the roles he has played in other films also prevents the viewer
from total identification with the character. In the film under
discussion, The Remains of the Day Anthony Hopkins forever brings
to mind the psychopath he played in the film The Silence of the
Lamb. Similarly Christopher Reeves more than being the rich
American in the film under discussion brings to mind his
immensely popular screen image of 'Superman'. Inspite of the
intrusions created by the 'double vision' in the act of viewing a
screen adaptation, there is always an ideal viewer. An ideal viewer
would be someone whose imaginative reconstruction or
visualisation of a particular novel will approximate the screen --..:.~~
adaptation. In comparing a book with an adaptation we are
comparing the reader's interpretation with the director's
interpretation. Hence the act of reading a text and the act of viewing
the screen adaptation of the text can never be the same and at best
used as a critical tool of analysis.
When the spectator or the viewer identifies with the subject within
the film he becomes the enunciated subject i.e. gets inserted into
the text of the film. The spectator, who is thus enclosed within the
256
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
text, completely identifies with the speaking subject. All the actions
of the subject seem believable in the given context. Nick Browne
proposed this theory of Spectatorshipll. Some films however instead
of enclosing the spectator in the text of the film invite him to work
on the text. Instead of being offered identification the spectator
enjoys the freedom of co-producing a text and hence uses his
sUbjectivity to build a world of his imagination. On the other hand
the enunciated spectator does not have the freedom to build but
understands the contradictions of the discourse and offers
criticism. What we are talking about is the spectator's relations to a
closed and an open text and consequent decoding of meaning. What
follows from this is that the structure of the film dominates the
spectator's viewpoint or process of deciding meaning.
The structuration of film brings us to the interesting concept of
.. decoupage (cutting out) in the film. Decoupage12 is the shot division
or invisible editing, and is also known as the shooting script. It
involves fragmenting a particular action in the film and then adding
a point of view of to each fragment so that when the fragments are
re-joined they result in, a particular unfolding of that action.
Decoupage means at the same time a particular way of shot division
before filming or the underlying structure of the finished film. The
technique of decoupage can easily control the spectator's response
to a film.
257
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Colin McCabe and Laura Mulvey have proposed two theories of
Spectatorship. McCabe has argued that there may be several points
of view in a film, which are arranged in a hierarchy and only one is
dominant. That dominant discourse determines response not only
to the film but also to the other points of view in the film as well.
Instead of a discourse between the film text and the spectator there
is already a compiled history, which the viewer has to accept. The
dominant discourse is contained in the visual of the film and hence
organises the response to the film. Editing is a key area through
which it is achieved. The set, the choice of location, decor, lighting
and the entire technical baggage is used to organise a certain
response and encode a certain meaning.
Laura Mulvey had identified this dominant discourse as the
dominant look i.e. the look of the male spectator. According to
Mulvey, the fem~le spectator takes on another identity in order to
participate and obtain pleasure. This is borrowed from Lacan's ,
notion of misrecognition. Lacan had suggested, that when a
human being looks into the mirror he acquires an illusion of
wholeness, which is essentially misrecognition. In Lacanian terms,
in the mirror phase of a child, when the reflected image comes from
the mother's image, like a character on the screen, alienation
occurs, because the child has to accept the image projected on to it
by the desire of another. This mirror phase can be compared to the
act of Spectatorship, where viewers have to comply with what is on
258
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
the screen. The spectator thus experiences completeness, which is
temporary. The film unfolds fantasy that sustains desire in a viewer
by staging it. Laura Mulvey has psychoanalysed this spectatorial
pleasure in her article, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"13.
There are three looks in the cinema: the look camera, the look of
the protagonists within the film and the look of the spectator. In a
classic narrative the look of the camera is repressed as it supposes
an agency outside the narrative fiction. The other two looks often
coincide i.e. the spectator identifies with the protagonist. Laura
Mulvey calls this 'the unconscious of patriarchal society structuring
the film form by constituting the cinematic gaze of the spectator'.
The spectator irrespective of the gender looks at the woman as an
object of the male's desire. Mulvey says that a male spectator looks
at a woman in the film as an object of desire and fear both; fear ,
because the male is conditioned to see the woman as a symbol of a
lack and therefore, as a threat of castration. Mulvey concludes that
as a result of that fear, the pleasure of looking is only stronger. In
Freudian terms however one can say that in the cinematic gaze of
the spectator, both the voyeuristic and narcissistic pleasures
coincide. Central to Lacan's vocabulary 'ego' or identity of an
individual formed by looking at the mirror also constitutes the
spectator's ego. The spectator in the text indulges his voyeuristic
tendency, and directs his or her narcissistic gaze at the protagonist.
259
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Both Laura Mulvey and Colin McCabe's film theory emphasised the
viewer's control over the film being watched. These theories
attempted to demonstrate how the spectator is fIxed in place by the
film text, by its system of reinforcing and developing values. These
theories were influenced by Ferdinand -de Saussure's theory of
language, which proposed, that the structures of language
including film language, do our thinking for us and limit our
thinking. The spectator is thus fItted into the text and the forms of
identifIcation which the spectator receives from the film are the only
ones that he can use to arrive at meaning. Gramsci's concept of
hegemony or dominance of social structures and Althusser's
ideological state apparatus form the basis of theories of
Spectatorship.
It would be appropriate at this juncture to understand who controls
the media and its meanings and in· what fashion. There are
essentially two models of media control, the pluralist model and the
critical model. The pluralist model proposes that media (Including
films) in society are made up of many interacting groups,
institutions, interests, many sites of power, government, audiences
with varying interest etc. These have differing and at times
competing interests, powers, social stakes and interpretive frames.
Many different social forces can have an influence on who has
access, what meanings get constructed, how they are constructed.
These social forces could be the traditions, laws and ideology of a
260
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
state. The Pluralist model however did not recognise ideology as the
only determining force and believed in democratic system which
gave freedom to its audience to speak and influence opinions. The
Pluralist position however took into cognizance the role of ideology
through the work of Bakhtin and Foucault who worked from within
the critical tradition.
The Russian theorist Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin, advanced the
proposition that language is inherently ideological in that it informs
and expresses the particular way in which the speaker sees and
feels about the world and her position in it. He argued that any
language is made up of many sociolects, or ideological positions,
attached to class, region, age, profession, and so forth, so that
individuals are situated differently within the larger social unit; and
in that any social meanings involve a complex interplay and
cOtppetition among these socialists, or ideolects.
The French theorist Michel Foucault saw power as operating in
society through many centers, and in many ways. He pointed out
that power is not inherently negative-it is what is necessary for
anything to happen. Foucault did focus attention on the restrictive
forces of institutions and on the central role of ideology, but he also
imagined a world much less predictable and much less controllable
by socially dominant forces, than the critical position imagined.
261
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
"
Added to these recent positions in support of a pluralist perspective
has been the post-structuralism sense that 'subject' is a socially
constructed position within the system.
The individuals may variously occupy different subject positions (I
am variously a father, a husband, a professor, some what of a post-
structuralist, a dog owner, and so on, and my sense of myself, and
my realm of meanings changes, this theory holds, as 1 move
through these various subject positions). The media may structure
subject positions for me; alternately, 1 may bring the decoding
potentials of different subject positions to different mediated
messages, hence make different meanings.
The Critical position on the other hand commonly believes, that the
ruling class influences the understanding of the populace:
(1) Through socialising process, including the schools the church
and so forth.
(2) Through the economy 1.e. self-interest of the business and
cultural institutions.
(3) Through the control of the power elite.
The media for instance, according to the critical model, serves the
interest of the dominant ideology. The audience has only those
interpretations available, which have been taught to them. The
ideological control operates through the construction of a cultural
imagination produced by the structured media professional.
262
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
The Critical model under the pressure of theorists like Foucault and
Bakhtin and the Cultural Studies (meanings can be decided by
audience situated differently historically and socially) has moved
towards a 'loose control' model. This model sees control as being
more distributed than centralised and effected through ideology
than through direct economic and political force.
What follows from this discussion is that: -
1. Meaning is encoded through a framework of knowledge, and that
these have a social dimension and a material dimension. (I.e.
they are embedded in the economic and political processes of the
society).
2. That meaning is what is made by the receiver who decodes the
message in the context of his or her own framework of
knowledge. The history, the time and different social and
geographic placement, will have an impact on the similarities of
encoded and decoded meaning.
3. The various codes of all kinds through which meanIng IS
contracted (connotations, genres) can vary from one reception
site to another and can differ from sender to receiver i.e. from
encoder to decoder.
A film text or any other text encodes an intended or preferred
meaning, but the reader may not decode the message within the
'preferred' interpretive frame. The spectator or the viewer may
interpret within the dominant mode, decoding, as the encoder
263
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
would have it. The VIewer may alternatively adopt a negotiated
position wherein he may accept some aspects of the dominant
meaning, but rejects and alters other aspects to suit his own
desired goals. Finally the viewer may read the film text from an
oppositional point of view; interpreting meaning subversively,
. h d' cd' 14 against t e ommate or prelerre meanmgs.
Let us now examine a mUltiple text scenario m the context of
cinematic adaptations of literary texts. We begin on an assumption
that a literary text can be no more reffered to as the 'original text',
hence the text which is used for say cinematic adaptation (it is
applicable for all such adaptations) is at best a 'source text' from
where the narrative is borrowed for a visual representation. The film
adapted from such a text has a language of its own and hence can
be called a 'text' too which is however different in nature because of
the mode of its representation. This text is however is preceded by a
'text in transition' which I shall call the screenplay. The screenplay
according to me is the intermediary stage where the 'verbal' is in the
process of transformation to the 'visual'.
Now let us consider a hypothetical but a hugely prevalent situation
where a reader of a particular literary text also watches the film
adaptation of that text' he is our reader-viewer. In the process of
viewing, the reader fills in the inevitable gaps in the film text with
his Narrativity. The 'reader -viewer' has now a text which is an
amalgamation of the literary text and his reading of it plus the
264
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
screenplay writer and the director's rendition of it and also the
gaps, dissension's and conflicts in trying to match the 'verbal' and
the 'visual'. This 'reader -viewer' text is thus very different from the
'source text' and the 'film text'. (See Graph 1-2).
Continuing the same hypothesis we may imagine another situation
where the reader of a particular literary text may not have seen the
film based on it and similarly there is a viewer who has not read the
'source text' of the film. We therefore have a situation where the
there is a 'reader's text' and there is a 'viewer's text'and there is a
huge gap between the two. However, we will also have to remember
that there could be several such individual reader's text and
similarly several individual viewer's text and consequently several
different readings of the 'source text' and the 'film text' based on it.
This 'viewer' may eventually read the source text of the film and try
and compare the film and the 'source text' with the film as a
reference point. The reverse is equally true where the reader of that
text may view the film based on it and compare it with the source
text as the reference point. The logical argument that follows is that
a 'reader-viewer' text is experientially different from a 'viewer -
reader' text (See Graph 3,4,5).
On the basis of above observations we can safely assume that we
are presently in a mUltiple text scenario where the visual mode of
representation along with its verbal counterpart has extended the
domain of literature. The cinematic adaptations of literary texts and
265
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
the published screenplays of such film adaptations have thus
brought the verbal-visual debate centrestage and have also made
the word and the image an inseparable concept in the study of
literature.
Multiple Text Scenario in a Cinematic Adaptation of a Literary Text
I. Source Text 1
! Screenplay
! Film Text (Adaptation) 2
1 2
II. Source Text Film Text
x Reader- Viewer's Text
266
III.
Gap
IV
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
1 2
Source Text Film Text
Gap
Reader's Text Reader-Viewer Text Viewer's Text
3 X 4
I II~~I GAP
5
GAP
6
Arising out of Reader's
Interpretation
Arising out of director's
interpretation.
1 2
Film Text Source Text
Viewer-Reader's Text
y
267
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
V. Reader-Viewer Text Viewer-Reader Text
Gap Text Z
Encoding and Decoding Meaning: The Remains of the Day - The
Film
In order to understand the gaps that inevitably occur during the
transference of a novel to a film, we shall undertake a small
exercise of comparing and contrasting the novel and the film. The
novel and film under consideration here are: -
1. The Remains of the day.Kazuo Ishiguro (London: Faber and
Faber, 1989), 245 pages.
2. The Remains of the day., Merchant-Ivory production Screenplay:
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala , Running time: 135 minutes, Columbia
Pictures, 1993.
These gaps will indicate not only the actual content that has
been transferred to the film, but will also highlight the places where
the focus of the narrative shifts. This exercise will also compare and
contrast the narrative style in the two texts and how they contribute
to the constitution of meaning in different modes of representation.
A sample segmentation and shot analysis of few scenes will also
indicate how meaning is constituted in a cinematic medium
through the cinematic devices.
268
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
FILM
Scene 1
Auction Scene.
Scene 2
Stevens servmg breakfast to
Mr. Lewis.
Scene 3
1. Stevens begins his journey
2. Fox hunt.
Scene 4
Interviewing Miss Kenton.
Scene 5
Employing Stevens Senior.
Scene 6
Miss Kenton Brings Flowers
into Stevens' Parlour.
Scene 7
Lunch with the staff.
Scene 8
The Dust Pan Scene.
Scene 9
Stevens
nose.
Senior's dripping
GAPS - Additions & Deletions
Not there in the novel.
Can be located in the novel, not as in
the novel.
1. CRll be located in the novel, not as i
the novel.
2. Not there in the novel.
Not there in the novel.
Not there in the novel.
Can be located in the novel.
Not there in the novel as it is.
Reconstituted with details in the novel.
As in the novel.
Not there in the novel.
269
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Scene 10
The Chinaman Episode.
Scene 11
Summer House Episode.
Scene 12
Stevens and Lord Darlington.
Scene 13
Relieving Stevens Sr. of his
job.
Scene 14
Looking from the Window.
Scene 15
Stevens Sr. given new duty chart.
Scene 16
Stevens addresses the staff.
Scene 17
Arrival of Mr. Lewis.
Scene 18
Lord Darlington asks Stevens
to help Reginald Cardinal with
facts of life.
Scene 19
Stevens accosts Reginald in
the garden.
As in the novel.
Details can be located m the novel,
dramatised for the film.
Can be located in the novel.
As in the novel.
As in the novel.
Not as in the novel. Details dramatised.
Not there in the novel.
Can be located in the novel.
Can be located in the novel.
Can be located in the novel.
270
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Scene 20
Arrival of Mr. Dupont.
Scene 21
The Conference.
Scene 22. Stevens Sr. falls ill.
Scene 23
The Conference Dinner
Preparation.
Scene 24
Stevens visits his father.
Scene 25
The Song Sequence at the
Conference.
Scene 27
Death of Stevens Senior.
Scene 28
Stevens resumes his journey.
Can be located in the novel but certain
details altered in the film.
Can be located in the novel, but details
added and deleted in the film, the date
of the conference in the film is 1936
and in the novel it is 1923.
As in the novel.
Not there in the novel.
Can be located in the novel, but details
'altered in the film.
Not there in the novel.
Can be located m the novel. Details
altered.
Sundry details In the novel
encapsulated and dramatised.
271
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Scene 29
Arrival of Sir Geoffrey and his
butler.
Scene 30
Dinner with Sir Geoffrey.
Scene 31
Stevens entertains Mr. Benn
in his parlour.
Scene 32
Lord Darlington's Dilemma.
Scene 33
Lord Darlington asks Stevens
to dismiss the Jew maids.
Scene 34
Stevens informs Kenton of the
dismissal.
Scene 35
Appointing a new maid.
Scene 36
Stevens at an inn.
Scene 37 Stevens humiliated
by Lord Darlington's guests
Can be located in text, identity of the
butler changed to that of Mr. Benn.
Not there in the novel.
Not there in the novel.
Not there in the novel.
As in the novel.
Can be located In the novel, details
added.
Can be located in the novel, details
altered in the film.
Can be located in the novel, details
altered in the film.
As in the novel.
272
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Scene 38
Stevens with Richard Carlisle
and Stevens' Confession.
Scene 39
Lord Darlington's confession.
Scene 40
Stevens and Miss Kenton In
the summerhouse
Scene 41
Lisa and Charlie.
Scene 42
Miss Kenton visits Stevens'
parlour.
Scene 43
Lisa Speaks to Miss Kenton.
Scene 44
Cocoa Session.
Scene 45
Miss Kenton meets Mr. Benn.
Scene 46
Lord Darlington sits waiting
in a dark room.
Can be located m the novel, details
altered.
Can be located m the novel, details
added.
Can be located In the novel, details
added.
Not there in the novel.
As in the novel.
Not there in the novel.
Not there in the novel.
Not there in the novel.
Can be located in the novel, as in the
novel.
273
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Scene 47
Miss Kenton informs Stevens
about her marriage proposal.
Scene 48
Lord Darlington dines with
Reginald.
Scene 49
Arrival of Midnight Guests
Scene 50
The secret meeting at the
Darlington Hall.
Scene 51
Kenton informs Stevens about
her acceptance
marriage proposal
Scene 52
of the
Cardinal Speaks to Stevens
Scene 53
Stevens walks in on a tearful
Miss Kenton
Scene 54
Stevens and Miss Kenton
meet at the sea-side town
As in the novel.
As in the novel.
As in the novel.
Can be located In the text, details
added.
Can be located in the text details
added.
Can be located in the novel. Some
details deleted.
Can be located in the novel, details
added, and altered.
Not there in the novel.
274
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Scene 55 Not as in the novel.
Stevens meets Miss Kenton
Scene 56
Stevens at the pIer at Not there in the novel.
Cleveland with Miss. Kenton
Scene 57
Stevens sees off Miss Kenton Can be located in the novel, details
at the bus stop altered.
Scehe 58
Last Scene Not there in the novel.
The source text (Faber and Faber, 1989), that has been visualised
in the film is tabulated below.
Prologue : July 1956
Darlington Hall
Day one-Evening, Salisbury
Day two-Morning, Salisbury
Day three-Morning, Taunton,
Somerset
Day three-Evening, Moscombe
near Tavistock, Devon
Day four-Afternoon, Little
Compton-Cornwall
Day six-Evening Weymouth
pp. 14, 15
275
pp.36-37
pp. 50-51, 52-53, 61-67, 78, 86-106
Missing in the film only a few sundry
details have been used from the episode.
pp. 146-157, 165, 169, 192, 196.
pp. 212, 213-217.
pp. 232-240.
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
What emanates from the above exercise is that during the process
of adaptation of a literary text to a film, while some of the material
from the literary text gets transferred as it, the rest of it is reworked
to suit the demands of the cinematic medium. In the novel and its
film version under discussion about 65 pages of a 245-page novel
gets transfeq-ed and the rest of the details from the novel get
reconstructed. I have divided the film into 58 scenes and a close
study of these scenes reveals a distinct pattern of reconstruction.
This pattern can be summed up as:
Scenes 8, 10, 13, 14, 22, 33,37, Transferred as it is from the source
42,47,48,49(11 scene~ text.
Scenes 1, 4, 5, 9, 16, 23, 25, 30, 1, Not present in the source text.
32, 41, 43, 45, 54, 55, 56, 58 (17
scenes)
Scenes 2, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 17, Details from the source
18, 19,20,21,24,25,27,28,29, reconstructed with additions
34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 44, 46, 50, deletions.
51,52,53, 57 (29 Scenes) ,
Hence what emerges is that all the change and thematic shifts in
the film is because of 17 entirely new scenes and 29 reconstructed
scenes. Only 11 scenes get transferred as it is, but the film
apparatus with its distinctive features transforms even these 11
scenes.
In the novel Stevens moves between many time frames In his
narration. The In the discernible pattern that emerges is:
Present 1956 <l-----1l> Recent Past <l1------1l> Past 1923
~/ A few hrs ago
~/ A few months ago
276
text
and
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
In the film there is a distinct linear progression in time and all the
flashbacks neatly travel to the past and come back to the present
without any major digressions. Stevens is very meticulous in
planning his trip, his route plan etc. the episodic division in the
novel is synonymous with his character. They appear as a journal
or a diary entry and is a detailed travelogue of six days. We shall try
to highlight how flashbacks or memories unfold both in the novel
and in the film.
Flashback in the film
In the film since there are two narrators the flashbacks are also for
two narrators, Miss Kenton and Stevens. The film begins with Miss
Kenton's letter in whith she remembers the army of under-butlers
at Darlington Hall, which gets immediately (the past) visualised on
the screen with a shot of under-butlers, waiting outside a door. In
Scene -3, it is Stevens' tum to be the narrator and his flashback
begins in the form of a reply to Miss Kenton's letter. This flashback
continues uninterrupted till Scene-27 of the film, which is almost
halfway into the film. This flashback ends with Stevens' father
dying.
In Scene- 28 the omniscient narrator takes over again with Stevens
arriving in a small town, quickly followed by Miss Kenton's
flashback which once again begins through a letter which Stevens
collects at a grocer's store during his journey. Hence from Scene- 28
onwards the third flashback begins and this time from Miss
277
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
• Kenton's point of VIew. This flashback continues till the end of
Scene-35 of the film. It is interesting to note that Miss Kenton's
flashback comprises of scenes which mostly foregrounds her
interaction and a growing intimacy with Stevens. However, there is
one scene where Lord Darlington is trying to resolve his dilemma
about the dismissal of the Jewish maids (Scene- 34) in no way can
become a part of Miss Kenton's memory. This is where the film
takes a license of subtly becoming omniscient. The narrator thus
not only acquires this characteristic but it is also acquired by the
viewer. The film perhaps has this poetic license of being omniscient
because it uses the all-seeing camera eye for capturing events and
characters. This all seeing eye takes over once again in Scene-36 to
show Stevens driving in to Taylor's inn. However the fourth
flashback begins in this scene from Stevens' point of view. The
fourth flashback continues till Scene -38 where once again the
present intrudes and Stevens gets a lift to his car and resumes his
onward journey. The fifth flashback begins in this scene and
continues till Scene- 53 where Stevens and Miss Kenton part ways,
with Miss Kenton deciding to marry Mr. Benn and Stevens refusing
to reciprocate her emotions towards him. From Scene-54 to Scene-
58 the omniscient narrator takes over. The viewer is not subjected
to anymore flashbacks.
The film screenplay thus uses five flashback episodes to translate
the novel. While Stevens is used for three narrations and Miss
278
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Kenton is used for two. Every flashback is linked with the next
through an omniscient narrative. The novel however has a sole
narrator in Stevens and the narrative uses many time frames and
progresses in a back and forth manner.
The film narrative progresses in a following manner: -
Sequence Scene Flashback Narrator Cinematic Entry Points for Reminiscences
1. Scene-l - Omniscient Car moving towards Darlington
Hall
.' 2. .
Scene-l (i) Miss Kenton Letter to Stevens
3. Scene-2 - Omniscient Stevens with his new employer
at Darlington Hall.
4. Sc3-27 (ii) Stevens Letter to Miss Kenton
5. Scene 28 - Omniscient Stevens at Taylor's inn. ,
6. ' Scene 28-35 (iii) Miss Kenton Miss Kenton's second letter to
Stevens.
7. Scene-36 - Omniscient Stevens at Taylor's inn.
8. Scene 36-38 (iv) Stevens Stevens remembers
9. Scene-38 - Omniscient Stevens confesses to Richard
.. Carlisle .
10. Scene 38-54 (v) Stevens Stevens remembers
11. Scene 54-58 - Omniscient Stevens meets Miss Kenton and
returns to Darlington Hall.
279
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
In the film, the final destination for Stevens is Clevedon and
Stevens begins and ends his journey at Darlington Hall. There is no
mention of the time he takes to travel or the places he visits during
his journey. The novel on the other hand ends at Weymouth and
methodically plots his travel, the time taken for the travel and his
memories. Let us now see how the narration progresses in the novel
Prologue: July 1956, Darlington Hall
Entire Prologue is a flashback after the cha1>ter begins with 'It
seems increasingly likely that I really will undertake the
expedition .... '
~ Day One: Evening. Salisbury
The reflections begin about what or who is a 'Great Butler'
with the sentence 'tonight I find myself. .. ' at the beginning of the
chapter, and then the entire chapter is a flashback, as if Stevens is
writing his diary or a daily journal at the end of the day.
~ Day Two : Morning Salisbury
A brief description of the morning and then the comment
which results in a flashback: - "Now in these quiet moments as I
wait for the world about to awake and find myself going over in my
mind again passages from Miss Kenton's letter", - reminiscences of
March 1923.
280
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
~ Day Two: Afternoon, Mortimer's Pond: reflections on who is a
great butler and an incident from recent past and his present
exploration.
~ Day Three: Morning, Taunton; Somerset: reflecting about
immediate past and then the sight of silver polish company takes
him to the past.
~ Day Three: Evening - Moscombe, Tavistock Devon: Stevens
continues with his reflection of Lord Darlington's views on
Semitism and Miss. Kenton's stand on it. The episode of the
maid Lisa leaving the job, and then there is a break in the
flashback to relate what happened that early evening. It seems
as if Mr. Stevens was once again recounting it to his diary or to
an imaginary audience at the end of the evening. He suddenly
breaks it to narrate the immediate past and the evening. After
describing the events of the evening he reverts back to the past
and at the end of it retires for the night.
Stevens' comments on page 164 and 175 and 179 act as a
reminder to the reader that they are delving into Steven's past: -
"I have tended increasingly of late to indulge myself in such recollections" ... (p.165)
"But then, 1 suppose, when with the benefit of hindsight one begins to search one's past". (p.175)
"But 1 see I am becoming unduly introspective". (p.179)
He mentions reading Miss Kenton's letter and then again reverts to
the present. After his identity is mistaken for that of a Lord at the
281
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
dinner table of Mrs. Taylor Boarding House in the village, he meets
the village doctor, Richard Carlisle, it triggers fresh memories of a
similar incident in the past when Stevens was ridiculed for his lack
of opinion or ignorance.
~ Day Four - Afternoon - Little Compton, Cornwall:
Stevens waits for Miss. Kenton who is now Mrs. Benn and then
describes the immediate past of what happened to him at
Moscombe and then his memories again take him back to
Darlington Hall.
~ Day Six - Evening, Weymouth
Stevens recalls his meeting with Miss. Kenton 48 hrs after it took
place, which is significant. There is no further travel back to the
past and novel ends in the present. We do not have an entry titled ,
Day five, that is the day Stevens meets Miss Kenton. The reader
never meets her, the novel's gradual progression to the present is
halted. Miss Kenton can only remain in Stevens' past never in the
present she will remain as an entry in Stevens' diary. The film
however ends in the present and the reader-viewer's anticipation of
meeting Miss Kenton reaches a closure not provided in the novel.
Let us now tabulate the eight flashback entry points in the novel as
against five in the film and the narrator here is Stevens.
282
Sequence
Prologue - July 56
Day One - Evening
Day Two - Morning
Day Two - Afternoon
Day Three - Morning
Day Three - Evening
Day Four - Afternoon
Day Six - Evening
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Flashback Place
1 Darlington Hall
2 Salisbury
3 Salisbury
4 Mortimer's Pond
5 Taunton,
6
Somerset
Moscombe
Tavistock
Times Frames Narrated.
Present
1956 - Recent Past - 1936 - 1956
1956 - 1932 - 1920's. 30's - 1956
1956 - 1923
Distant Past - Recent Past
1956 - Recent Past - 1936 - Recent
Past- 1956
7 Little Compton, 1936 - Recent Past - Past - 1956 -
Cornwall
8 Weymouth
1935
1956 - Recent Past (day six) -
Present.
We shall now attempt a complete shot breakdown of three scenes
from the film, which have been randomly chosen. In these three
scenes we shall try to highlight how the film apparatus collectively
constructs and encodes meaning. All the scenes that have been
chosen for shot analysis are not present in the source text. The
visual text that gets constructed in these scenes not only
contributes to the rest of the screenplay but are also indicative the
director and the screenplay writer's signature. These scenes are
built with details culled out from the source text but they differ in
their treatment, placement and enactment. This exercise will
highlight the process of encoding meaning in the film medium,
which would necessarily dictate the process of decoding meaning
for the viewer.
283
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Shot Breakdown
Shot Analysis of Scene-7 (Darlington Staff Luncheon)
S. No. Sequence of Short Camera Editing
I. Cooks + Stevens + All Staff Sideways Pan, Frontal Long Shot Cut
2. Charlie + Men Staff Sideways, Mid length shot Cut
3. Miss Kenton + Women Staff Sideways, Mid length shot Cut
4. Stevens + Staff Frontal medium close-up Cut
5. Charlie + Staff do Cut
6. Stevens Medium close~tlp Shot Cut
7. Charlie + Staff Frontal Mid length Shot Cut
8. Stevens Medium close-up shot Cut
9. Charlie + Men Staff Sideways, Medium close-up Shot Cut
10. Stevens + All Staff Long take, Frontal Mid length Cut
II. Stevens Sr. Long take, Medium close-up Cut ,
12. Charlie + Men Staff Sideways Mid length Shot, Long Cut
take
13. Stevens Sr. Mid close up Cut
14. Miss Kenton + Women Staff Sideways Medium close-up shot Cut
15. Stevens Sr. + Men Staff Frontal medium close-up shot Cut
16. Stevens Sr. Medium close-up Cut
17. Miss Kenton -do- Cut
18. Stevens -do- Cut
19. Stevens -do- Cut
20. All Staff Frontal Mid length Shot Cut
2I. Miss Kenton + Women Staff Sideways Mid length Shot Cut
284
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
22. Stevens Medium Close Up Cut
23. Miss Kenton -do- Cut
24. Stevens Sr. -do- Cut
25. Miss Kenton -do- Cut
26. Stevens -do- Cut
27. Miss Kenton -do- Cut
Total Duration 2 Min. 54 Sec.
Total Number of Shots 27
Mise-en Scene
The seating arrangement around the lunch table with Stevens
at the head of the table with Stevens Senior on his right and Miss.
Kenton on his left establishes the hierarchy that operates among
the staff in Darlington Hall. Stevens is shown carving the steak,
which is again, a position of priviledge framed by the camera. Miss
Kenton is shown seated with the other women members of the staff
on the right side of the table. Stevens Senior who is an under-butler
is shown seated with other men members of the staff on the right
side of the table.
The mise-en-scene locates the staff luncheon room, the camera
slowly pans from the kitchen, follows one of the staff members who
carries the food bowls food to the tables. The close proximity of the
staff luncheon room, which is the extension of the kitchen, further
situates the position of the staff in Darlington Hall. The luncheon
table with its cutlery and food bowls provides an instant contrast to
three other eating occasions in the film where serving and laying
out of the table is almost a ritual. The luncheon table conversation,
which revolves around the dignity of a butler once again, provides a
contrast to other such conversations taking place over lunches and
dinners. Lord Darlington's 'honour' and 'nobility' is a matter of
285
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
numerous such conversations as against Stevens' preoccupation
with 'dignity of a butler'. The framing of the microcosm in this scene
is an ironic comment on the events that are happening in
Darlington Hall at the macrocosmic level.
The call bell for the staff is in the luncheon room and when it rings
on the soundtrack the luncheon is interrupted and Stevens Senior
moves away midway through his lunch to attend the call. Miss
Kenton points out that the bell is for Stevens Senior, once again an
indication of the regimen that operates in Darlington Hall. The novel
does not however have such details but seem probable when seen
in the film.
The staff luncheon scene with 27 disparate shots, with a time
duration of 2 minutes, 54 seconds thus constitutes meaning at
various levels. The disparate shots are joined together in a
particular sequence, this sequence operates as a visual syntax. The
sequence of shots joined together with perfect eye line match, along
with dialogues on the soundtrack conveys the flow of conversation.
The nonsynchronous characteristic of soundtrack allows to frame
expressions .on the faces of character 'B' while character 'A' is
speaking. When Stevens Senior is shown speaking the reactions on
the faces of his listeners, who are not necessarily framed along with
him and constitute a separate shot, creates meaning for the viewer.
The mise-en-scene of all the 27 shots collectively present the
hierarchy that exists among the staff in Darlington hall, the pride
that Stevens and his father share for their profession and the
microcosmic world of butlers within the four-walls of a Lord's
house. The setting, the decor, the seating arrangement around the
lunch table, the costumes, the nature of their interaction
establishes the ambience a large household in the 1930's Britain.
The greatest challenge of the film medium is to capture and
present a great amount of detail in minimum possible time. For
286
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
example the above scene conveys all the details mentioned within a
span of three minutes approximately. The director while composing
a shot packs in as much information as possible in his framing of a
mise-en-scene and at the same time keeps in mind the entire film
where every shot contributes to a scene without appearing
Incongruous.
Shot Analysis of Scene-53 (Stevens Walks in on a tearful Miss
Kenton)
A complete shot analysis of this scene will provide an insight into
the film apparatus at work in the constitution of meaning. This
scene has a running time of 3 minutes and 48 seconds. The scene
comprises of 15 shots in which last two shots are longer than the
others. All the shots are midlength shots except the last one, where
the camera lingers throughout on Miss Kenton's tear stricken face
in a close-up.
Shot 1: Stevens is shown walking towards the camera through the
corridor, down a flight of steps. His walk is slow and almost
reminiscent of his father's labored walk in an earlier scene. The
placement of this shot immediately after his· audience with Reginald
Cardinal and with Miss Kenton before that also constitutes
meaning. The viewer attributes his tired shuffle across the corridor
to the lateness of the hour and fallout of his earlier interactions
with Cardinal and Miss Kenton, which seems to have sapped him of
his energy. This is in the realm of actor's performance. Let us
closely observe how the camera situates this action. Stevens is in
the left side of the camera frame, he bends down and inserts a key . in a door towards his left. This is a long take which ends with Miss
Kenton's voice on the soundtrack and immediately followed by a
shot of Miss Kenton standing in the doorway on the right side of the
camera frame.
287
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Shot - 2: Miss Kenton's placement in the camera frame facilitates
an eyeline match with Stevens in the earlier shot. Eyeline match is
an important requisite of editing and joining of two shots, since that
takes into account the viewer's gaze and how a viewer see two
people speaking to each other in two different frames. Two cameras
are placed next to the two actors respectively to take these shots.
Say, Miss Kenton looks towards camera 1 and hence Stevens is
somewhere behind camera-l to suggest that look on Miss Kenton's
face and vice-versa. When Stevens responds, he looks towards
camera-2, and Miss Kenton has to be behind the camera-2 to
establish Steven's presence and that is how cinematic space IS
organised. This technique is known as the shot-reverse-shot
technique that establishes the point of view in the actors in
question and also takes the viewer's gaze into account. The viewer
by now knows that they are in conversation with each other. The
lighting in the shot shows Miss Kenton's profile in a shadow and
her face catches the light of the corridor.
Shot 3: Stevens straightens up and looks towards the camer~ and
consequently at Miss Kenton and the viewer at the same time. The
viewer gets inscribed in this exchange of looks, as it alternately
looks at Miss Kenton from Stevens and the camera's point-of-view
and then at Stevens from Miss Kenton and again the camera-2's
point of view.
Shot 4: A midlength shot of Miss Kenton in shadows, her lip
movement matches the dialogue on the sound track (lip-synch). She
apologises for her earlier behaviour.
Shot 5: The camera frames Stevens who responds to Miss Kenton's
speech. By now the faces and the voices of these two protagonists
are firmly established in the viewer's audio-visual cognitive realm so
when the camera moves midway through Steven's response to focus
288
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
on Miss Kenton's silent gaze, there is no confusion. The VIewer
immediately scans Miss Kenton's face for reactions. Miss Kenton's
face with Steven's voice on the soundtrack constitutes a narrative
and conveys meaning in addition to the dialogue on the soundtrack.
Shot 6: Miss Kenton's silent face is framed with Steven's voice or
the soundtrack. She begins to speak when Steven's voice ceases.
The camera continues to frame her through this transition.
Shot 7: Stevens looks towards the camera and asks Mss Kenton to
retire and once again the camera moves midway through his
speech, to focus on Miss Kenton's face.
Shot 8: While Stevens continues to speak, the camera captures
Miss Kenton's profile slowly sliding behind the door, gradually
moving away from light into a silhouette. Her movement as if in a
response to Stevens' request seems hurried and abrupt.
Shot 9: In the next shot Stevens shown climbing down into a cellar,
a medium close-up shot, perhaps taken with a hand held camera.
He turns slightly, to look back at the top of the stairs as if to convey
an unfinished task or something left unsaid during his conversation
with Miss Kenton. He turns his back to the camera to put on a light
in a small enclosure.
Shot 10: A close-up shot of a disembodied hand taking out a wine
bottle from a stock of similar such bottles. The bottle is frosted and
in the next shot Stevens is shown wiping the frost. A shelf tag with
1913 written on it is in the frame; hence the wine bottle is a
vintage. Notice the transition from the earlier shot, a light is put on
and a disembodied hand is shown pulling out the bottle. Stevens is
shown holding the bottle in the next shot which means it was his
hand in the earlier shot. The sequence in which shots are placed
conveys the sequence of events on the screen. The editing which
289
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
joins the two disparate shots which individually have no meaning,
can be carried out on the editing table. However, the way the shot
should be composed i.e. the angle, the setting, the performance,
and the movement of the camera is worked out to the last detail in
the shooting script. The same shot can be composed differently, i.e.
the placement of the camera, the angles and lights could be
changed and the end result would be dramatically different.
Sometimes the same shot is composed differently so that there is a
choice on the editing table, but sometimes it is also done as a
narrative strategy to bring in mUltiplicity of viewpoints. For e.g. the
same shot of Stevens climbing down the stairs with the camera in
front could be shQt with the camera following him from behind. In
the second instance the viewer's identity is changed from that of an
on looker to that of a participant. The viewer would then acquire
Stevens' viewpoint. The camera following the actor from behind is
popularly used in horror films where a sudden discovery or the
anticipation of a discovery evokes similar emotions in the actor and
the viewers.
Shot 11: Stevens IS shown looking at the bottle. Editing ensures
that the hand pulling out the bottle and Stevens looking at the
bottle is one fluid movement. This effect is however achieved with
two different shots, one shot is with the camera peeping over
Stevens' shoulder (Shot 10) and the next shot is with the camera
taking a frontal shot of Stevens. Stevens looks thoughtfully at the
bottle and looks up, his look conveys that he is preoccupied, not
really looking at the bottle. We see then how meaning gets
simultaneously constituted both in the domain of technical
sequencing and in the realm of performance.
Shot 12: Stevens switches off the lights and then turns his back to
the camera to climb up the stairs.
290
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Shot 13: Again a disembodied shot of a bottle falling and breaking.
The camera tilts up to show Stevens exclaiming in annoyance and
looking dismally at he spilled wine. This shot is significant since it
captures in detail an occurrence which otherwise has no meaning
in the entire backdrop of the film. The wine bottle breaking
establishes the emotional turmoil that Stevens is going through,
which is otherwise not evident from his demeanour or the dialogue.
Shot 14: Stevens is shown coming out from the same door where
he had gone in. An interesting aside must be added here.
Hypothetically speaking Steven's walk down the stairs to a cellar
may have been filmed somewhere else, and the door that leads to
the cellar in the film is some place else. Editing in films can easily
collapse space and time. Two shots of a particular scene can be not
only distanced in place and can be also in time but made to appear
as a part of the same time and place through editing. The camera
moves backwards to frame Stevens' movement towards the camera.
Shot 15: This shot and the next are unusually long and packs in ,
more details about Stevens and Miss Kenton's relationship than any
other scene in the films. Stevens locks the door 'and he has a bottle
in hand which means he" must have gone back to get another bottle
which is not captured by the camera - a skip in time and action
easily filled in by the viewer. Stevens turns to look diagonally
towards the camera-2 and we immediately know from our earlier
experience that he is looking towards Miss Kenton's room. He starts
walking towards camera-2 and we suddenly hear sobbing on the
soundtrack which gradually gets audible and louder as if to convey
Stevens' close proximity to the source. Stevens is shown standing
outside a door, presumably the same door where Miss Kenton was
shown standing in an earlier shot. Stevens tries to listen, hesitates
and then opens the door and the shot ends.
291
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Shot 16: We see the camera following a pair of footsteps, the shot is
in semidarkness. The footsteps stop near a hunched figure sobbing.
The huddled figure rises on the sound of the footsteps and looks
up. The camera remains focused on Miss Kenton's tear stricken
face. The viewer waits in anticipation for reconciliation between
Stevens and Miss Kenton. The camera frames a hand holding a
bottle and we know it to be that of Stevens. Stevens' voice comes
over on the soundtrack reminding Miss Kenton of a forgotten
errand. The camera never focuses on Stevens as he speaks but
continues to frame a close-up of Miss Kenton's face, which borders
on expectation, bewilderment and amazement. The bottle held hand
moves away from the frame and we hear the sound of retreating
footsteps on the soundtrack. Miss Kenton is shown doubling over
with grief burying her face in the stool crying with a renewed agony.
The camera by not focusing on Steven's face achieves the stiff
coldness of Stevens's character without having to depend on the
performance of the actor to convey his impassivity. The camera
frames Miss Kenton from top below; a frame popularly used to
convey inferior position of a person is used here to convey her
pitiable state. Moreover while tilting up her face to listen to Stevens
who is never shown, she is in direct communication_with the viewer
who is looking down at her through the camera~ This elicits the
viewer's sympathy organised through a point-of-view shot. The
designing and composition of a shot thus subliminally impacts the
viewer's emotion.
In the next shot the background score starts playing and indicates
the end of flashback. Stevens is shown once again driving his car as
a repetitive which facilitates joining of shots placed in different time
and space.
292
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Shot Composition of Scene 58 (Last Scene)
Action On Camera Shot Composition
1. A chandelier is being lowered from The camera pans downwards to the
the ceiling on a pulley Mr. Lewis is left to frame both Mr. Lewis and the
seen behind the chandelier climbing chandelier's descent. A long shot
down the now famous Darlington hall which holds still to focus on Stevens
Staircase. and Mr. Lewis.
Mr. Lewis startles to see Stevens Camera slowly moves backwards to
emerge from the secret door on the the base of the stairs and then pans to
staircase. the right to frame both Stevens and
Mr. Lewis greets Stevens and asks his
comments on his new suit.
the lowered chandelier.
While Mr. Lewis moves out of the
frame to the right at the base of the
staircase Stevens follows him at a gap
and hence remains in the frame a little
while longer than Mr. Lewis.
Soundtrack: ambience sound of
footsteps, Chandelier being lowered
Background score plays throughout.
2. The portrait of the Elizabethan The camera composes a midlength
gentleman bought by Mr. Lewis in the shot with Mr. Lewis on the left side of
beginning of the mm is brought in. Mr. the frame, with his back turned
Lewis looks on as it is being hung. towards the camera looking up at the
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portrait. The background score keeps
playing.
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
3. Mr. Lewis shown standin& at the
end of a room with draped furniture.
He turns to his right to speak to
Stevens who is shown opening a
window and day light streams in.
A long frontal shot. The camera does
not move and the performers move in
and out of the frame as in a stage
performance.
They walk towards the camera talking Th . d' 1 l't d l' ht t e room IS 1m y 1 an Ig _ S reams
and exit from the right side of the in as a window is opened.
frame. Two other men in the frame
shown working
A man with a bucket and duster
shown walking in from the left side of
the frame, with his back towards the
camera and walks away from the
camera.
Mr. Lewis commen ts on the hectic
activity and Stevens informs him that
he will get the house ready in time for
Mrs. Lewis' arrival
4. Stevens says that he is expecting a Mr. Lewis and Stevens walk in form
new housekeeper. He talks with his the right side of the frame with their
back towards the camera and pulls backs turned to the camera. While
out a note pad to confirm his Stevens is closer to the frame on the
information. left, Lewis proceeds to far right.
The mise-en-scene of the shot frames
A detail like this establishes Steven's a high ceiling, a huge room with large
methodical and professional attitude. French windows. A large painting over
the fireplace and a table tennis table
are the only furniture in the room.
The background score continues to
play.
5. Stevens looks into his note pad and A mid length frontal shot of Stevens.
informs Lewis about the new
housekeeper who is a matron from a
preparatory school in Sussex.
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Encoding and Decoding Meaning
6. Lewis comments on how the matron A midlength frontal shot of Lewis,
will keep them from misbehaving. stands with his hand in his trouser
pocket, on the right side of the frame
again to facilitate eye-line match
between the two shots.
7. Stevens replies in the affirmative. A mid length shot of Stevens.
Stevens looks on wondering how to
react and then after a bewildered
pause as it as an after thought laughs
a little.
8. Mr. Lewis turns away and walks to The camera holds the frame whik
the far end of the table and picks up Lewis goes around the table to face the
the 'table tennis racquet and ball and camera frontally. The camera moves
mentions the 1938 conference to slightly forward to frame Lewis in a
Stevens. mid-length shot
9. A bust shot of Stevens who looks A frontal midlength shot. The dialogue
on and then says he does not of Lewis from an earlier shot carries
remember what Mr. Lewis had said over to this shot, to focus on Stevens'
during the 1938 conference as he was face.
busy serving.
10. A pigeon flies into the fireplace, A medium close-up shot of a pIgeon.
seen fluttering. The background score starts playing.
11. Stevens and Lewis walk in from The camera holds the long shot.
two sides of the room towards the
fireplace.
12. A disembodied hand tries to A medium close-up.
displace the pigeon.
13. Both men look up to see the A medium close - up.
pigeon's flight
14. Pigeon flies around to settle in the The camera takes a medium close up.
crevice of the ceiling.
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Encoding and Decoding Meaning
15. Lewis claps with the ball and the The camera slowly pans to the right to
racquet and moves to the right of the frame Lewis' movement.
room, trying to dislodge the pigeo!l and Fl· ht f . th dt k Ig 0 pIgeon on e soun rae . then looks up to trace pigeon's flight.
16. The pigeon trying to escape
through the ventilator in the ceiling.
The camera pans up and then down
to show its flight.
17. Stevens looks up and moves The camera moves slightly to hold
forward slightly Stevens'movement.
18. Pigeon in flight turns left and then The camera tilted up moves
right. accordingly to keep it in frame.
19. Stevens turns his back to the The camera holds the frame with
cam~ra while the pigeon flies in from Stevens in focus, against the backdrop
the right into the frame followed by of an open French window while the
Lewis in hot pursuit. pigeon and Lewis move into the frame.
20. Lewis is shown standing outside The camera is on a crane outside the
the window and releasing the pigeon in house, looking down on Lewis as he
air, looks up and then goes inside and releases the pigeon in the air.
shuts the glass paned French window.
Stevens appears behind the window
looks outside and upward towards the
camera.
21.
Stevens moves into the frame, looks
from behind the window towards the
camera upwards and then moves out
of the frame.
A dissolve as the camera zooms out
and Darlington Hall recedes below in
the distance. The background score
starts playing.
These exerCises were undertaken to understand how the
visual mode of representation in film works especially when it is an
adaptation from a literary text, a novel in this case. This exercise
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Encoding and Decoding Meaning
provides an insight into how equivalencies are achieved in two
systems of signification or enunciation. It also reveals how the
filmmaker reproduces cinematically certain novelistic effects and
adds his own interpretations. A close reading of the cinematic text
reveals how the use of devices such as voice-over, point-of-view
shots, the frame composition, the soundtrack, the tension between
the on-screen and off-screen space all together constitute a
narrative of its own which mayor may not be in conjunction with
story line of the film. What choices, the filmmaker embraces in
combining several codes of lighting, music, sets, decor, camera
angle etc. in a particular scene are endless. Hence an adaptation in
film medium is inescapably inscribed with the filmmaker's
interpretation at every given moment of the visual representation.
The auteur's predilection also influences the process of
filmmaking. Merchant- Ivory for instance has a penchant for
making films' with cross-cultural references. All their films, which
are mostly adaptations, are based on classics, and aim towards a
cultivated 'art cinema' they are mostly period pieces, which usually
have a discourse on "Englishness". This predilection for making a
particular kind of film transforms all their films with a certain tone
and flavour that is easily identifiable like a popular brand.
The VIewer with 'his or her own intertextuality (literary,
cinematic and ideological) constructs his own sense of the
narrative. He knows what to look out for instance in a Merchant-
297
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Ivory production. The producer and the director cater to this
existing discourse with every film they make and gradually
establish it almost as a genre of cinematic adaptations of literary
text and acquire an aura of infallibility difficult to oppose by other
such adaptations.
Encoding and Decoding Meaning
Notes:
1
2
3
Martin Esslin, The Field of Drama (London: Methuen, 1987), p.36.
Passim, for a detailed analysis see, Peter Wollen, Signs and Meaning in the Cinema (London: Secker and Warburg, 1972).
Robert Giddings, Keith Selby and Chris Winsley, Screening the Novel: The Theory and Practice of Literary Dramatisation. (London: Macmillan, 1990), p.6.
4 Gaston Roberge, The Subject of Cinema (Calcutta: Seagull Books, 1990), pp.65-66.
5
6
Nick Browne, "The Spectator in the text: The Rhetoric of . Stagecoach" , in Film Quarterly. 29.2,1975-76.
Gp. Cit. Roberge, p.66.
7 Joseph Boggs, The Art of Watching Films (Mountain VIew, California: Mayfield Publishers, 1985).
8
9
Bruce Morrissette, Novel and Film (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), p.93.
Robert Scholes, "Narration and Narrativity in Film", in Quarterly Review of Film Studies.' 1.111 (August 1976), p.291.
10 Joy Gould Boyum, Double Exposure; Fiction into Films (Calcutta: Seagulls Books, 1985), p.50.
11. Gp. Cit. Nick Browne.
12 Noel Burch, Theory of Film Practice (London: Secker and Warburg, 1973) pp.3-4. Burch explains that decoupage which does not have an English equivalent. Though the meaning can be derived from the 'shooting script' actually it is very distinct from it. It refers more to the underlying structure of the finished film.
13 Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", in Screen, 16.3, (autumn, 1975).
14 John Lye, "Who Controls Media and their Meanings", in COMM 2F50 Communications Theory, http:/ / www. brocku. cal commstudiesl coursesl2F50.
299