Table Of ContentAesthetics of Film Production
Exploring aesthetic decision-making skills through active, critical interpretation of the
screenplay, this book investigates the ways flmmakers translate a screenplay into a pow-
erful flm. Guiding the reader through the formal choices a flmmaker makes, this book
encompasses all aspects of the flmmaking process, including directing, acting, cine-
matography, lighting, production design, sound, and editing.
Author Joyce illustrates how to apply aesthetics in a way that encourages creative think-
ing and stylistic choices, while emphasizing the importance of active decision-making to
foreground the screenplay in the flmmaking process. Focusing on how flms should be
crafted stylistically from beat to beat, the book provides tangible footholds to assist flm-
makers with the aesthetic decision-making process, empowering flmmakers to create
flms to resonate emotionally and intellectually.
Ideal for students of flmmaking and aspiring flmmakers looking to train their gut
and hone their creative and aesthetic decision-making in the flmmaking process.
Additional online screenplay samples show how one singular story can be told with
diferent emphasis and narrative perspectives.
James B. Joyce is an Associate Professor at Cleveland State University, covering foun-
dational production courses through senior capstone productions with a philosophy of
emphasizing a synthetic relationship between content and craft. Currently, James is in
preproduction for two short flms and is writing his second feature-length screenplay.
Aesthetics of Film Production
A Hands-On Guide to Authorial Voice
James B. Joyce
Cover image: Teresa Keserich
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 James B. Joyce
The right of James B. Joyce to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Joyce, James B., author.
Title: Aesthetics of film production: a hands-on guide to authorial voice /
James B. Joyce.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022021085 (print) | LCCN 2022021086 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367638337 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367638320 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003120896 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures—Production and direction. | Motion
pictures—Aesthetics.
Classification: LCC PN1995.9.P7 J68 2022 (print) | LCC PN1995.9.P7
(ebook) | DDC 791.4301—dc23/eng/20220510
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022021085
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022021086
ISBN: 978-0-367-63833-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-63832-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-12089-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003120896
Typeset in Bembo
by codeMantra
Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9780367638320
This book would never exist without Dr. Paul Monaco’s support.
Paul taught thousands of students all the while encouraging them
with honest curiosity and a gentle humor. He also demanded their
best work and provided actionable feedback.
As my mentor, I can ask for no better.
Contents
Preface ix
1 Aesthetics 1
2 Respecting the Audience 8
3 Story and Character 15
4 Critical Script Analysis for Technical and Aesthetic Decision-Making 24
5 Training Your Gut 33
6 Developing an Evolving Aesthetic 39
7 Engaging and Surprising Characters 44
8 Applying Active Characters 57
9 What’s Your Point (of View)? 62
10 Synthesis 71
11 Post-Production Begins in Pre-Production 79
12 Cinematography Without a Camera 85
13 Understanding the Importance of Diegesis in Sound Design 94
14 The Long Listen… and Other Editing Structures 103
15 The Director’s Responsibilities to the Actor: Consider Your
Childhood Play 108
viii Contents
16 Final Footholds: your Call to Action 116
Appendix A: Character Analysis Sheet 121
Appendix B: Questions to Train Your Gut 126
Appendix C: Sample Marked-Up Script 128
Appendix D: Sample-Implied Narrator Perspectives 130
Index 179
Preface
An Intermediate, Hands-On Approach to Becoming a Better
Storyteller
Filmmaking means making decisions twenty-four times a second. At least.
Some decisions feel like gut reactions, and others will cause emotional turmoil. Some
will appear “obvious” and some will surprise. What should strike the most fear in a
storyteller’s heart really is the idea that some decisions are not active decisions at all. An
active decision derives from selecting a choice that best serves the script (text and sub-
text) as well as the audience at this particular moment in the script.
Everything in flmmaking should be acknowledged as a choice. From con-
cepts through stylization to the technical decisions—everything should refect
the audience’s needs to know what happens on the textual and subtextual levels.
This book focuses on a narrow portion of flmmaking: the decision-making process.
It presumes a working understanding of how to physically produce a flm. Finishing a
flm is the easiest part, even if it does not feel that way from time to time. Protocols and
technical responsibilities ofer clear answers to many questions, but they rarely encour-
age a compelling, visceral storytelling experience for audiences. “How do I successfully
record media on this camera?” has a right and wrong answer. “What should we shoot
next?” typically has little value or impact on audiences.
Asking oneself, “What would make this moment clear to the audience?” is signif-
icantly more nuanced, with few obvious answers. At least, without knowing which
questions best provide a clear answer. “What addresses or implies what the character
thinks or feels and how can I use that to shape audience experience at this moment?”
provides a more complete experience.
Introductory flm courses begin with nuts and bolts of production as well as the barest
outlines of story structure. This text picks addresses what comes after understanding
flm conventions and technical procedures. It addresses the why of decision-making.
Though a tiny portion of the whole process of making a flm, it has the greatest impact
in making a compelling flm. It shifts attention from getting a flm done to telling a
memorable story, one that audiences fondly revisit over and over.
In particular, this book considers two things: (1) who does the decision-making pro-
cess serve and (2) what is the bedrock for making great decisions?
Decisions will not serve the actor, camera operator, or even the director1. Deci-
sions best refect what the audience needs right now and considers the ways that content
1 Or the director’s ego.
