ABSTRACT
The term “image system” was originally introduced by film theorists, in articles that tried to create a systematic understanding of film through the analysis of images, editing patterns, shot composition, and ideological tendencies of certain directors. In some film theories, image systems are used to decode the layers of meaning a film might have, based on the connotations certain images have in addition to their literal meaning. For instance, a shot of a character looking at his reflection in a mirror can also signify the concept of a divided self and internal conflict, because of the symbolic meanings associated with mirrors and reflections in psychoanalytic theory; this is a common visual trope found in many films dealing with characters who have personality disorders or are suffering internal conflicts. Image system also has a much simpler definition, most often used by filmmakers and screenwriters; it refers to the use of recurrent images and compositions in a film to add layers of meaning to a narrative. The repetition of images can be a powerful tool to introduce themes, motifs, and symbolic imagery that might or might not be explicitly dealt with within the plot of the film. It can also be used to show character growth, foreshadow important information, and create associative meanings between characters that are not explicit in the story. Because the experience of watching a film relies so much on the use of images (although not exclusively, since the film experience always has involved a sound component, even when films were technically silent), most films have an image system at work at some level, whether the filmmaker intends to have one or not. This visual recalling and comparison is inherent in the way audiences extract meaning from images to understand a story, constantly making connections between and within shots. Image systems can
be very subtle, repeating certain shot compositions, colors, and imagery in ways that are not easy to notice at first but are nonetheless internalized by the audience on a subliminal level. In this case, only some viewers might notice the repetition of images and shot compositions and infer their narrative significance, decoding an additional layer of meaning to their understanding of the story. Other viewers, however, might completely miss the connections, accessing only the main narrative of a film. Some filmmakers make the image system in their films overt and impossible to ignore, imbuing numerous shots with iconic, graphic, or symbolic significance, sometimes at the expense of letting the audience connect with the story; this is generally not a good idea, since image systems work best when they support and add meaning to, and not become, the point of your film. Image systems do not have to rely solely on the repetition of images to make a narrative point. An image system could consist, for example, of shots in which the distance between two key characters is gradually diminished (through actual blocking or by using increasingly longer focal lengths to visually compress the distance between them along the z axis) as their relationship deepens, or shots that gradually switch from high angles to low angles to signal that a character becomes more assertive as the story progresses. An important distinction to keep in mind is that an image system should not be confused with a visual strategy (choices regarding stocks, format, lenses, and lighting). These elements do not constitute an image system, but are instead some of the tools that will make your image system work, in combination with thoughtful shot composition, editing, art direction, and any other element that can be used to develop the explicit and implicit meanings of a shot.
