Annotated Bibliography Assignment

By Chloe Babauta, Megagroup

 1. Stalker. Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky. Perf. Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy and Anatoliy Solonitsyn. New Yorker, 1979. Online Video.

Stalker is a science fiction art film, written by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky.

2. Bordwell, David. Narration in the Fiction Film. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, 1985. Print.

In Narration in the Fiction Film, Bordwell discusses how the way a film portrays time affects a spectator's understanding of the film. This is a textbook used for college-level film analysis courses and uses an academic writing tone. The chapter on Narration and Time is helpful in understanding the earlier referenced film, Stalker.

According to Bordwell, "in watching a film, the spectator submits to a programmed temporal form" and adjusts accordingly with the film's portrayal of time to understand the story and themes (74). Bordwell also writes that "cognitive psychologists have suggested that the mind's induction operations can be limited by the speed at which the environment demands decisions," which means that the editing and shots of the film are made at certain lengths and speeds in order to convey the tone and elements of narration, to control the spectator's understanding of the story (76).

The chapter on Narration and Time in Bordwell's book is relevant in an analysis of Tarkovsky's Stalker, because the film is lengthy (about 2.5 hours total) and is primarily composed of long takes, which often last over 5 minutes. The use of long takes and long scenes in Stalker is unusual for classical Hollywood cinema, even of its time. By reading Narration in the Fiction Film, we can better understand what the use of time and long shots mean, why Tarkovsky used them, and figure out what he wanted to portray to us as spectators by watching Stalker. Understanding what time means in Stalker helps us to understand the film's overall themes, and in turn, helps us to make connections, as well as contrasts, to the other adaptations related to the film that we will analyze in our group project.

3. Strugat︠s︡kiĭ, Arkadiĭ, Boris Strugat︠s︡kiĭ, and Olena Bormashenko. Roadside Picnic. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review, 2012. Print.

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4. Pridham, Matthew. "In the Zone: An Excursion into Andrei Tarkovsky’s Film “Stalker”."Weird Fiction Review. N.p., 24 July 2013. Web. 05 Nov. 2013.

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5. Smith, Stefan. “The Edge of Perception: Sound in Tarkovsky’s Stalker.” Soundtrack 1.1 (2008): 41-52. Academic Source Complete. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

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