Film+Art+and+Industry

Film Form: Narrative and Style = = = Principles of Film Form =


 * Film Form ** – a system of principles and the relationships of those principles… the overall interrelation among various systems of elements, which fulfill one or more roles in the whole system.

**__5 general principles:__** 1.) Function 2.) similarity and repetition 3.) difference and variation 4.) development 5.)unity/disunity

- does not depend on the filmmaker’s intent - almost always multiple : narrative (plot and story) and stylistic (genre, production values, director’s influence) - motivation: what is the justification for something in a movie REMEMBER – Movies are carefully planned and what we see in a movie is supposed to be there.
 * Function ** – on the most basic level, it is simply the purpose of or reason for an element.

- able to predict the next step in a series - most basic levels: we recall and identification of characters and setting - more subtly: we observe patterns in lines of dialogue, bits of music, camera positions, characters’ behavior, and story action - ** motif ** – any significant repeated element in a film – a color, a place, a person, a sound, lighting or color pattern, character trait, or camera position - ** parallelism ** – the process whereby a movie cues the spectator to compare two or more distinct elements by highlighting some similarity.
 * Similarity and Repetition ** – established patterns and satisfaction of formal expectations

- motifs are never repeated //exactly// - opposition of elements… most often clashes between characters – these are the conflicts that drive or move the story along or create a juxtaposition - ** juxtaposition ** – place two like thing or ideas next to one another for comparison / contrast
 * Difference and Variation ** – need for variety, contrast, and changes in a movie

- formal development can refer to the basic notion of beginning, middle, and end. - forms ideas of genre as patterns are evident like a journey, a search, a pattern of mystery - ** segmentation ** – a written outline of a movie broken into its major and minor parts marked with numbers and letters - scenes – labeled with numbers - actions in scene – labeled with small case letters
 * Development ** – the patterning of similar and differing elements as well as the progression of said elements throughout the movie. Labeled with capital letters (ex. ABCACDADE)

**“tight”** – a film with unity, has no gaps in the formal relationships - every element present has a specific set of functions, similarities and differences are determinable, the form develops logically, and there are no unnecessary elements. - IS A MATTER OF DEGREE : no film is perfect, each has a puzzling element, a dangling question, an unmotivated action, something left incomplete
 * Unity/Disunity ** – how the use of elements affect the overall film and how we perceive the relationships as clear and economically (efficiently) used.

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. //Film Art, An Introduction//. =[|Bordwell/Thompson Oberservations on Film Art]=





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