chapter 2: principles of film form

film form
o mise-en-scene: also known as staging, the overall look and feel of a movie, the sum of everything the
audience sees, hears, and experiences while viewing it
o sound: audio in a movie, organized into a series of dialogue, music, ambience, and effects tracks
o editing: juxtaposes individual shots to create sequences, and sequences into scenes
form and content
o content: the subject of artwork
o form: the means by which a subject is expressed and experienced
o cinematic language: the tools and techniques that filmmakers use to convey meaning and mood to the
viewer including lighting, mise-en-scene, cinematography, performance, editing, and sound
form and expectations
o people form impressions even before the movie begins,
PATTERNS
o when patterns meet expectations, the more someone is likely to enjoy, analyze, and interpret the work
fundamentals of film form
MOVIES DEPEND ON LIGHT
o light is more than a source of illumination, it is a key formal element that film artists and technicians
carefully manipulate to create mood, reveal character, and convey meaning
o cels: pieces of celluloid
o light enhances texture, depth, emotions, and mood of a shot
o can also affect the ways in which we see and think about a movies characters
MOVIES PROVIDE AN ILLUSION OF MOVEMENT
o movies are actually images changing really fast
o persistence of vision: process by which the human brain retains an image for a fraction of a second longer
than the eye records it
o gives illusion of succession and illusion of movement, figures and objects changing position
simultaneously without actually moving
o phi phenomenon: illusion of movement created by events that succeed each other rapidly
o critical flicker fusion
MOVIES MANIPULATE SPACE AND TIME IN UNIQUE WAYS
o movies can move setting seamlessly, make space move, or fragment time
o the dynamization of space and the specialization of time : perspective is determined and fixed while
watching a play but in a movie it changes
o mediation: the process by which an agent, structure or other formal element whether human or
technological transfers something from one place to another
o freeze-frame: a still image is shown on screen for a period of time
o split screen shows concurrent actions simultaneously
realism and antirealism
o realism: an interest in or concern for the actual or real, a tendency to view or represent things as they really
are
o antirealism: an interest in or concern for the abstract, speculative, or fantastic
Verisimilitude
o verisimilitude: whether a movie can achieve a convincing appearance of truth
cinematic language
o cinematic language combines and composes a variety of elements into single shots, and these elements
carry conventional, generalized meanings
o whole is greater than the sum of its parts
o filmmaker can accumulate organized shots into a system of larger components; sequences and
scenes
o there is not a correct way to interpret this, a fade can mean minutes has passed to one filmmaker and years
for another