Unit One: Form, Structure

and Meaning

“Form equals Content”

Form is the general
system of relationships
among the parts of a film.
How does the structure create
the meaning? Why?
 It all comes down to
story/screenplay
• The most important element in the film
is the story.
• The film must hook the veiwer from the
opening credits.
• We must care for the character and
his/her journey
• 3 Acts-The tree/Climbing the tree with
the conflicts/Coming down the hero
 Uniqueness of Watching
Film
• Images and Sound
• Theatre vs Home
• The theatre is the new church
• How to watch and read a film?
• How to write about film?
 4 Vs
• Voyeuristic-Can we eavesdrop on a believable
world? Does it make sense?=HEAD
• Visceral-Does it grab you and make you feel
happy, sad, sick, scared, worried, etc?=GUT
• Vicarious-Do we become emotionally involved
with the characters? Do we care? =HEART
• Verisimilitude-the quality of appearing to be
true or real.
Film Analysis/Segmentation

• Shot/Scene/Segment/Film
• segmentation ﾊﾊ The process of dividing
a film into parts for
analysis.sequence ﾊﾊ Term commonly
used for a moderately large segment of
film, involving one complete stretch of
action. In a narrative film, often
equivalent to a scene.
 How is the story heard and
understood?
What is the film’s primary focus: plot,
emotional effect or mood, character, style or
texture or structure, or ideas?

• The film itself

• The author/filmmakers
• The viewers and their experience
• The world that shapes the story’s
presentation
Range vs Depth-when do we
know what we know and
how much do we know?
• Range is
• Depth is
• Restricted vs non-restricted
• Objective vs subjective
• Change of knowledge
 Story vs Plot
• In a narrative film, all the events that
are directly presented to us, including
their causal relations, chronological
order, duration, frequency, and spatial
locations. Opposed to story, which is the
viewer's imaginary construction of all
the events in the narrative. See also
duration, ellipsis, frequency, order, viewing
time.
 linearity
in a narrative, the clear motivation of
a series of causes and effects that
progress without significant
digressions, delays, or irrelevant
actions.
 order
in a narrative film, temporal
manipulation of the sequence in which
the chronological events of the story are
arranged in the plot.
 frequency
in a narrative film, the aspect of
temporal manipulation that
involves the number of times any
story event is shown in the plot.
 McGuffin
Alfred Hitchcock's term for the device or
plot element that catches the viewer's
attention or drives the logic of the plot,
but often turns out to be insignificant or
is to be ignored after it has served its
purpose. Examples are mistaken identity
at the beginning of North by Northwest
and the entire Janet Leigh subplot of
Psycho.
 closure
the degree to which the ending of a
narrative film reveals the effects of all
the causaal events and resolves all lines
of action.
 unity
the degree to which a film's parts relate
systematically to each other and provide
motivations for all the elements used.
 variation
in the film form, the return of an element
with notable changes.
 Diegetic vs nondiegetic
• In a narrative film, the world of
the film's story. The diegesis
includes events that are presumed
to have occurred and actions and
spaces not shown onscreen. See
also diegetic sound, nondiegetic insert,
nondiegetic sound.
Point of View
 Theme-humanity
1. Morality
2. Human Nature
3. Social Problems
4. Struggle for Human Dignity
5. Complexity of Human Relationships
6. Coming of Age/Innocence to
Awareness
7. A Moral or Philosophical Riddle
 Theme
1. Is the film’s basic appeal to the intellect, to the funny
bone, to the moral sense, or to the aesthetic sense? Is
it aimed primarily at the groin (the erotic sense), the
viscera (blood and guts), the heart, the yellow streak
down the back, or simply the eyes? Support your
choice with specific examples from the film.
2. How well does your statement of the film’s theme
and focus stand up after your have thoroughly
analyzed all elements of the film?
3. To what degree is the film’s theme universal? Is the
theme relevant to your own experience? How?
4. If you think the film makes significant statement,
why is it significant?
 Types of Meaning
1. Emotional
2. Referential
3. Explicit
4. Implicit
5. Symptomatic (ideology)
 meaning
0. Referential meaning: allusion to particular
pieces of shared prior knowledge outside the film
which the viewer is expected to recognize.
0. Explicit meaning: meaning expressed
overtly, usually in language and often near the
film's beginning or end.
0. Implicit meaning: meaning left tacit, for the
viewer to discover upon analysis or reflection.
0. Symptomatic meaning: meaning which the
film divulges, often "against its will", by virtue of
its historical or social context.
 Elements of a Good Story
-How does the film stack up against the five
characteristics of a good story?
1. Unified Plot
2. Credible/Externally Observable
Truth/Internal Truths of Human Nature?
Artistic Semblance or Truth
3. Interesting-Suspenseful/Action
4. Simple and Complex
5. Handles Emotional Material with
Restraint/sincere and honest?
 Title
1. Why is the title appropriate? What does it mean in
terms of the whole film?
2. How many different levels of meaning are
expressed in the title? How does each level apply to
the film as a whole?
3. If the title is ironic, what opposite meanings or
contrasts does it suggest?
4. If you recognize th title as being an allusion, why is
the work or passage alluded to an appropriate one?
5. If the title calls your attention to a key scene, why
is that scene important?
6. How is the title related to the theme?
 Types of Structure
1.Linear/Chronological-Plot Chart
2. Nonlinear-In medias res, Flashbacks,
Flashforwards
3. Temporal order
4. Space
5. Variation
6. Development
7. Unity
8. Disunity
 Types of Conflict
• Internal
• External
• Man vs ___________
• Man vs ___________
• Man vs ___________
• Man vs ___________
 Characterization
1. Motivation (Compositional,
Realistic, Intertextual or Generic, and
Artistic)
2. Protagonist
3. Antagonist
4. Stock or Stereotypes
5. Static vs Dynamic or Developing
characters
 Characterization
• Round vs Flat Characters
• Through Contrast-Foils
• Through Appearance
• Through Dialogue
• Through Action (Internal/ Ext))
• Through Reactions of others
• Through Caricature/Leitmotif
• Through Name-name typing
 Symbolism
1. Universal/Natural
2. Repeated/Motifs
3. Value placed on object by Character
4. Context
5. Special visual, aural, Musical emphasis
6. Patterns and Progressions
7. Values in Conflict
8. Metaphors-visual, intrinsic, extrinsic
 Irony
1.Dramatic
2.Situational
3.Character
4.Setting
5.Tone
6.Verbal
7.Cosmic
 motivation
the justification given in film for the
presence of an element
narration
 narration
the process through which the plot
conveys or withholds story information. It
can be more or less restricted to character
knowledge and more or less deep in
presenting chracters' mental perceptions
and thoughts.
narrative form
a type of filmic organization in which the
parts relate to each other through a series
of causally related events taking place in a
specific time and space.
 Other Terms? Using
Evidence for Homework?
• On Dramatic Structure
• 1. does the film use linear (chronological) or
nonlinear structure? If it begins with expository
material, does it capture your interest quickly
enough, or would a beginning “in the middle of
things” be better? At what point in the story could
an in medias res beginning start?
• 2. If flashbacks are used, what is their purpose and
how effective are they?
A film structured around plot

A)is centered on characterization.

B)is primarily concerned with
mood.
C)focuses the audience's attention
on what happens.
D)usually fails at the box office.
E)calls our attention to the
director's style.
Motifs are
A)actors, extras, who fill in a
background.
B)images repeated throughout the
film.
C)patterns repeated throughout
the film.
D)ideas repeated throughout the
film.
E)b, c, and d
An easy way to analyze the range of
narration is to ask what?

A)Who knows when?

B)Who knows why?
C)Who knows what when?
D)Who knows how?
Which of the following is a diegetic
element of film?

A)Opening credits
B)Soundtrack music
C)Plot related images
D)Dialogue between
characters
 How can we understand
character?
• Pick out bits of dialogue, images, or
scenes that you consider especially
effective in revealing character, and
tell why they are effective.
• Find screenplays online for quotes.
• Visual clues on screen?
 Group Project #1
See directions on handout
• Choose your group (2-6 members).
• Choose your film from the list on board.
• View film on your own ( consult “How to
read a film” and your notes/terms).
• View your film in class-(you may work
outside with your group on those days).
• Written work, clips, visuals, terms, and oral
presentation due after screening in class
(55 minutes max.)
 Films
(I will do Wizard of OZ)
Usual Suspects
Wicker Park
Memento
Groundhog Day
Run Lola Run
Shawshank Redemption
Frailty
Eternal Sunshine…
Vanilla Sky
 More Films
• Minority Report
• Jerry McGuire
• Do the Right Thing
• Amistad
• Peggy Sue got Married
• Spirited Away
• Pulp Fiction
• Snatch
• 20 bucks
• The Fisher King
 http://www.filmsite.org/
bestscreenplays4.html
• 12 Monkeys
•
• Good Will Hunting
• October Sky
• Life is Beautiful
• Magnolia
• Dark City
• Amadeus
• Lucky Number Slevin

• Jacob’s Ladder
 More for HW???
• Being John Malkovich
• 11:14
• The Notebook
• Equilibrium
• Kung Fu Hustle
• Life as a House
• Truman Show
• Life is Beautiful
• Remember the Titans
• Timecode