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a tradition, a dominant style, a popular form—some such elements will be common to several different artworks

the way in which the message reflects a particular set of social values or beliefs characteristic of a particular place and time. It can reflect a certain time’s prevalent notions of social order, class relations, gender roles, and view of race, among others.

Because films are human constructs, we can expect that any one element in a film will have some justification for being there. This justification is the motivation for the element

formal repetitions; any significant repeated element in a film

a written outline of the film that breaks it into its major and minor parts, with the parts marked by consecutive numbers or letters.

o Coherence: often referred to as unity, has traditionally been held to e a positive feature of artworks

o Intensity of effect: if an artwork is vivid, striking, and emotionally engaging, it may be considered more valuable

• o Complexity: a complex film engages our interst on many levels, creates a multiplicity of relations among
• many separate formal elements, and tends to create intriguing patterns of feelings and meanings

o Originality

o Story: presumed and inferred events and explicitly present events within the story world; all diegetic information

o Plot: explicitly present events and added on non-diegetic material; all the things audibly and visibly present in a film

Cause and effect> usually the agents of cause and effect are characters. Characters create cause and register effects.

total time span of explicitly or implicitly referred to in the film

since plot chooses parts of the story to show explicitly, the overall time encompassed by the plot is the “plot duration”

the length of time which the movie lasts on the screen; the sliced of time taken from the plot duration and shown explicitly

“plot’s way of distributing story information in order to achieve specific effects. Narration is the moment by-moment process that guides us in building the story out of the plot”

o Restricted: what one person knows

o Unrestricted: we know more, we see and hear more, than any of the characters can (omniscient narration)

• o Objective: where a plot confines us wholly to information about what
• characters say and do: their external behavior

o Subjective:

visual or auditory point of view offers a degree of subjectivity

we might hear an internal voice reporting the character’s thoughts, or we might see the character’s inner images,representing memory, fantasy, dreams, or hallucinations

how something is filmed. In deciding how to film something, the filmmaker has to make choices related to three areas:

o (1) the photographic aspects of the shot,

o (2) the framing of the shot, and

o (3) the duration of the shot

an effect of the relationship between the rate at which the film is shot and the rate at which it is projected; (fps) frames per second, time lapse, slow motion

distance from the center of the lens to the point of focus on the film

• o short-focal-length (wide-angle) lens—less than 35mm
• § exaggerates depth
• § distorts straight lines lying near the edges of the frame, bulging them outward

• o medium-focal-length (normal) lens—35mm to 50mm
• § seeks to avoid noticeable perspective distortion

• o long-focal length (telephoto) lens—75mm to 250mm or more
• § distort space laterally
• § flatten the space along the camera axis
• § magnifies action at a distance

range of distance in front of the lens within which objects appear in sharp focus

objects in both the foreground and background are in focus

shifting the area of sharp focus from one plane to another during a shot; the effect on the screen is called rack-focus

the use of edges of the film frame to select and to compose what will be visible on screen

• o angle of framing: the position of the frame in relation to the subject shown: above it, looking down
• (a high angle); horizontal, on the same level (a straight-on angle); looking up (a low angle)

o level framing: the frame can be more or less level—that is, parallel to the horizon. If the frame is tipped to one side or the other, it’s said to be canted.

o height of framing: the distance of the camera above the ground, regardless of the angle of framing

o distance of framing: how close/far we appear to be in relation to the figure on the screen

o extreme long shot: human figure is barely visible

o long shot: figures are more prominent, but the background still dominates

o medium long shot: human figure is framed from about the knees up

o medium shot: frames the human body from the waist up

o medium close-up: frames the body from the chest up

o close-up: traditionally the shot showing just the head, hands, feet, or a small object

o extreme close-up: singles out a portion of the face (often eyes or lips)

When a shot’s framing prompts us to take it as seen through a character’s eyes, we call it an optically subjective shot, or a point-of-view shot

refers to the way in which framing is adjusted during the shot through the movement of the camera

o Pan (panorama) movement: rotates the camera on a vertical axis. The camera as a whole does not move to a new position

o Tilt movement: rotates the camera on a horizontal axis. It is as if the camera’s head were swiveling up or down

• o In the tracking or dolly shot: the camera as a whole does change position, traveling in any direction along
• the ground—forward, background, circularly, diagonally, or from side to side

o In the crane shot: the camera moves above ground level. Typically, it rises or descends, often thanks to a mechanical arm that lifts and lowers it.

refers to all that appears in the film frame such as the setting, lighting, costume, amd make-up, and staging (acting)

• where the action takes place, instead of being a mere
• background for the action, however, the setting can also have a narrative function

• o On location/studio
• o Set-design, color, props

quality, direction, source, and color.

refers to the relative intensity of illumination. Hard lighting creates defined shadows, crisp textures, and sharp edges. Soft lighting creates diffused illumination

refers to the path of light from its source or sources to the object lit

• § Frontal lighting: eliminates shadows
• § Sidelight (also called a crosslight): to sculpt the character’s features
• § Backlight: comes from behind the subject filmed; tends to create silhouettes
• § Under lighting: light comes from below the subject

light also characterized by its source

§ CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD: The backlight comes from behind and above the figure, the key light comes diagonally from the front, and a fill light comes from a position near the camera

can match motivating light source, can be used to represent a characters emotional/psychological state

a common arrangement using three directions of light on a scene; from behind the subjects (backlighting), from one bright source (key light), and from a less bright source balancing the key light (fill light)

primary source; providing the dominant illumination and casting the strongest shadows. Most directional light and it usually correspond to the motivating light source in the setting.

less intense illumination that “fills in” softening or eliminating shadows cast by the key light

refers to an overall lighting design that uses fill light and backlight to create low contrast between brighter and darker areas

creates stronger contrasts and sharper, darker shadows

balance right and left halves; bilateral symmetry

suggest that a space has both volume and several distinct planes

staging the action in relatively few planes of depth

an arrangement of mise-en scene elements so that there is a considerable distance between the plane closest to the camera and the one farthest away. any or all of these planes can be in focus.

being provided with factual information that explains or helps us understand “real world” events; creation that provides a certain perspective of the subject matter

compilation film, interview documentary, direct-cinema, nature documentary, portrait documentary

produced by assembling images from archival sources

records testimony about events or social movements

characteristically records ongoing event as it happens

centers on scenes from the life of a compelling person

in filmmaking, the task of selecting and joining camera takes. in the finished film, the set of techniques that governs the relations among shots

graphic, rhythmic, spatial, temporal

editing together any two shots permits the interaction, through the similarity and difference, of purely pictorial qualities of the two shots. the four aspects of mise-en-scene and most cinematographic qualities all furnish potential graphic elements

when the filmmaker adjusts the length of shots in relation to one another

Kuleshov Effect; any series of shots that in the absence of an establishing shot prompts the spectator to infer a spatial whole on the basis of seeing only portions of space

plot can manipulate story time; order of presentation of events; flash-forward

two successive shots joined so as to create a strong similarity of compositional elements (e.g., color, shape)

editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously

an alteration of story order in which the plot moves back to show events that have taken place earlier than ones already shown

an alteration of story order in which the plot presents moves forward to future events and then returns them to the present

shot transitions that omit parts of an event, causing an ellipsis in plot duration

a system of cutting to maintain continuous and clear narrative action. relies on matching screen direction, position, and temporal relations from shot to shot.