Chapter 2: The Significance of Film Form

Form can be created from _____.

Patterns

What do patterns construct in a film?

The overall set of relationships among a film's parts.

How does a viewer's relationship to patterns contribute to a film's content?

How a viewer relates to the patterns established by the filmmakers contributes to the content of the film.

How can form deliver many reactions?

By building expectation.

What are film conventions based on?

The viewer’s prior experience.

What is Referential meaning in film?

Meanings within a film that rely on familiarity with significant places or things.

What is Explicit meaning in film?

Meanings that are openly asserted.

What is Implicit meaning in film?

An implied or interpreted meaning.

What is Symptomatic meaning in film?

An abstract, general meaning that depends on social ideology.

What does not have any relevance in evaluating a film?

Personal taste and "goodness"/"badness".

What are the criteria involved in evaluating a film?

Realism, Morality, Coherence, Intensity, Complexity, Originality.

Motif

A significant element that is repeated in a film.

Parallelism

A film technique in which strong similarities and repetition are displayed.

Development

A progression moving from beginning to middle to end.

Unity

Relationships among elements come together.

Disunity

Relationships among elements fail to come together.