Film Theory and Analysis: Key Concepts and Approaches

Indexicality

refers to the events, people, and objects in front of the camera. OR representation which shows the direct imprint of reality

Intellectual (dialectical) Montage

using different types of scenes that often contradict each other to create a new type of meaning which is used in editing.

Defamiliarization

The Russian Formalists, a group of literary scholars, argued that poetry should make the overly familiar strange again, or should defamiliarize the world. Narrative and documentary can defamiliarize imagery, but experimental media often make this defamiliarization the primary aim.

Visual abstraction

A way of telling a story that prioritizes shapes, color, texture, and movement over literal representation and story telling

Conceptual approach to art

prioritizes the idea, concept, or intention behind a work over its physical, aesthetic, or material qualities. Makes viewers interpret a piece and use their brain rather than seeing what the piece really is

Voice of God narration

a powerful, authoritative narration style that guides viewers through the story with clarity and depth. Often used in trailers and documentaries

Diffusion

scatters light to make the image look softer

key light

main source of light when lighting a scene

fill light

a light to fill the shadows, giving the scene less harsh contrast

Kicker (rim light)

a light placed behind a subject, aimed back toward the camera to create a subtle rim of light on their hair and shoulders.

Figure lighting

the deliberate placement of lights to highlight, model, and define the principal actors within a scene, separating them from the background

High-key lighting

Low contrast, a lot of fill lighting

low-key lighting

High contrast, very little fill light

Blocking

refers to the actors' movements. Blocking can be planned or improvised, controlled or loose. Directors will use blocking to suggest the social dynamic between the characters.

Frame Narration

a literary technique where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage for one or more, often more significant, secondary stories

Narrative Closure

the extent major conflicts are resolved

Leitmotif

a musical theme, phrase, or song linked with a specific character in a film (jaws, Darth Vader)

3 act structure

Exposition, turning point (peripeteia), resolution (climax, denouement)

4 act structure

adds a second turning point in the middle of act 2, making it four acts

Exposition

Refers to the opening act of the film. Sets up the character, setting, motivation, and backstory. However, this can happen at any point in the film. This act tends to lack conflict that the rest of the film will develop, but it can serve as a place of introducing key thematic strands

Development

See's the results of the conflicts and the characters' reactions to them

turning points

A turning point is a narrative event that changes the central conflicts of the film. The first plot point introduces conflict into the otherwise static world exposition. It sets into motion a chain of events the rest of the film will spend developing resolving.

Climax

the event and moment in which the major conflicts are resolved. It often does so in a moment of action or intensified emotion

Denouement

occurs after the climax and depcits the fall-out of the conflict's resolution, including the return to normalcy. It might be considered the wrapping up of loose ends.

A-B narrative structure

television series often alternate subplots based on different characters and complimentary conflicts. This is A-B structure and is common in fiction television

1st person narration

character narrating their life using "I"

3rd person narration

An external narrator using "he, she, they, them"

omniscient narration

3rd-person stories can show the experiences and knowledge of multiple characters. (replaying parts of the day in a different characters perspective)

Limited narration

Stories (whether 1st or 3rd person) can be limited to the experiences and knowledge of a single character.

Anthology

characters, settings, and events do not carry over from one episode to another (like twilight zone)

Episodic

resolves major conflicts within each episode (like Simpsons)

Serial

narratives built on multiple parts, often with cliff-hanger endings in each part. Develops its narrative in a linear manner across episodes

serial-episodic

resolves conflict in each program (episode) but also develops character and conflict over the course of a series

Long-form television

TV series' that focuses on in depth character development with a sustained and continuous narrative

Genre Syntax

refers to the underlying structure, themes, and "grammar" that arrange a genre's building blocks (semantics) to create deeper, recurring meaning. syntax represents how plot elements and thematic conflicts are organized, distinguishing it from semantic elements like props or setting

Genre semantics

the set of shared, surface-level conventions, iconography, and building blocks—such as settings, character types, props, and costumes—that define a genre

National Cinema

an approach that groups films by origin or place of production. Often, critics and scholars use national cinema to connect films' meaning to their national context

Film Movement

films gained visibility by being part of a national film movement. Historically defined as a group of films with a recognizable style.

Coproduction

films come from more than one country or are funded as coproductions.

Spotting

the critical post-production process where directors, composers, and sound designers determine exactly where music and sound effects (sound design) will start, stop, and play throughout a film, usually after the picture is locked (time codes)

Limited Narration

Stories (whether 1st or 3rd person) can be limited to the experiences and knowledge of a single character.

Sergei Eisenstein, "The Cinematographic Principle and the Ideogram" main argument

Eisenstein argues that the use of montage in cinema already existed in Japanese art form long before film. Japanese combined two separate images to create a new meaning, just like montage in film

Viktor Shklovsky, "Art as Technique" main argument

Shklovsky argues that the purpose of art is to break out of the norm (or automatic) and instead change the perception by making art strange "defamilarization", which forces us to see the world for what it is than briefly skimming it

Maya Deren, "Cinematography: The Creative Use of Reality" main argument

Deren argues that film becomes a true art form only when it uses the unique properties of the photographic medium—its ability to record reality, manipulate time and space, and create meaning through editing—rather than imitating theater, literature, or painting.

Charles Ramírez Berg, "A Taxonomy of Alternative Plots in Recent Films" main argument

Ramírez Berg argues that Mexican cinema developed a set of "alternative plots" that differ from Hollywood's classical narrative structure, and these alternative plots reflect Mexico's cultural, social, and historical realities. Ex: circular or episodic structures, multiple protagonists, open or unresolved endings, chance, coincidence, or fate, social rather than individual focus

Rea Amit, "The Dark Line of Japanese Noir" main argument

Amit argues that Nomura Yoshitarō's Stakeout (1958) establishes a distinctly Japanese line of film noir—one that appropriates global noir elements but reshapes them through local cultural, social, and industrial conditions, forming a unique national noir lineage rather than a simple imitation of American noir.

Per Fikse, "Charting the Short Fiction Film" main argument

Fikse argues that short fiction films can be meaningfully understood through two broad categories—Classical and Art shorts—and that mapping their narrative, aesthetic, and spectator‑experience traits provides a practical taxonomy for analyzing and discussing short films.

Kathryn Kalinak, chapter 2, from Film Music: A Very Short Introduction main argument

Kalinak argues that film music works by shaping how audiences interpret images—guiding emotion, directing attention, creating continuity, and producing meaning—through a set of conventions that make music feel "natural" even though its effects are highly constructed. Kalinak's central claim is that film music is not passive background — it is an active storytelling system that influences: what we feel, what we notice, how we understand characters, how we interpret the narrative, how scenes connect to each other