Chapter 2: The Significance of Film Form
Form can be created from patterns
Patterns construct the overall set of relationships among a films parts
How a viewer relates to the patterns established by the filmmakers contributes to the content of the film.
Form can deliver many reactions by building expectation
What are conventions based on? The viewer’s prior experience
Form and meaning
Referential: meanings within a film that rely on familiarity with significant places or things
Explicit: meanings that are openly asserted
Implicit: an implied or interpreted meaning
Symptomatic: an abstract, general meaning that depends on social ideaology
What does not have any relevance in evaluating a film? Personal taste and “goodness”/”badness”
The criteria involved in evaluating a film are …
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 is 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