FILM STUDIES

FILM FORM
 YOU How films are formed

WILL The functions of films

Motifs used in films

LEARN Meanings in films

The Concept of form in film
Form as Pa)ern
“Form” Versus “Content”
Formal Expecta7ons
Conven7ons and Experience
Form and Feeling
Form and Meaning
Form and Evalua7on
 The Concept of form in film
Of any element in the film, you can ask: What are its functions in the overall
form? How is it motivated?

Are elements or patterns repeated throughout the film? If so how and at

what points? Are motifs and parallelisms asking us to compare elements?

How are elements contrasted and differentiated from one another? How are
different elements opposed to one another?

What principals of progression or development are at work throughout the

form of the film? More specifically, how does a comparison of the beginning
and ending reveal the overall form of a film?

What degree of unity is present in the film´s overall form? Is disunity

subordinate to the overall unity, or does disunity dominate?
Why do artists use form?
To create a pattern in order for audiences to have a structured
experience. ie by engaging the senses feelings and mind of the
audience in a process.
Form is the way parts work
together to create an overall
effect.

If you are a director, or

screenwriter,
you face perpetual choices
about form.

As a viewer, you are

responding to it every
moment.
The arts offer us intensely involving experience.
That artworks involve us by engaging our senses, form as patterns
feeling, and mind in a process.
That process sharpens our interest, focuses our
attention, urges us forward.

How does this happen?

Because the artist has created a pattern.
Why do artists use form?
To create a pattern in order for audiences to have a structured
experience. ie by engaging the senses feelings and mind of the
audience in a process.
By Design - they give the film a form. So that we can have a
structured experience. For this reason, form is crucial in film.

Our minds are very good at finding patterns in things - artworks reply
on this dynamic, unifying effort of the human mind.
Form is the sum of all the parts of a film, often shaped by
patterns, style and techniques.

Basic elements of film form include mise-en- scene,

narrative structure, cinematography, editing and sound
design.

In any system, a group of elements affects one another. In

other words, film form means the overall system of relations
that we can perceive among the elements in the whole film.

Since film form is a system, there must be some principles

that help create the relationships among the parts.
Form vs Content
Content can be defined as the subject of
an artwork (what the artwork is about).

Form is the mean through which that

subject is expressed.

Content is what the artwork is about, and

form is how that meaning is presented to
the viewer.

Works of art need them both. They

depend on one another.

Content provides something to express,

form supplies the methods and techniques
necessary for us to experience it.
And form doesn't just allow us to see the
subject content. It lets us see that content in
a very particular way.

It lets the artist shape our particular

experience and interpretation of that content.

In the world of cinema, form is cinematic

language, in other words, the tools and
techniques that filmmakers use to convey
meaning and the mood to the viewer.

Example:

Lighting, Camera angle, focal length,

editing, moving camera, proxemics (the
relationships between objects within a given
space), mise-en-scene and sound.
Form and Expectation
Film form lead us to expect that a pattern exists between the various formal
elements. We form expectations about what will happen next, and curiosity leads
us to form expectations about what has happened in the past. A film may gratify
or cheat our expectation
Form and Convention
Our expectations derive from cues within
a film and also from our prior
experiences.

These experiences may be of life in

general or patterns seen in other films.
Some films break conventions rather than
reinforce them.

On such occasions these films can go on

to create new conventions which then
furnish future expectations.
Form and feeling
Expectations will often cause us to
make an emotional investment in a
film. Often the emotions that are
represented in film prompt an identical
response in the viewer.

Our emotional response to a film will

depend both on how the emotions
represented in the film are related to
other elements, as well as on our
expectations, which are guided both by
cues within the film and conventions.
Form and Meaning
We actively look for meanings in films. Whatever the supposed implied
meaning of a film, we must be certain to link it to the film’s formal
composition, otherwise it remains merely supposition. It may well be that
even the filmmaker himself is unaware of certain implicated meaning on
some level.
Like emotions, meaning is important to our experience artworks. As
viewers we constantly testing the work for larger significance, for
what it says or suggests. And filmmakers often create movies to
convey their ideas and opinions. They want us to grasp the meaning
they’ve offered.
1. Referential
Identifies the subject matter with a focus on plot summary. It depends
on the audience’s ability to identify certain references to time,
setting and more. In other words, it simply tells us what happens in
the film.
As active, intelligent viewers, we look for
meaning in films. Such meaning may be of two
main types: explicit and implicit meaning.

To say that a meaning is implicit is to say that

it lies beneath the surface.

This is the most natural sense of the term

‘meaning’: it is an interpretation,
connection, or inference we make on the
basis of that what we see.

What we see on the surface is the explicit

meaning of the film and is probably more
likened to a plot summary or basic description.

It is only when we delve beneath, when we

view actively, that we see what is implicit –
the deeper meaning.
 2. Explicit
The spectator assigns an abstract conceptual meaning, or ‘point’, to the diegesis (the world
presented in the film) and fabula (story) they have constructed, and this point may be validated
by specific textual cues.

A film might have a particular ‘moral’, for instance, which the protagonist learns as the story
unfolds. The film could have an overt political message. At this level the film is deemed to have
something to say.
3. Implicit
What is being suggested by the film at a more abstract level. Further ‘up’ the levels of
abstraction brings us to the construction of covert or symbolic meanings or ‘themes’.
Meaning at this level is taken to be implied or ‘spoken’ indirectly.

Implicit meaning is more likely to be a subject of dispute between critics and

spectators, and spectators may draw upon extra-textual evidence – such as interviews
or references to previous films by the same writer or director – to support their claims.

Where the former two levels of meaning are constitutive of comprehension, implicit
meanings are the beginning of ‘interpretation’ proper.
4. Symptomatic/Ideological
Symptomatic or ‘repressed’ meanings are those the writer or director might not be
consciously aware of and may be the result of the psychological (often taken to be
psychoanalytical) obsessions on behalf of the creator, or the result of economic, political or
ideological conditions in the wider social world.

Symptomatic or repressed meaning may run counter to referential, explicit or implicit meaning
but this time without irony: as such they are a site of even greater discursive dispute than the
previous forms of interpretation. Symptomatic reading is the ‘highest’ form of interpretation
In the world-cinema landscape (where Western standards
are the norm), a foreign movie is often appreciated for its
didacticism, as an element symptomatic of local culture,
whether it reinforces prejudices or subverts them.
Form and Evaluation
Some people will evaluate films on the basis of how realistic they
are, or on moral criteria, or even on the basis of their story alone.

This is why we may find a great deal of difference of opinion with

regards to the value of any particular film.

There are, however, some standard criteria which, when applied to

the film as a whole, allow for a degree of objectivity in evaluation a
film.

Thus, we may consider a film in terms of its coherence or unity;

the intensity of effect it arouses; we may consider its complexity;
or its originality.

The point of evaluation is not merely to ‘rate’ films but rather to urge
us to acknowledge them as constructions, perfect or imperfect,
original or generic.

Such evaluation should, in turn, inform our understanding and

appreciation of the film.
Principles of film form
Func7on
Similarity and Repe77on
Difference and Varia7on
Development
Unity and Disunity
1. Function
Every element has one or more functions. One way of noticing the functions of an element is
to consider its motivations. Motivation should not be taken to apply only to reasons for
character’s actions, but to any element in the film that the viewer justifies somehow.
Explain the function of Ricky’s camera habits. Where does
this eventually lead to in the narrative?

Ricky Fitts appreciates the beauty in nature and the

most mundane things that people would not give a
second glance toward. Ricky's video camera acts
as his filter to his view of the world. He sees
everything from an impartial point of view and
therefore sees everyone's true nature.

Dir. Zhang yimou

Like several of Zhang’s best films, Raise
the Red Lantern is based on an original
work of fiction, Su Tong’s 1990 novella
Wives and Concubines.
But what makes this film so much more
eloquent than his other films is the
director’s extensive use of color schemes,
framing and camera angles to deliver a
bigger point about the power structure in
patriarchal Chinese society.
It’s a message that violence breeds
violence as we see the weak and powerless
exploited by those on top, who then turn
around and pound at those who’re even
more venerable than they are.
MOTIF
Particularly striking is the film’s use of red, which Zhang frequently claims is his favorite.

While red is used to symbolize passion and revolutionary spirit in Red Sorghum, it takes on a
much more sinister meaning in Raise the Red Lantern.

The lighting of the red lanterns suggests power and status for the wives because whoever wins
the master’s favor receives an elaborate foot massage (to better serve the master that evening)
and the right to decide the menu for the entire household the following day.
2. Similarity and Repetition
Repetition allows us to recognize characters, settings and other elements. However, we also recognize more
subtle repetitions throughout films: lines of dialogue; specific music; camera positions; characters’
behaviour; story action; etc. Motif refers to any significant repeated element in a film.

Similarity is used to cue us to compare two or more distinct elements, which is known as parellelism. This
could be: an object; a colour; a place; a person; a sound; a character trait, or; a camera movement.
3. Difference and variation
Differences between elements are to sharpen into opposition. There is always a demand for
variety, contrast and change. All elements in a film can play off against one another, so that
motif can be opposed by another motif.

Motifs (scenes, settings, objects, stylistic devices) will seldom be repeated in exactly the
same way and, as such, even similarities can lead us to spot variations.

All elements in a film can play off one against one another, so that any motif may be
opposed by another motif. We might say that repetition and variation are two sides of
the same coin – to notice one is to notice the other.
4. Development
All films operate by a principle of development. Development depends not only
upon similarity and difference but also on progression.
Formal development is a progression moving from beginning through middle to
end. These developmental patterns are varied and most films are composed of
several: e.g. the mystery; the journey.
Development is a dynamic process: constant interplay with similarity and
difference, and repetition and variation, leads the viewer to an active, developing
engagement with the film’s formal system.
5. Unity and disunity
A film is unified when every element has a specific set of functions, determinable
similarities and differences, with a logical development.
We call a unified film “tight”, because there seems to be no gaps in its overall
form – every element has a specific set of functions, similarities and differences
are determinable, development is logical, and nothing is superfluous or ‘left
hanging’.
Unity does, however, admit of degrees – even a tight film might contain a few
loose elements or unanswered questions. Disunity, however, contributes to broader
patterns and meanings.