Principles of Film Form Chapter 2

Objectives of this Presentation

You should be able to: Differentiate between form and content and discuss how they
are related.

Discuss the different ways expectations can shape your interpretation of a movie.

List some patterns commonly used in movies and discuss how these patterns create
structure and convey meaning.

Define realism, antirealism, and verisimilitude.

Define cinematic language and apply it in practice.

Identify formal elements such as Mise en Scene, Sound, Editing, and Narrative.
Form and Content

Content is the subject of an artwork, while Form is the

means by which the subject is expressed.

Consider the following images of humanity

They offer similar content but a wide variation in form

Movies versus surveillance tapes
Heist (2001)

We activate surveillance cameras and later view their tapes for a specific reason,
unrelated to aesthetics: we want to know who did what at the scene of a crime. The
unscripted, relatively formless reality on the recording helps us solve a practical
problem as quickly as possible. Works of art, such as movies, have deliberate forms
that convey more information than simply who did what.
Movies versus surveillance tapes
Heist (2001)

Virtually all of the action comprising the opening robbery from David Mamets Heist
(2001) is captured by three security cameras. But if our only experience of this content
came from the surveillance footage shown on the monitors featured in the scene, we
would be denied the character development, dramatic tension, compelling detail,
explicit information, and implied meaning made possible when filmmakers shape our
experience of events with film form.
Sample Scene: Heist (2001)

Consider a bank robbery as viewed objectively and subjectively.

The objective view would be provided by the security camera on the wall. It is
essentially devoid of form. Imagine watching the entirety of this scene from that single,
fixed perspective. We would be able to see almost everything from the moment the
thieves break in to the moment they leave a few minutes later.

The action would occur in real time: we would see everything the actors do in the
sequence in which they do it. We would see this from a location far above and
detached from the action.

We will have witnessed content: the content of those minutes presented unfiltered.
Form: Heist
From the minute the thieves arrive the film-makers use formal elements.

The scenes action is broken into 81 shots which control what we see, how we see it,
when we see it, how long we see it, and in what order we see it.

Some shots are shown from the perspective of one character, or none; we see
reactions to actions. Close ups isolate and emphasize certain elements.
 Form and content

Hermes Carrying the Infant Dionysus Walking Man II Self Portrait

Compare these sculptures: Hermes Carrying the Infant Dionysus, by Praxiteles, who lived in
Greece during the fourth century BCE; Walking Man II, by Alberto Giacometti (19011966), a
Swiss artist; and Self Portrait, by Keith Haring (19581990), an American. Although all three
works depict the male figure, their forms are so different that their meanings, too, must be
different. What, then, is the relationship between the form of an artwork and its content?
Mise en Scene
Composes design elements such as

light

setting

props

costumes

within individual shots

Sound
dialogue

music

ambient sounds

sound effects
Editing
juxtaposes individual shots

orders these juxtapositions into sequences, sequences into scenes, and scenes into
movies

often relies on patterns and progressions to build story and engage viewer interest
Common Editing Patterns
ABCABCABC

A= Woman tied to railway track

B= Hero racing toward woman in peril

C= On-rushing locomotive

(relies on parallel editing, which sustains the illusion that these events are happening at
the same time)

ABABABAB (shot/reverse shot pattern)

A= First Stranger (on a train!)

B= Second Stranger
Common Editing Patterns, contd
AAAAAAAB

A=Scenes of Daily life in New England (Pocahontas)

B= Arrival of John Smith and the English settlers

AAAABAAABAABABABC

A= happy July 4th swimmers

B= hungry shark (cue the music!)

C= swimmers meat shark/shark meats swimmers

Narrative: Patterns and Expectations
Narrative is structured into acts that establish, develop, and resolve character conflict

The audience often attends a film with certain expectations.

Perhaps we have enjoyed previous works by the director, the screenwriter, or the
actors.

Perhaps the genre (romantic comedy, thriller, vampire melodrama with squinty female
protagonist) appeals...
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Focusing on content
On October 3, 1993, nearly a hundred U.S. Army Rangers parachuted into
Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, to capture two men. Their mission was supposed
to take about an hour, but they ended up in a fifteen-hour battle, the longest sustained
ground attack involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War. Two U.S. Black
Hawk helicopters were destroyed; eighteen Americans and hundreds of Somalis were
killed; military and civilian casualties numbered in the thousands. Whereas its source,
Mark Bowdens best-selling nonfiction book of the same title, was a minute-by-minute
account of the firefight, Ridley Scotts narrative film Black Hawk Down (2001) re-
creates events by dramatically condensing the action into 144 minutes. Clearly, the
book and the movie differ in their form, and we might have interesting discussions
about their differences. But for many viewers, the primary concern is the content of
both book and movie. What relationship does each work bear to the facts? What
would it mean, in this case, to say that the movie is better than the book or vice
versa?
The Searchers (1956)
Formal expectations and The Searchers
Directors can subvert our most basic expectations of film form to dramatic effect. We
have been conditioned to assume that the subject (or narrative focus) of any shot will
be the largest or most noticeable element in the frame. At the point in John Fords The
Searchers (1956) illustrated here, the movie has devoted most of its screen time to
Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) thus-far fruitless five-year search for his kidnapped
niece Debbie (Natalie Wood). Ford lends resonance to the climactic point at which the
searchers and their objective are finally (albeit briefly) reunited by reversing our formal
expectations for such an important dramatic moment. As Ethan and his exasperated
partner, Martin (Jeffrey Hunter), argue, the all-important Debbie appears not as the
compositions featured visual element, but as a tiny figure in the background,
distinguishable only by her movement across the stark sky and sand. Even though
she is barely a speck on the screen, Debbie instantly becomes the focus of our
attention. This unexpected formal approach allows the audience to spot the searchs
goal long before Ethan and Martin do, which creates suspense as we await her long-
delayed arrival, anticipate her volatile uncles reaction, and ask the storys central
question one last time: Will the searchers ever find Debbie?
Expectations in Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde

Much of the development and ultimate impact of Arthur Penns Bonnie and Clyde (1967) depends
on the sexual chemistry between the title characters, established through physical expression,
dialogue, and overt symbolism. Early in the film, Clyde (Warren Beatty), ruthless and handsome,
brandishes his gun threateningly and phallically. Attracted by this display and others, the beautiful
Bonnie (Faye Dunaway) is as surprised as we are when Clyde later rebuffs her obvious sexual
attraction to him (at one point, he demurs, I aint much of a lover boy). We may not like this
contradiction, but it is established early in the film and quickly teaches us that our expectations will
not always be satisfied.
Parallel editing in Way down East
Way down Easts

Pioneering director D. W. Griffith risked the lives of actors Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess to
film Way down Easts now classic ice break scenea scene that builds suspense by
exposing us to a pattern of different shots called parallel editing. Griffith shot much of the blizzard
and ice-floe footage along the Connecticut River, then edited it together with studio shots and
scenes of Niagara Falls. Gish, thinly dressed, was freezing on the ice and was periodically revived
with hot tea. Although the dangers during filming were real enough, the reality portrayed in the
final scenea rescue from the certain death that would result from a plunge over Niagara Falls
is wholly the result of Griffiths use of a pattern of editing that has by now become a standard
technique in narrative filmmaking.
Patterns and suspense
The Silence of the Lambs

Filmmakers can use patterns to catch us unawares. In The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Jonathan
Demme exploits our sense that when shots are juxtaposed, they must share a logical connection.
After FBI agents surround a house, an agent disguised as a delivery man (Lamont Arnold) rings the
doorbell; a bell rings in the serial killer Buffalo Bills (Ted Levine) basement; Bill reacts to that ring,
leaves behind the prisoner he was about to harm, goes upstairs, and answers his front door, revealing
not the delivery man we expect to see but Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), As agents storm the house
theyve been staking out, Clarice and Bill continue to talk. The agents have entered the wrong house,
Clarice is now alone with a psychopath, and our anxiety rises as a result of the surprise.
The New World (2005)
The New World (2005)
Patterns establish a connection in The New World
(Opposite) Even a simple shot/reverse shot sequencea back-and-forth shot
sequence that is one of the most common editing patterns in film and (especially)
television can establish a significant and meaningful pattern. Terrence Malicks
The New World (2005), for example, initiates the romantic relationship between
Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Pocahontas (Qorianka Kilcher) with a sequence
that cuts back and forth between Pocahontas (A) and Smith (B), punctuated briefly
with two close ups (C) depicting Algonquin life: ABABCCBABABA. The characters
connection is emphasized by repeated juxtapositions and the intersection of their eye
lines (the direction of their respective gazes); yet they are differentiated by the way the
sequence contrasts his relative stasis with her constant flowing movement.
Expressive use of light in The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Strong contrasts between light and dark (called chiaroscuro) make movies visually
interesting and focus our attention on significant details. But thats not all that they
accomplish. They can also evoke moods and meanings, and even symbolically
complement the other formal elements of a movie, as in these frames from John
Fords The Grapes of Wrath (1940).
Lighting and character in Atonement
Atonement (2007

Filmmakers often craft the interplay between illumination and shadow to imply
character state of mind. The tragic romance of Atonement (2007; director: Joe Wright;
cinematographer: Seamus McGarvey) hinges on the actions of a precocious thirteen
year old, Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan). Lives are irrevocably altered when Brionys
adolescent jealousy prompts her to accuse the housekeepers son Robbie of rape.
Lighting and character in Atonement
Atonement (2007

As events unfold, a series of different lighting designs are employed to enhance our
perception of Brionys evolving (and often suppressed) emotions as she stumbles
upon Cecilia and Robbie making love in the library, catches a startled glimpse of her
cousins rape , accuses Robbie of the crime, guiltily retreats upon Robbies arrival,
contemplates the consequences of her actions, and observes Robbies arrest.
Movement in The Matrix
The Matrix (1999)

For Andy and Larry Wachowskis The Matrix (1999), special-effects supervisors Steve Courtley and Brian Cox
employed a setup much like that used by early pioneers of serial photography (see Chapter 10). They placed 120
still cameras in an arc and coordinated their exposures using computers. The individual frames, shot from various
angles but in much quicker succession than is possible with a motion-picture camera, could then be edited
together to create the duality of movement (sometimes called bullet time) for which The Matrix is famous. The
camera moves around a slow-motion subject at a relatively fast pace, apparently independent of the subjects
stylized slowness. Despite its contemporary look, this special-effects technique is grounded in principles and
methods established during the earliest years of motion- picture history.
Space and time in Henry V
Henry V

The unique ability of movies to manipulate space and time becomes obvious when we compare a
staged version of a play to a film adaptation of that same play. A staging of Shakespeares Henry V at
the Alabama Shakespeare Festival shows the title character rousing his men to battle. As in many
theatrical productions, the actor resorts to a stage conventionfacing and addressing the theater
audience rather than the other actorsto overcome a practical limitation of theatrical space (that is,
the problem of not being heard by the audience if he speaks toward the backstage area). Similarly, the
theater is not conducive to staging convincing battle scenes, so combat is usually just referred to in
plays, rather than played out. In movies, however, these limitations of space and time dont apply.
Kenneth Branaghs 1989 film adaptation of Shakespeares Henry V brings us close to the violent action
of the famous Battle of Agincourt, transporting us from place to place within the cinematic space and
speeding up and slowing down our sense of time for heightened emotional effect.
 The Gold Rush (1925)
Manipulating space in The Gold Rush
Film editing can convince us that were seeing a complete space and a continuous
action, even though individual shots have been filmed in different places and at
different times. In Charles Chaplins The Gold Rush (1925), an exterior shot of the
cabin establishes the danger that the main characters only slowly become aware of.
As the cabin hangs in the balance, alternating interior and exterior shots accentuate
our sense of suspense and amusement.
Split screen and simultaneous action
City of God (2002

Most movies use crosscutting techniques like parallel action to represent more than
one event occurring at the same moment. The audience experiences only one event
at a time, but the repeated crosscutting implies simultaneity. City of God (2002;
directors: Fernando Meirelles and Ktia Lund) sometimes breaks with convention and
splits the screen into multiple frames in order to present a more immediate depiction
of simultaneous action.
The Killer (1989)
Manipulating time in The Killer
(Opposite) The world- weary title character in John Woos The Killer (1989) is an expert
assassin attempting to cash in and retire after one last hit. Woo conveys the hit mans
reluctance to kill again by expanding the moment of his decision to pull the trigger.
Film editor Kung Ming Fan fragments the dramatic pause preceding the action into a
thirty-four-shot sequence that cuts between multiple images of the intended target,
the dragon-boat ceremony he is officiating, and the pensive killer. The accumulation of
all these fragments extends what should be a brief moment into a tension-filled fifty-
two seconds. When the killer finally does draw his weapon, the significance of the
decision is punctuated with overlap editing. The killers action is repeated in three
shots from different camera angles. The rapid-fire repetition of a single action is one of
cinemas most explicit manipulations of time.
Mixing the real and the fantastic
Donnie Darko(2001)

director: Richard Kelly) shifts back and forth between showing a realistic depiction of the life of
Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his fantastic take on it. Darko is an intelligent, sensitive, and
schizophrenic teenager who is seeing a therapist, and his normal suburban family blames his
aberrant behavior on his failure to take his medication. When he is in control, he seems to be the
only student in the class who understands the reading assignment. When he is most troubled
and loses control, he stares into a mirror, looking deranged, and then listens to the voice of a
huge, demonic, imaginary rabbit, who encourages him to commit crimes. Donnies motivating
belief is in some kind of time travel, and just as the story ends, it curves back on itself to before
the time it actually started. The movie asks more questions than it answers and leaves the viewer
with a provocative vision of how close the line between the real and the fantastic can be.
Realism versus antirealism

The Hon. Frances Duncombe (1777) Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912)
Technology and the appearance of realism
LEnfant (2005)

Movies as diverse as the stark drama LEnfant (2005; directors:Jean-Pierre Dardenne and
Luc Dardenne; cinematographer: Alain Marcoen) and the apocalyptic horror film Cloverfield
(2008; director: Matt Reeves; cinematographer: Michael Bonvillain) create a sense of
realism by employing camera formats and techniques that audiences associate with
reality. LEnfant is shot with a relatively smooth handheld technique on light-sensitive
(and, therefore, grainy) 16mm film stock for a look that resembles that of professional
documentary films. Cloverfield goes several steps further, shooting in a shaky handheld
style and degrading the video image to resemble amateur home moviesthe ultimate in
unvarnished reality footage.
Verisimilitude
City of God (2002

Employees Leaving the Lumire Factory (1895) A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Whether presenting a scene from everyday life, as in Louis Lumires Employees

Leaving the Lumire Factory (1895), or showing a fantastical scenario, as in Georges
Mliss A Trip to the Moon (1902), motion pictures were recognized from the very
beginning for their ability to create a feeling of being there, of seeing something that
could actually happen. The Lumire brothers favored what they called actualits
mini-documentaries of scenes from everyday life; Mlis made movies directly inspired
by his interest in magicians illusions. Yet both the Lumires and Mlis wanted to
portray their onscreen worlds convincinglyto achieve verisimilitude in their work.
Believable worlds
Donnie Darko(2001)

Gladiator Jurassic Park

In what sense are the worlds portrayed in Ridley Scotts Gladiator and Steven
Spielbergs Jurassic Park believable? On what basis can we call these films realistic?
After all, does anyone alive today know how gladiatorial combat was actually waged in
ancient Rome? Who among us knows what dinosaurs looked like or how they acted
during the Mesozoic era? A more useful and flexible concept that helps explain the
movies unique capacity to create believable worlds is verisimilitude the quality of
appearing true, probable, or likely.
Patterns: The Big Picture
In the broadest sense, film genre provides a pattern for a film. For instance, what do
we expect when we go see

Romantic Comedies?

Horror Films?

Epics?

Fantasy Films?

Michael Bay movies?

Often genres provide us with a sense of expectation. As the film unfolds, we can judge
the degree to which it conforms or breaks the conventional expectations of the genre.
(More on genre later in the course!)
Narrative, continued
Many films strive for an element of verisimillitude, a quality that suggests a kind of
reality. It doesnt mean a film has to be realistic, but we need to be able to buy in and
believe that in the world created by the film, the events that unfold are plausible.

We know dinosaurs arent real, but we believe that in the world of Jurassic Park, they
are.

We start to form impressions very quickly once the movie begins, sometimes even as
the opening credits roll.

Once the narrative begins, we ask questions about the storys outcome, questions we
will ask repeatedly and wait to have answered over the course of the film.
Questions, Questions...
Will Sheriff Brody capture the shark?

Will Dorothy get back to Kansas?

Will Frodo destroy the ring?

Will the Corleone family go legit?

Will we ever learn what rosebud is?

Who is Keyser Soze?

Will Juno keep the baby?

Who killed (or will kill) Lester Burnham?

Synthesis
The synthesis of all of these elemental forms

Mise en Scene

Editing

Sound

Narrative

(and others) constitutes the overall form that a

movie takes
Sample Scene: American Beauty(1999)
Within the first 5 minutes of the film, Lester tells us that he will be dead within a year.
He also acknowledges that in some ways, he is dead already. As the film unfolds,
numerous potential suspects emerge.

Within the first 10 minutes, however, Director Sam Mendes does far more than merely
foreshadow Lesters inevitable (?) death.

Consider the ways that Mendes portrays- largely through imagery and composition of
shots- Lesters entrapment in his daily life.

Look for shots, angles, and details that reinforce the idea of a trapped life, an
insignificance, a feeling of impotence... a feeling of being dead already
Screening Checklist
A useful initial step in analyzing any movie is to distinguish an individual scenes content from
its form. Try to first identify a scenes subject matter:

What is this scene about?

What happens?

Once you have established that content, you should consider how that content was
expressed.

What was the mood of the scene?

What do you understand about each characters state of mind?

How did you perceive and interpret each moment?

Did that understanding shift at any point?

Cinematic Space
Do you notice anything particular about the movies presentation of cinematic space
what you see on the screen? Lots of landscapes or close-ups? Moving or static
camera?

What is the effect of this selection of detail?Do you notice anything particular about
the movies presentation of cinematic spacewhat you see on the screen? Lots of
landscapes or close-ups? Moving or static camera?

What is the effect of this selection of detail?

Lighting
Does the directors use of lighting help to create meaning? If so, how?

Consider the role of light and dark, sunlight and shadow, under-exposure and over-
exposure
The Night of the Hunter- Leaning
Consider the role of lighting in the development of this scene.

Where does danger lie in this scene? Who is in danger?

Where does the hope of salvation lie?

How does lighting contribute to this effect?

Consider the duet sung by the preacher and the grandmother. What does it add to
the scene?
Manipulation of Time
Does the director manipulate our experience of time?

Is this condensing, slowing, speeding, repeating, or reordering of time simply practical

(as in removing insignificant events), or is it expressive?

If it is expressive, just what does it express?

The Godfather- Baptism and Murder
This scene presents an excellent example of the manipulation of time. Coppola cuts
between the baptism of Michaels son, the preparation for 5 murders, and the murders
themselves.

Each time we return to the baptism, it continues where it left off, establishing that
these actions are happening simultaneously. Furthermore, it establishes Michaels
involvement in them.

Music also adds an element of continuity, rising as the sequence progresses.

Narrative Patterns
Do any narrative or visual patterns recur a sufficient number of times to suggest a
structural element in themselves?

If so, what are these patterns?

Do they help you determine the meaning of the film?

The Camera Lens and You
Do you identify with the camera lens?

What does the director compel you to see?

What is left to your imagination?

What does the director leave out altogether?

In the end, besides showing you the action, how does the directors use of the camera
help to create the movies meaning?
Film Form
A movie is highly organized and deliberately assembled and sculpted by a film-maker
from various elements including

Mise en Scene

Sound

Editing

Narrative
Formal Elements of Cinematic Language
Once you know what happened and how you felt about it, search the scene for those
formal elements that influenced your interpretation and experience.

The combination and interplay of multiple formal elements that you seek is the
cinematic language that movies employ to communicate with the viewer.
Sample Exercise: Opening Credits
Consider the following 2 credit sequences
Sample Exercise: Opening Credits
Consider the following 2 credit sequences
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Based on the Stephen King novella Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption

Released in 1994 to critical praise but audience indifference, making back only 18M of
its 25M budget

Nominated for 7 Academy Awards

Won none! (Forrest Gump/Pulp Fiction)

Redemption, indeed...
Since then, the film has become one of the most beloved of all time

On the IMDB readers poll of 250 favourite films of all time, it currently ranks 1st, with a
score of 9.2 (tied with The Godfather, but with more votes)

Everyone who makes a movie hopes to achieve a kind of alchemy, in which baser
materials are turned into gold. The Shawshank Redemption achieves this feat.