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The Elements of Film Form

The document defines and provides examples of the five basic elements of film form - literary design, visual design, cinematography, editing, and sound design. Literary design includes the story, characters, script, and dialog. Visual design encompasses aspects seen on screen like performance, blocking, lighting, costumes, makeup, set design and color. Cinematography refers to camera placement, angles, lenses and movement. Editing is the sequencing and pacing of shots. Sound design comprises dialog, sound effects and music. Examples are given for each element from films to illustrate how they are used to tell the story.

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Jofranco Gamutan Lozano
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511 views7 pages

The Elements of Film Form

The document defines and provides examples of the five basic elements of film form - literary design, visual design, cinematography, editing, and sound design. Literary design includes the story, characters, script, and dialog. Visual design encompasses aspects seen on screen like performance, blocking, lighting, costumes, makeup, set design and color. Cinematography refers to camera placement, angles, lenses and movement. Editing is the sequencing and pacing of shots. Sound design comprises dialog, sound effects and music. Examples are given for each element from films to illustrate how they are used to tell the story.

Uploaded by

Jofranco Gamutan Lozano
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Elements of Film Form

To analyze and write


or talk
about movies, we need to start with a clear understanding of filmic
components are used to tell the story. So lets begin by establi
shing a vocabulary of the five
basic
elements of film form
–
literary
design, visual design, cinematography, editing, and sound design.
1
-‐
Literary design
consists of the story ideas and the script. The story ideas include
the characters and
their actions in the story, the setting of the story, and any
background
story
or
subtext. The script
includes the dialog and some broad actions for the characters.
(Some may refer to this
element
as
narrative design, a broader term for storytelling. As we will see
through closer viewing
, however, all the
elements of film form are used
for storytelling.)
clip from
The Social Network
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFtpd8VNN0
Here is a clip from
The Social Network
.
Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay based on the book by Be
n
Mezrich.
Take notice of the dialog.
pdf
of a
page from
Moonrise Kingdom
Here is a section of the script from
Wes Anderson
’s
Moonrise Kingdom
. Notice how the setting and the
characters are described. Dialog and character actions are
included. A
s a director, Jarmusch also
included elements that are not usually found in a script. One of
these is INSERT, a description of a close
up shot that will be filmed.
2
-‐
Visual design
consists of what we see
on screen/
in
side
the frame, a very broad category
of
components.
-‐
Performance
includes the actor’s mannerisms, expressions, and movement.
-‐
Blocking
is the arrangement of actors and props before the camera. Blocking
also includes how the
actors move around the set during the scene.
-‐
Lighting
includes
the amount of light, the specific areas that are illuminated, the
shadows, and the
quality of light as in soft or harsh. The lighting can contribute to
perception, meaning, and mood.
-‐
Hair and makeup
of the actors adds to the storytelling. This also inclu
des special effects makeup like
wounds,
blood or fake teeth.
Somebody has to make those zombies look real.
-‐
Costume
is what the actors wear.
Period films will try to create the look of the time with costumes.
-‐
Set design
consists primarily of the how the
room or space is set up as well as furniture and props.
*
Color is an important factor in
lighting, costume, and set design
.
All of these visual
components are sometimes referred to as
mise
-‐
en
-‐
scène
.
(pronounced as mee
-‐
zan
-‐
sen, French for “put on stage”)
.
clip from Heath Ledger’s performance in
The Dark Knight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8PxG5zvgOM
Heath Ledger’s performance in
The Dark Knight
was critically acclaimed.
Take note of
th
e expressions,
the mannerisms, and the in
flection he brings to the scene.
promotional still for
Edward Scissorhands
In this
promotional
photograph
for
Edward Scissorhands
,
we can see how costume, hair, and makeup
are key to the character.
still fr
om
2001: A Space Odyssey
In this still shot
from
2001: A Space Odyssey
we see the environment of a spacecraft created through set
design. The spacecraft is represented as donut
-‐
shaped so the set is built on a curve and the camera is
turned sideways to cre
ate the illusion the actors move around the outer wall of the ship.
3
-‐
Cinematography
deals with the choices that are made for the camera
–
the placement
of the camera
,
the camera angle
toward the subject
, the lens choice, and the camera movement. Each o
f these choices
has an affect on the recorded image and how
the viewer perceives
(consciously or unconsciously)
that
image
.
frame from
The Hurt Locker
In this frame from a shot in
The Hurt Locker
the cinematographer used a wide angle lens for the shot
.
The wide angle lens shows more of the cereal aisle in the
background and more of it is in focus. This lens
choice accentuates the main character’s abrupt transition from a
war zone with life and death decisions
to civilian life with a multitude of trivia
l decisions.
clip from
Goodfellas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sr
-‐
vxVaY_M
This is a single shot from
Goodfellas
using
a steadicam to allow the camera to move along with the
characters thr
ough the scene. It creates a feeling that the viewer is moving with
the characters and
emphasizes the privileged aspect of the main character.
4
-‐
Editing
is the sequencing of the shots in the film. Editors decide on the
order and the duration of
shots, t
he visual transitions from scene to scene, and visual effects. The
editors have two major
contributions to the story. The first is the sequencing of shots in
terms of how the audience “reads” the
film.
Cutting from an actor delivering a line of dialog to
another actor reacting to what was said.
The
second is the pacing of the film which helps establish the overall
feeling or mood. For example, fast cuts
from one shot to another create excitement or tension.
Longer duration shots allow the audience to
take
in more of the visual detail.
clip from Battleship Potempkin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLEE2UL_N7Q
This is a clip from Sergi Eisenstien’s 1925 film Battleship Potempkin
is referred to as t
he Odessa Steps
sequence. Eisenstein was an early Russian filmmaker most famous
for his montage theory of editing.
This approach holds that the “collision” between different shots is
an illustration
of the idea of thesis
and antithesis. In other words show
ing the contrast between two opposing views.
clip from
Sherlock
In this
clip from
Sherlock
the editor uses a series of quick cuts from one shot to the next. This
editing
echoes the quick, analytic mind of the main character as he takes in
“clues” from an
other character.
5
-‐
Sound design
deals with the sound components, what we hear in the film. Dialog
editing, sound
effects, and music contribute to the story. Mood, environment,
character, time and place are just a few
of the story aspects that can be est
ablished or emphasized with sound.
mini
-‐
documentary about
The Hobbitt
http://soundworkscollection.com/videos/hobbit
This short describes many of the aspects that went into the creation
of
the sound track for
The Hobbitt
.
Notice how the creative process is collaborative and involves a
variety of sound specialists.

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