Principles of Film Form

Film Form – a system of principles and the relationships of those principles… the overall interrelation among
various systems of elements, which fulfill one or more roles in the whole system.

5 general principles:
1.) Function 2.) similarity and repetition 3.) difference and variation 4.) development 5.)unity/disunity

Function – on the most basic level, it is simply the purpose of or reason for an element.
- does not depend on the filmmaker’s intent
- almost always multiple : narrative (plot and story) and stylistic (genre, production values, director’s
influence)
- motivation: what is the justification for something in a movie
REMEMBER – Movies are carefully planned and what we see in a movie is supposed to be there.

Similarity and Repetition – established patterns and satisfaction of formal expectations

- able to predict the next step in a series
- most basic levels: we recall and identification of characters and setting
- more subtly: we observe patterns in lines of dialogue, bits of music, camera positions, characters’
behavior, and story action
- motif – any significant repeated element in a film – a color, a place, a person, a sound, lighting or color
pattern, character trait, or camera position
- parallelism – the process whereby a movie cues the spectator to compare two or more distinct elements
by highlighting some similarity.

Difference and Variation – need for variety, contrast, and changes in a movie
- motifs are never repeated exactly
- opposition of elements… most often clashes between characters – these are the conflicts that drive or
move the story along or create a juxtaposition
- juxtaposition – place two like thing or ideas next to one another for comparison / contrast

Development – the patterning of similar and differing elements as well as the progression of said elements
throughout the movie. Labeled with capital letters (ex. ABCACDADE)
- formal development can refer to the basic notion of beginning, middle, and end.
- forms ideas of genre as patterns are evident like a journey, a search, a pattern of mystery
- segmentation – a written outline of a movie broken into its major and minor parts marked with
numbers and letters
- scenes – labeled with numbers
- actions in scene – labeled with small case letters

Unity/Disunity – how the use of elements affect the overall film and how we perceive the relationships as clear
and economically (efficiently) used.
“tight” – a film with unity, has no gaps in the formal relationships
- every element present has a specific set of functions, similarities and differences are determinable, the
form develops logically, and there are no unnecessary elements.
- IS A MATTER OF DEGREE : no film is perfect, each has a puzzling element, a dangling question, an
unmotivated action, something left incomplete

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art, An Introduction.

New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2001.