Principles of Film Form

Meaning in a film is patterned; we speak of such patterning as a film's form. Form can be defined as the total system of relationships at work in the film. These relationships are ones between parts and elements, be they stylistic or narrative entities.

Form involves:

--expectations,

--pre-knowledge and convention,

--feeling and prejudice,

--meaning, from the referential-explicit to the implicit-symptomatic, i.e., from the obvious to the concealed and repressed.

Films are not random collections of signifiers, but rather dynamic sets of relations.

Five general principles are at work in a film's system:

1. Function: What is this element doing there? What other elements demand (i.e., motivate or justify) its presence?

2. Similarity/repetition: Here we concern ourselves with motifs = significantly repeated elements, items that recur, be they objects, bits of clothing, lines, places, gestures, etc.

3. Difference/variation: Elements do not only recur, they also show variety and serve to contrast with other elements. Differences, for instance, in tonality and texture. Different motifs (scenes, settings, actions, objects, and stylistic devices) may be repeated, but they seldom will be repeated exactly.

4. Development: To be aware of similarity and difference is to look for principles of development. Development = the patterning of similar and different elements.

5. Unity/disunity: If elements cohere strongly, we speak of a "tight" structure. There often remain, though, elements that stick out. Some films in fact make a systematic or structured use of disunity.

Source: David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction. 5th rev. ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1997.