Form

Question 1

function

Answer 1

• elements fulfill functions
• motivation: justification for actions/choices
• motivation-functions

Question 2

similarity and repetition

Answer 2

• motifs-parallelism

- reappear at climaxes/emotional moment

Question 3

parallelism

Answer 3

-compare two elements, showing similarity

Question 4

motif

Answer 4

-significant repeated element

Question 5

difference and variation

Answer 5

• variations: changes
• variation in repeated motifs
• parallelism needs differences
• look for similarities + differences

Question 6

development

Answer 6

• films narrate change
• progression, usually beginning-end
• segmentation: breakdown outline of parts/scenes
• allows us to see patterning
• compare beginning+end
• process shapes our experience

Question 7

unity/disunity

Answer 7

• logical, clear, no gaps in story
• sense of completeness
• disunity: unresolved narrative
• sometimes has purpose + thematic meanings

Question 8

formal analysis

Answer 8

-mode of analysis that we will practice regularly throughout this course, assumes an active perceiver and a work of art that provides cues

Question 9

meanings

Answer 9

• created in the interaction between film and viewer
• 4 levels
• films convey ideas + opinions
• we attribute meanings

Question 10

film form

Answer 10

• the overall set of relationships among a film’s parts
• various parts that comprise a work of art are ordered in some way
• content takes shape through form
• how parts work independently + together to produce meaning
• emotional response to pattern

Question 11

filmic conventions

Answer 11

• ensure the mass legibility of cinema
• recurrent, normative, common traits
• shape expectations
• unites audience
• produce experience/communicate idea
• relate to experience/knowledge

Question 12

narrative system

Answer 12

-characters, situations

Question 13

stylistic system

Answer 13

• technical choices

- look, sound, feel

Question 14

formal expectations

Answer 14

• filmmakers shape expectations
• suspense: delay expectation
• surprise: incorrect expectation
• can be disturbing/disorienting

Question 15

Form and Feeling

Answer 15

• emotion in film plays role
• can create new responses
• engage feelings

Question 16

Referential Meaning

Answer 16

-refers to thing/places with significance in real world

Question 17

Explicit Meaning

Answer 17

• controlled by context (direct)

- compare meaningful parts

Question 18

implicit meaning

Answer 18

• indirect meaning
• interpretations are different
• thematic meanings shaped by form

Question 19

symptomatic meaning

Answer 19

• ideology (set of values)

- beliefs of culture

Question 20

evaluation

Answer 20

• personal taste vs. evaluative judgement
• critics use criteria
• coherence(unity), intensity of effect, complexity, originality
• weigh one against another