1. Chapter 2: Narrative

2. Form and Content
Content: the subject of an artwork
Form: The means by which the subject is
expressed

3. Persistence of Vision
• The process by which the human brain retains
an image by which the human brain retains an
image for a fraction of second longer than the
eye records it

4. Phi Phenomenon
• The illusion of movement created by events
that succeed each other rapidly, as when
adjacent lights flash on and off alternately and
we seem to see a single light shifting back and
forth.

5. Critical Flicker Fusion
• Occurs when a single light flickers on and off
with such speed that the individual pulses of
light fuse together to give the illusion of
continuous light.

6. Scene
• A complete unit of plot action incorporating
one or more shots in a certain

7. Sequence
• A series of scenes.

8. Realism
• An interest in or concern for the actual or
real, a tendency to represent things as they
really are….

9. Antirealism
• An interest in or concern for the
abstract, speculative or fantastic

10. Cinematic Language
• Accepted systems, methods or conventions by
which movies communicate to the viewer

11. What is the ‘text of a film?”
• The ‘text’ of the film is the application of your
understanding of cinematic language

12. Verisimilitude
• A convincing appearance of truth

13. Drama
This is also the anatomy of a scene: the protagonist is in
trouble, he/she must figure a way out of it, they find a solution, fail
or the problem is irrelevant to the story.
Drama is conflict, and the most important element of conflict is
change. A story is not just about people living their lives. That
would be boring. There has to be something pulling, tugging away
at the status quo.
There is drama in everyone's life, and in just about every situation.
In a film, it starts with a one (or two) person(s) with one central
problem, and every scene and every act is made up of little changes
that prevent the problem from being solved. The action can’t
remain static. This is drama.

14. All good stories have a problem that needs a
solution. Most often the protagonist tells us
what the problem is in one way or another
and other players either help them solve it or
get in the way. Scenes make for good drama.
Drama is conflict. Good drama makes for good
cinema. It keeps us watching and waiting for
the ending. Predictable endings bore us.
Tangential dialog is entertaining but leaves
something to be desired. Satisfying solutions
with a twist keep us coming back for more.
Those are the movies that become classics.

15. When you look at film and seek to offer a
critique, you do so based on a set of subjective
criterion. How do you judge films?
There is personal preference and evaluative
judgement.
• Personal preference is what it sounds like—the
kind of film you go to see.
• Evaluative judgment looks at a film on the merits
of its form, and doesn’t make a qualitative
statement based on attitudes about the work or
genre.

16. Types of criterion
• Moral: What message is there in the film, if any?
• Realistic: Is it believeable, in context?
• Coherence: Does the plot stick together?
• Intensity: Does it build to a meangful, satisfying
climax
• Complexity: Does this movie have twist and
turns? Does it have too many?
• Orginality: Is the storyline fresh?

17. Two different kinds of evaluation:
Form and Function
• Are all the part of the film –the
cinematography, the acting, the script, the
light—forming a good movie?
• Do they all function well on their own merit?
• e.g. is the script good
• are the actors pulling their lines well
• is the lighting appropriate
• Are the scenes blocked out well?

18. The Wizardy of the Three Acts
Although there are many divergent theories about the construct of
drama, Aristotle’s Poetics is the best guide for dramatic story telling.
Aristotle writes that every drama, like life, has as beginning, middle and
end. We call this the Three Act Structure.
• ACT I: Something happens, called an inciting incident
• ACT II: A solution is sought
• ACT III: there is a resolve, it is unresolved or deemed irrelevant.
One of the best films to illustrate the Three Act Structure is The Wizard of
Oz. Oz is based on a screenplay written by Noel Langley and Florence
Ryerson and adapted from the children’s novel by author L. Frank Baum.
So let's break down this film intro three acts.

19. Wizard of Oz-ACT I
A young Dorothy Gale decides to run away
from her boring Kansas farm life in search of
something better. Before she can, she’s caught
up in a tornado. She lands in Munchkin land
and takes out a witch. She becomes a
reluctant hero and possible target of revenge
by another witch.

20. Wizard of Oz –ACT 2
Dorothy decides she needs to get home, but is
informed that no one can help her but the
Wizard. So she must go find The Wizard. While on
the way there, she meets three compatriots and
encounters various obstacles thrown her way by
the witch. At one point, her compatriots are
disabled, her dog is taken away, and she has
nothing left. She meets with the Wizard who will
do her a favor if she completes an impossible
task. Dorothy completes the task with the help of
friends and returns to collect her favor

21. Wizard of Oz – ACT 3
Dorothy finds out the Wizard is a fake and she
may never get back home, and that none of her
friends will get what they need either. The Wizard
provides the friends with tokens that embolden
them and remind them of tasks they completed
that required many of the qualities they thought
they needed. A “good witch” then appears and
tells Dorothy that theing she needed was always
inside her all along: that she only need believe.
Dorothy wakes up in the home she left happy to
be around the ones she loves, happy with her
simple way of life.

22. CLASS ASSIGNMENT #1 –
THREE ACT BREAKDOWN
Please find your assignment under the
“HOMEWORK” button, in the “Writing
Assignement” folder.