FILMMAKING

For Grade 10 LSIS Students – 2nd Quarter

I. VISUAL AND SOUND SYMBOLISM

The Filmmaker’s Intended Meaning

Repetition
One way to create a symbol is to show an object over and over again. The filmmaker is telling the
audience to pay attention to this detail; it is important.

Association
An association is a relationship between two or more people or things. A second way to create a symbol
and to suggest meaning is to link an object with a person, suggesting a relationship between them.

Sound Emphasis
Sound effects and music can also suggest meaning. Creaking steps, howling winds, the cry of an animal
can all create reactions in the audience.

Visual Emphasis
A filmmaker can create symbolism by using color, light, and camera distances. Colors suggest meaning
as do bright or dark lighting. Also, by moving the camera close to a person or object, the filmmaker is
again telling the audience to “pay attention; this is important.”

II. A FILM’S NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

There are two ways to study a story told cinematically. One is to focus on the story, or what happens
and why. The other is to focus on the film’s narrative structure. Narrative structure is the order in which
a story unfolds on the screen. In a majority of feature films, scenes are grouped into three acts. Act 1 is
exposition, or the setup of time, place, and character. This information is necessary for us to understand
the action that will develop in act 2 as well as the resolution of the conflicts in Act 3. While not every
film follows this three-act formula, the activities in this lesson explore this formula in some detail.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Content
The story’s content is what happens to whom and why. This involves identifying basic story elements
present in all narratives — character, setting, conflict, plot, and theme.
Narrative Structure
The story’s narrative structure is how the story is told or how it is presented on the screen. This involves
analyzing how the filmmaker shows the characters, settings, conflict, plot, or theme.

VOICE-OVER NARRATION
Voice-over narration is a person speaking during a shot in a film when not present on screen. VO is not a
basic story element, such as character is. Rather it is a narrative-structure technique. It is one way to
present important information to the audience without actually showing that action or person.

THE IMPORTANCE OF OPENING CREDITS

Opening credits have two purposes. One is to suggest the story’s content — its characters, setting,
conflict, theme. The second purpose of opening credits is to give credit to the filmmakers who
collaborated to create the story.

VOICE NARRATION

Voice-over narration is a filmmaking technique that provides important information about a character,
setting, or action in the story. The narrator speaks during the shot but does not appear on the screen.

A. ACT 1 – EXPOSITORY SCENES

Exposition provides background information that is necessary for the audience to understand the
motivation of a character or characters in the story.

Exposition is background information about a person, a place, or a thing. This information is useful to
understanding a character’s personality and/or motivation. Although the information may seem minor
at first — and it usually is — exposition helps audiences understand the story’s conflict.

Act 1
This is the beginning of a film. During this act, the audience meets characters and understands both the
time and place of the story.

Meet the Characters

Inciting Incident
The inciting incident is an event that triggers a domino-like effect, setting in motion the action that will
occur later in the story. It is a single plot action that will change the lives of the main characters.

Dramatize, Don’t Explain

B. ACT 2 – RISING ACTION

Act 2 of a film shows the cause-and-effect events that lead to the climax, or turning point.
Act 2
The second act presents the rising action. Rising suggests events that follow one after the other, building
in suspense.

Cause-Effect Event
This is an action that triggers a reaction or another event. A story can have many cause-effect events.
Taken together, these building blocks form the film’s plot.

Climax
Also called the turning point, this is the most dramatic moment in the story. The climax triggers a
significant insight or a change in one or more of the main characters. The climax is also part of the
story’s plot.

C. ACT 3 – CONFLICT RESOLUTION

The final act in a film is the resolution. All conflicts are resolved, if only for the time being, and the main
characters are somehow changed by the events that have occurred.

Act 3
The third act is the final one in a film’s narrative structure. Act 3 has two important elements:

Falling Action
This is comprised of all the events that occur after the climax until the story’s end.

Resolution
The resolution is the outcome of the events that occurred. Sometimes the solution to a conflict is
positive. Sometimes it is negative. Often the solution to a conflict is not stated directly but rather
implied through visual and sound symbols. By the end of the story, the main characters have changed
somewhat. Either they have changed personally, or their view of others or the world has changed
significantly.

“If you love cinema, you love people. Because cinema is about people — all cinema is about who we are
as human beings.”