Bayside Media

Production Elements are the technical aspects of film construction. check your notes for more details…

1. Camera - shot type, angle type, movement types and focus.
2. Lighting- naturalistic/ expressive/ high or low key/ dark or light/ coloured
3. Visual composition or mise en scene- frame construction/ foreground/ background/ focal point/ symbolism/ colour/set design/props etc
4. Sound- diegetic or non, dialogue/ music/ sound effects/voice over/ use of silence
5. Editing-sound or visual-edit types ( cuts, fades, dissolves), sequence of shots, frequency/ pace/ rhythm
6. Acting- expressive or naturalistic-appearance or costume. Characterisation or gestures and facial expression. Dialogue/ vocal delivery and pitch or tone of voice.
7. Film stock- film/ video, colour or B&W

Story Elements are the aspects of the text that build the narrative.

1. Opening and Closing sequences- set up the audience’s understanding of time, place, setting, mood, character, style and genre as well as setting up narrative possibilities/ resolution of narrative possibilities and storyline at the end of the film.
2. Narrative Possibilities-are used to engage the audience with a range of alternative paths in which the story might unfold. What choices will the characters make? How will they relate to each other etc
3. Setting-is used to reinforce the context of the narrative. Where the action unfolds is every bit as important as the action itself if the audience is to engage with the narrative.
4. Character- used to drive the narrative or cause the action to happen. Consider how each character is established, developed and what motivates them to make the choices they do.
5. Themes- are major ideas around which the narrative is based. Eg In a typical protagonist vs antagonist conflict, the underlying theme might be ‘good triumphant over evil’. Or another example could be in ‘Batman Returns’ a theme might be ‘gender issues’ as we see the ‘Catwoman’ character develop from an oppressed office assistant.
6. Structuring of Time-temporal order ( structuring of events, order, flashbacks and flashforwards), temporal duration ( manipulation of time through compression or expansion of time), temporal frequency ( the number of times an event or part of an event is shown) In this case the word ‘temporal’ means ‘film time’ or the use of time within the film….good word to use!
7. Cause and Effect-integral to film plot. Can involve the whole storyline (where the cause and effect (CE) structures the whole storyline such as genre texts like disaster films), partial storyline (where things happen to characters that will affect partial aspects of the storyline, like ’search for love’, ‘achievement of a goal’, ‘human mishap’, ‘hero journey’ [Batman and Spiderman]. Lastly can involve minor storylines ( eg the development of a minor character, or subplot. These events or characters do not affect the overall plot or storyline.
8. Point of View- Two meanings. Story element- the point of view from which the narrative is presented. Can be subjective ( presented from one character’s perspective), or objective ( no specific character’s is presented over another- the audience is a ‘fly on the wall’) Also can be omniscient- where the audience has more knowledge than the characters. Production element- POV refers to a shot that shows what the character is looking at.

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