Narrative Form & Films Flashcards
The central cause behind a character’s actions.
Motivation
Dense accumulation of detail conveyed in the opening moments of a film.
Exposition
The details of a character’s past that emerge as the film unfolds.
Backstory
The written blueprint of film, composed of three elements: dialogue, sluglines, and description.
Screenplay
A screenplay written and submitted to a studio without a prior contract or agreement.
Spec script
The period of time before principal photography during which actors are signed, sets and costumes designed, and locations scouted.
Pre-production
The annotated script containing information about set-ups used during shooting.
Shooting script
The length in minutes for a film to play in its entirety.
Screen time
The non-chronological insertion of events from the past into the present day of the
story world
Flashbacks
When a character speaks directly to the camera and thus the audience
Direct address
The classical model of narrative form.
Three-act structure
The falling or unraveling action after climax of a narrative that leads to
resolution e.i FINALE.
Denouement
A characteristic of conventional narrative form, when the conclusion of the film wraps up all loose ends in a form of resolution.
Closure
A technique in which the audience temporarily shares the visual
perspective of a character(s).
A point-of-view shot
The non-chronological insertion of scenes of events YET to happen into the present day of the story world.
Flash forward
