FILM 1400 Chapter Notes - Chapter Week 6 (62-110, 466-9): Glinda The Good Witch, D. W. Griffith, Classical Hollywood Cinema
Document Summary
There is no absolute principles of form that all artists must follow, thus many of the principles of artistic form are matters of convention and culture. Each artwork tends to set up it own specific formal principles that vary from work to work. There are five general principles: function: Cinema form is the overall interrelation among various systems of elements, so we can assume that every element has one or more functions. In the wizard of oz, narrative requires dorothy to run away from home, so toto functions to trigger this action. Or, dorothy must seem completely different from the wicked witch, so costume, age, voice and other characteristics function to contrast the two. The concept of function does not always depend on the filmmaker"s intention, sometimes a filmmaker will unintentionally include an element that functions in the film. Functions of elements can be discovered when considering the element"s motivation.
