Rikki Weiss

To many, watching a movie means microwaving a bag of popcorn, breaking out a fuzzy blanket, and snuggling up on the couch.  The movie begins and you immediately get lost in the eyes of Ryan Reynolds in a sappy romantic comedy or fight back tears when Viola Davis says pretty much anything.  You choose which movie to watch based on a recommendation, or you choose a specific film because your favorite actor is the star.  But as you watch, enjoying each emotion, you may be so caught up in the story that you either forget or ignore all the magic that is filmmaking.  Well not to worry because I’m here to give you some information on film aesthetics, terms, and production!  So, next time you’re at home with friends and family indulging in a longtime favorite or a new release, you can drop some of these facts and blow everyone’s minds!

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Plot vs. Story

A film’s 'story' consists of all of the events depicted and implied on screen during the film’s running time.  For example, everything you see happen on screen is part of the story, but so is everything the characters discuss that you don’t see.  This includes past events, past relationships, and more.  In contrast, a film’s 'plot' consists of all of the events depicted on screen during the film’s running time (same as the story) plus the events in the movie that are presented for the audience, but not part of the world that characters inhabit.  For example, credits are information for us, the audience, but not for the characters on screen.  Therefore, this is part of the plot, not the story.  I know this can seem tricky; to sum it up, the plot and story both consist of the events that the audience watch happen on screen.  In addition to that, the plot includes information for the audience that the film’s characters are not exposed to.  The story includes the information the characters discuss, but that the audience can’t see.  A film’s narrative consists of BOTH the plot and story!  

Let me give you some food for thought.  You’re watching a movie and the protagonist goes through his morning routine and we, the audience, get to see it all happen.  He gets out of bed, brushes his teeth, combs his hair, and maybe grabs a smoothie down the street.  These are all part of the film’s story AND plot because we're watching everything happen right in front of us.  Since this is the opening of the film, there may be some of the actor’s names floating across the screen along with an opening song.  These aspects would be part of the plot and not the story because the characters cannot see and are unaware of the words and songs that the audience can see and hear.  If he, the protagonist, runs into a friend at the smoothie shop and they begin to casually discuss their previous romance and that time they went on vacation to Bora Bora, then the romance and vacation is part of the story and not the plot.  This is because, although the events took place, the audience was not there to witness it during the film’s running time.  This doesn’t mean the event is untrue or that it didn’t happen, it just means that these events are part of the film’s story and not the plot.

Diegetic vs. Non-diegetic Elements

Diegetic elements in a film are things that are part of the film’s fictional world.  Diegetic sound refers to noises or music that the characters can hear as well as the audience.  For example, anything that can be sensed by the fictional characters (seen or heard) is labeled diegetic.  So, if one character in the film is playing the trumpet and the other characters are dancing to the music, the sound is categorized as diegetic because the trumpet song is part of the characters' fictional world.  Non-diegetic is just the opposite.  Non-diegetic elements are just for the audience and cannot be sensed by the characters in the film’s fictional world.  For example, a film’s credits and the music during the credits is non-diegetic because the characters can’t hear the music or read the credits.  Remember, these non-diegetic elements are part of the plot, but NOT the story!  

Screen, Plot, and Story Duration

Screen duration refers to the running time of a film.  For example, a film’s run time can vary, as some films are only 90 minutes, while others are as long as three hours.  Plot duration refers to how much time passes within the fictional world from the beginning of the narration to the end.  If a character is stuck on a deserted island for one week and that is how much time passes throughout the film, then the plot duration is one week.  Lastly, story duration includes how much time goes by within the story, including implied events within the film or events discussed by the film’s characters.  Even though a film's plot duration is only one week, its story duration could be many years because the story encompasses more details than what the audience sees on screen.  So if the character that is stuck on the deserted island has a limp which he says is due to an accident that happened two decades ago on a fishing trip, this would make the story duration extremely long, dating back to that fishing trip.  

Range of Story Information and Depth of Story Information

A film’s range of story information is how much we, the audience, know and when the information is presented to us.  This information is measured on a scale of restricted to unrestricted.  Restricted information means that we are getting all of our information from one character’s perspective.  Unrestricted information is omniscient, meaning that the audience knows everything at all times. The common Hitchcockian example used to explain this concept is the ‘bomb under the table’ analogy.  If there is a bomb under the table and the audience can see it, it is suspenseful because we are anticipating the bomb’s explosion.  Perhaps we saw someone place it there or the camera slowly pans under the table to expose the ticking bomb.  In this instance, the range of story information is unrestricted.  If there is a bomb under the table and the audience can’t see it, the explosion will be a surprise to both us, and the other characters.  This surprise classifies the story information as restricted because we are aligned with the perspective of a character that is unaware of the bomb.  Both of us, the audience and the character, would have been surprised by the bomb explosion and would have seen it happen at the same exact time.  In this case, we aren’t privy to any information that the character is unaware of, like the bomb.  

The depth of story information refers to how closely aligned we, the audience, are to a character’s perceptual and psychological states.  This depth ranges from subjective to objective.  A subjective depth of story information means that the audience has access to the character’s subjectivity.  This refers to the character’s dreams, vision, and thoughts.  An example of this is if a character is teetering as they walk because they’re drunk and the camera moves along with their motion.  This allows the audience to enter the drunk character’s subjectivity.  An objective depth of story information refers to the distance between the audience and the character’s subjectivity.  We are not aligned with their feelings or thoughts. We are not seeing things as they see it, but instead as an objective bystander.

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Mise-en-scène refers to every visual component of the film, including everything we see in the frame.

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Mise-en-scène

This funky word is French for ‘to put in a scene.’  This refers to every visual component of the film, including everything we see in the frame.  Setting, costume and makeup, lighting, and location are all aspects of mise-en-scene along with character placement, framing, composition and more.  Filmmakers use certain elements of mise-en-scene to achieve realist or expressionist aesthetics.  A collaboration between art directors, production designers, makeup artists, cinematographers, and visual directors creates a film’s unique mise-en-scene.  

For example, one might say director Wes Anderson has a specific, beautiful, and characteristic way of storytelling.  He can be referred to as an ‘auteur’ (a filmmaker or director whose influence and individual style is so unique and obvious that the filmmaker is awarded this title.)  It's easy to label a film as an Anderson masterpiece even without knowing he directed it.  The mise-en-scene in Moonrise Kingdom, Isle of Dogs, and The Grand Budapest Hotel are  absolutely stunning.  Anderson uses symmetry and a vibrant color palette and actually focuses so intensely on small details which can be noted in each film.  The way lighting is used and manipulated is unique to Anderson’s style, along with costume design.  The objects in the scenes successfully convey different time periods.  It is impossible for a film to be devoid of mise-en-scene.  Although ‘mise-en-scène’ is fun to say, it isn’t a term that producers and directors throw around daily.  It’s more of a gaudy film analysis term!

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I think that’s enough film jargon for one post!  If you’re interested in learning more with an in-depth explanation, you may want to purchase Film Art: An Introduction.  This is the textbook that I used in my Intro to Film course and found it extremely helpful.  Surprisingly, it is NOT another boring textbook. You can purchase or rent this book on Amazon here.

 

Rikki is a current student at Emory University.  There, she focuses on Creative Writing and Film Studies.  She is an avid fan of Margot Robbie and Tina Fey and dreams of one day becoming a famous screenwriter.  

 

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