Basic Film Theory

The main three elements of communication in cinema:

• Pictorial communication – what the spectator sees on the screen is not the action of the scene as it took place in front of the lens at the moment of shooting, but its optical interpretation as fixed on the final film 

Camera movements, camera angles, height, lights, colours, textures, image sizes, framing and its limits, sceneries, actions of the artists, etc.

• Textual communication (dialogues) – the dialogues or the speech must be economical and be balanced with other elements in the film; that the style employed by the dialogue writers must be light rapid and off hand; to match the quick movements of the actions and the cuts from speaker to speaker.

• Aural communication – sound is the means of giving life to the dead pictures. Sound was born in 1927 with the American film “Jazz singer” directed by A. Scotland (of USA). Before 1927 all films were silent. ( 324 words in the first film with sound)

Background music, effects, dialogues and commentaries (when recorded) are the elements of sound.