TFM 160 EXAM #2 STUDY GUIDE
narrative - Answers - A fiction film. A movie that tells a story—with characters, places,
and events—that is conceived in the mind of the film's creator.
narration - Answers - The act of telling the story of the film.
narrator - Answers - Who or what tells the story of a film.
voice-over narration - Answers - Narration heard concurrently and over a scene but not
synchronized to any character who may be talking on the screen.
direct address narration - Answers - A form of narration in which an on-screen character
looks and speaks directly to the audience.
omniscient narration - Answers - Providing a third-person view of all aspects of a
movie's action or characters.
restricted narration - Answers - Providing a view from the perspective of a single
character.
round character - Answers - A complex character possessing numerous, subtle,
repressed, or contradictory traits. Round characters often develop over the course of a
story.
flat character - Answers - A relatively uncomplicated character exhibiting few distinct
traits. Flat characters do not change significantly as the story progresses.
protagonist - Answers - the leading character
antagonist - Answers - The character, creature, or force that obstructs or resists the
protagonist's pursuit of their goal.
anti-hero - Answers - An outwardly unsympathetic protagonist pursuing a morally
objectionable or otherwise undesirable goal.
inciting incident (catalyst) - Answers - The event or situation during the exposition stage
of the narrative that sets the rest of the narrative in motion.
rising action - Answers - The development of the action of the narrative toward a climax.
crisis - Answers - A critical turning point in a story in which the protagonist must engage
a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
, climax - Answers - The highest point of conflict in a conventional narrative; the
protagonist's ultimate attempt to attain the goal.
resolution - Answers - The concluding narrative events that follow the climax and
celebrate or otherwise reflect upon story outcomes.
story - Answers - In a movie, all the events we see or hear on the screen, and all the
events that are implicit or that we infer to have happened but that are not explicitly
presented.
plot - Answers - The specific actions and events that the filmmakers select and the
order in which they arrange those events and actions to effectively convey on-screen
the movie's narrative to a viewer.
diegesis - Answers - The total world of a story—the events, characters, objects,
settings, and sounds that form the world in which the story occurs.
diegetic element - Answers - An element—event, character, object, setting, sound—that
helps form the world in which the story occurs.
nondiegetic element - Answers - Something that we see and hear on the screen that
comes from outside the world of the story (including background music, titles and
credits, and voice-over narration)
story duration - Answers - The amount of time that the entire narrative arc of a movie's
story—whether explicitly presented on-screen or not—is implied to have taken to occur.
plot duration - Answers - The elapsed time of the events within a story that a film
chooses to tell.
screen duration - Answers - The amount of time that it has taken to present the movie's
plot on-screen, i.e., the movie's running time
surprise - Answers - A taking unawares that is potentially shocking.
suspense - Answers - The anxiety brought on by partial uncertainty: the end is certain,
but the means are not.
properties - Answers - Objects used to enhance a movie's mise-en-scène by providing
physical tokens of narrative information.
sound stage - Answers - A windowless, soundproofed, professional shooting
environment that is usually several stories high and can cover an acre or more of floor
space.
narrative - Answers - A fiction film. A movie that tells a story—with characters, places,
and events—that is conceived in the mind of the film's creator.
narration - Answers - The act of telling the story of the film.
narrator - Answers - Who or what tells the story of a film.
voice-over narration - Answers - Narration heard concurrently and over a scene but not
synchronized to any character who may be talking on the screen.
direct address narration - Answers - A form of narration in which an on-screen character
looks and speaks directly to the audience.
omniscient narration - Answers - Providing a third-person view of all aspects of a
movie's action or characters.
restricted narration - Answers - Providing a view from the perspective of a single
character.
round character - Answers - A complex character possessing numerous, subtle,
repressed, or contradictory traits. Round characters often develop over the course of a
story.
flat character - Answers - A relatively uncomplicated character exhibiting few distinct
traits. Flat characters do not change significantly as the story progresses.
protagonist - Answers - the leading character
antagonist - Answers - The character, creature, or force that obstructs or resists the
protagonist's pursuit of their goal.
anti-hero - Answers - An outwardly unsympathetic protagonist pursuing a morally
objectionable or otherwise undesirable goal.
inciting incident (catalyst) - Answers - The event or situation during the exposition stage
of the narrative that sets the rest of the narrative in motion.
rising action - Answers - The development of the action of the narrative toward a climax.
crisis - Answers - A critical turning point in a story in which the protagonist must engage
a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
, climax - Answers - The highest point of conflict in a conventional narrative; the
protagonist's ultimate attempt to attain the goal.
resolution - Answers - The concluding narrative events that follow the climax and
celebrate or otherwise reflect upon story outcomes.
story - Answers - In a movie, all the events we see or hear on the screen, and all the
events that are implicit or that we infer to have happened but that are not explicitly
presented.
plot - Answers - The specific actions and events that the filmmakers select and the
order in which they arrange those events and actions to effectively convey on-screen
the movie's narrative to a viewer.
diegesis - Answers - The total world of a story—the events, characters, objects,
settings, and sounds that form the world in which the story occurs.
diegetic element - Answers - An element—event, character, object, setting, sound—that
helps form the world in which the story occurs.
nondiegetic element - Answers - Something that we see and hear on the screen that
comes from outside the world of the story (including background music, titles and
credits, and voice-over narration)
story duration - Answers - The amount of time that the entire narrative arc of a movie's
story—whether explicitly presented on-screen or not—is implied to have taken to occur.
plot duration - Answers - The elapsed time of the events within a story that a film
chooses to tell.
screen duration - Answers - The amount of time that it has taken to present the movie's
plot on-screen, i.e., the movie's running time
surprise - Answers - A taking unawares that is potentially shocking.
suspense - Answers - The anxiety brought on by partial uncertainty: the end is certain,
but the means are not.
properties - Answers - Objects used to enhance a movie's mise-en-scène by providing
physical tokens of narrative information.
sound stage - Answers - A windowless, soundproofed, professional shooting
environment that is usually several stories high and can cover an acre or more of floor
space.
