Inner and Outer Forms

In this post I am going to look at the Inner and Outer forms of the following three genres; Sci-Fi, Horror, and Rom-Com.


The inner form of a film is:
Themes, Morals, Messages, Characters, and Typical Storyline.

The outer form of a film is:
Location, Mise-en-scene, Colours, and Marketing (ie film posters).

Some examples of short films with their inner and outer forms:


1. PORTAL- SCIENCE FICTION
A woman, named Chell, wakes up in a testing facility with no memory of how she got there. The one thing on her mind, escape. -IMDB

This sci-fi film is based on the game Portal.

In terms of inner forms:

• Themes; time travel, parallel universes, and extra-terrestrial life
• Morals: face danger
• Messages: fight
• Characters: female protagonist is as capable as traditionally seen males
• Typical Storyline: protagonist wakes up in empty room, fights to get out

And outer forms:

• Location: empty cell, somewhere unknown
• Mise-en-scene: dark shading, dark colours contrasted against vibrant bright white lights or neon lighting, futuristic technology that is unique to the film and its plot and is therefore identified with that film; an example of this is lightsabers in Star Wars.
• Marketing: similarly to the mise-en-scene, bright lighting is used against a dark background to highlight the aspects worth seeing.

2. THE RED BALLOON- HORROR

In terms of inner forms:

• Themes: Murder, stalking, anything out-of-the-ordinary or supernatural
• Characters: an innocent and naive victim, often children as it plays on their fears- such as clowns, or the dark.
• Morals: facing fears
• Typical storyline: relatable protagonist to the audience- creates a personal link with the audience and therefore scarier because they can imagine it could happen to them- that gets kidnapped, beaten, or even killed.

And outer forms:

• Location: Apocalyptic settings, abandoned buildings, fairgrounds
• Mise-en-scene: Tension buildup, dim lighting, sound effects such as drips ((from blood or water leakage)), weapons such as knives or axes, shadows
• Marketing: Lots of symbols- such as red lettering for blood, a dark background to represent the dim lighting, etc.

3. SIGNS- ROMANTIC COMEDY

In terms of inner forms:

• Themes: love at first sight, chance meetings, reunions
• Characters: two lovers, often polar opposites, usually a man and a woman
• Typical storyline: two people meet and fall in love, cross obstacles along the way to their plan or dream

And outer forms:

• Location: city, countryside, family gathering
• Mise-en-scene: bright colours, exaggerated beauty of location, meeting each other surrounded by people-paused scene used for love at first sight
• Marketing: multicoloured to create a friendly feel,white background to make it brighter and more lighthearted, usually features the main characters on the front to show the love story