Bringing the Screen to Life: Key to Success in Storytelling in Films

HUMANIORA – (17/7/2024) In the world of filmmaking, understanding the elements that make up a film's story is key to creating a captivating and engaging work for the audience. A film is not just about the storyline but also about how characters are brought to life, the settings built, scenes designed, and the music accompanying each moment. Additionally, the quality of acting, camera movements, and other technical elements contribute to creating a deep cinematic experience. By paying attention to all these aspects, a filmmaker can craft a strong, emotional, and unforgettable narrative, making every detail important to understand and apply carefully.

This was conveyed by the CEO of Raya Media Creative and Director of LSP Digital Design Singhasari Malang, Novin Wibowo, S.Sos., M.Si., during a Practical Fieldwork Preparation (PKL) activity held in the theater room of the Faculty of Humanities, UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, on July 3, 2024.

On this occasion, Novin delivered important material on cinematography for students of the Faculty of Humanities who will undergo PKL in the field of cinematography. The presentation focused on narrative and cinematic elements that are the main foundation in creating an interesting and quality film. He emphasized that understanding both narrative and cinematic elements is crucial to comprehensively and deeply understanding a film.

Novin explained that narrative elements are related to the material or content to be processed in the film story. According to him, narrative elements include aspects such as story setting, time sequence, time duration, time frequency, characters, and conflict.

Furthermore, Novin also explained the cinematic elements in a film. These elements are the way or style in which a film is crafted. These elements include several aspects, including mise en scene, cinematography, editing, and sound.

According to Novin, Mise en Scene includes everything visible in a film frame, such as setting, actors, blocking, costumes, and lighting, while cinematography is related to the technique of taking and combining shots to form a story, including framing, zooming, exposure, lighting arrangements, composition, camera movement, camera angles, film and lens selection, focus, color, filter use, and depth of field.

Regarding editing, the process involves cutting and connecting pieces of footage to form a complete and understandable story. There are two editing processes: offline and online, and sound brings life to the film, with sound quality significantly influencing the final result of the film.

Regarding Story Structure and Premise Development, Novin also reviewed the story structure or plot, focusing on the three-act structure that forms the foundation for crafting a good screenplay for a fiction film. This structure includes character introduction, storyline, conflict, climax, and resolution. He emphasized the importance of suspense as a dramatic element in the screenplay.

Concluding his presentation, Novin shared tips on developing a premise into a more complex story idea. He encouraged participants to develop a premise from one sentence to a maximum of 4-7 sentences that include the character and their attributes, problem description, and actions the main character must take.

This PKL preparation activity is expected to provide students with a deep understanding of the importance of narrative and cinematic elements in developing a quality film industry. Novin hopes that PKL participants can apply these concepts in their practice, thereby making a tangible contribution to the development of the creative industry in Indonesia. [al]