4The Biopic and the Historical Drama — Any story, even a life story, can be told in many different ways. The best biopics—that is, biographical pictures—and the best historical dramas balance fact, history, and reality with fiction, story, and art.

4Evolution of Narrative Form — The earliest films were single shots of contained action: a sneeze, a kiss, a few minutes from a boxing match. Both the novelty of recording and then projecting objects and people in motion and the limitations of the early motion picture technology prompted early filmmakers to create hundreds of short films that did nothing more than offer up single actions in single takes. Nickelodeons offered individual viewers films as short as a minute or two.

4Form and Expectations — Part of the pleasure of watching films derives from audiences' participation in a game of expectations. Audiences base these expectations on a collective body of knowledge—knowledge of the world, of human behavior, and of the way stories work.

4Story, Plot, and Time in Film — One of the more risky things a filmmaker can do is to rearrange the order of plot events. The filmmaker who radically rearranges events risks bewildering viewers, who may fail to construct a "story" from the fractured plot they are presented with, or who may find the whole viewing experience less than compelling.

4Movies and Morality — Over the years, movies have been censored for many reasons, from supposed blasphemy or controversial political content to extreme sexuality or intense violence. The history of film censorship in the United States can be divided into three main eras: pre-code (1930–34), the Production Code (1934–68), and the rating system (1968–present).