According to Ferdinand de Saussure, words have no intrinsic surface meaning, for the meanings of such words can only be ascertained by virtue of the relation between a word's difference from all other words. Meaning, you cannot identify the meaning of a single word, without the next word. Words need to have pattern in order to generate the complete thought of that word. That theory in the language system is similar to the structuralism theory in film.
We can generate that a single shot cannot have an entirely complete thought without the next succeeding shots. They are connected together in order to have a meaning. For example, a combination of shots can create an idea. Even if there is no meaning given to the scene, the sequencing or the editing of the shots, generates meaning to it. One particular example in this theory is how it is used in the film entitled "the birds". They used the system of editing known as alternation or parallel montage. It creates shots that shows Melanie seeing vs what Melanie sees.
Although it is not narrated in the film that Melanie is being attacked by birds, the shots in the film are enough to give idea that Melanie is being attacked by birds.
Take a look at this video to see the alternation editing in this scene.
In line also with structuralism, it is more difficult to understand what they call in cahiers "structuring absences". Films connected to politics, slavery and sexuality are usually the elements that are covered here. Every sign contain not only positive meaning, but also negative connotative meaning. Structuring absences is part of a subtext. In psychoanalytic film theory, the cinema, functioning as a representation of the imaginary, makes what is absent, or repressed, present.
Structuralism over all is a theory in film that seeks to understand and uncover the deep structures of film. The meaning of the film are constructed by the system of differences between shots.
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