Film Studies
Mr. Gillespie
Introduction to Film: Vocabulary
Close shot: generally shows the face and perhaps the shoulders.
Cinematography: The art or technique of movie photography, including both the shooting and development of the film.
Cutting {a.k.a. Editing}: The process of changing from one shot to another accomplished through the camera or by the splicing of shots together by thecutter (editor). This is also referred to as editing, the preferred term, andincludes the decisions, controls, sensibilities, vision and integrativecapabilities of the individual editing (cutting) artist.
Deep Focus : A technique in which objects very near the camera as well asthose far away are in focus at the same time.
Diegesis: In a narrative film, the world of the film's story. The diegesisincludes events that are presumed to have occurred and actions and spacesnot shown onscreen.
Diegetic sound: Any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented asoriginating from a source within the film's world.
Establishing Shot {a.k.a. "Master Shot"}: At the beginning of a film,episode or scene within a film, a wide-angle or "full-shot" is photographedfor the purpose of identifying the location or setting. Thus the audience hasestablished, or been given the opportunity to surmise an orientation. It alsohelps to establish the distinctions between the general locale and the specificdetails -- from subsequent shots -- within the general context. (TheEstablishing shot is a wide-angle shot and/or a long shot. )
Film Noir/ Noir : film with a gritty, urban setting that deals mainly withdark or violent passions in a downbeat way. Especially common during thelate 40's and early 50's.
Lighting : The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting have a profoundeffect on the way an image is perceived. Light (and shade) can emphasizetexture, shape, distance, mood, time of day or night, season, glamour; itaffects the way colors are rendered, both in terms of hue and depth, and canfocus attention on particular elements of the composition.
Locked-down Shot : refers to a camera shot in which the camera remains immobile, while something happens off-screen (e.g., an off-screen death) - atechnique to create suspense.
Long shot will: show the person's full body.
Low Angel Shot: a shot in which the subject is filmed directly from belowand the camera tilts up at the action or character, to make the subject appear larger than life, more formidable, taller and more menacing.
Looping : refers to the process in which dialogue is re-recorded by actors inthe studio during post-production, matching the actor's voice to lipmovements on screen; aka ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement);contrast with dubbing; loop refers to a length of film joined from beginningto end for repeated continuous running.
Magic Hour : the time between sunset and darkness that provides idealnatural light for photography.
Mask (or) Blackout: Refers to covering up or blocking out a portion of theframe with blackness or opaqueness; most masks are black, but they could be white or some other color
Medium shot: shows the person from the waist up
Mise en scène: A French term for "staging," or "putting into the scene or shot"; in film theory, it refers to all the elements placed (by the director) before the camera and within the frame of the film -- including their visualarrangement and composition; elements include settings, decor, props,actors, costumes, makeup, lighting, performances, and character movementsand positioning; lengthy, un-cut, unedited and uninterrupted sequences shotin real-time are often cited as examples of mise-en-scene.
Montage: A French word literally meaning "editing", "putting together" or "assembling shots"; refers to a filming technique, editing style, or form of movie collage consisting of a series of short shots or images that are rapidly put together into a coherent sequence to create a composite picture, or tosuggest meaning or a larger idea; in simple terms, the structure of editingwithin a film; a montage is usually not accompanied with dialogue;dissolves, cuts, fades, super-impositions, and wipes are often used to link theimages in a montage sequence; an accelerated montage is composed of shots of increasingly-shorter lengths.
Nondiegetic sound: Sound, such as mood music or narrator's commentary,represented as coming from a source outside the space of the narrative.
Pan : movement of the camera from left to right or right to left, revolvingaround an imaginary axis that runs through the camera.
shot/reverse shot editing : A pattern of editing which shows, first onecharacter and then a cut to a reverse shot that allows us a nearly oppositeview, typically another character who is talking or interacting with the first.Many scenes simply go back and forth between such shots until allsignificant dialogue has been spoken and the action has occurred.
Tracking Shot : any shot in which the camera moves from one point toanother either sideways, in, or out. Usually mounted on a dolly or hand-heldor shot with a Steadicam.
Two-shot : is one that features two characters equally.