Art of Film Final

Melodrama

"Drama with music" in the original Greek coinage, the term is now applies to any kind of narrative with oversimplified characterization, sensational action, emotional excess, and an improbably happy ending. Is not very true to life, but very much "over the top"

Implicit Meaning

"Hidden Meanings"- The film suggests or implies its meaning without directly stating it for the viewer. Example: An adolescent who must soon face the adult world yearns for a return to the simpler world of childhood, but she eventually accepts the demands of growing up.

Referential Meaning

"Inferring"- Depends on the viewer's ability to recognize specific references to things or places which already have significance. Example: During the Depression, a tornado takes a girl from her family's Kansas farm to the mythical land of Oz. After a series of adventures, she returns home.

Third Person Point Of View

(He, She, They). A narrator who is not a character or participant in the story tells it. Example: "The man and woman saw the car approaching."

First Person Point Of View

(I, We). A character who has participated in or observed the action of the story gives us an eyewitness or first-hand account of what happened and his or her responses to it. Example: "I looked down the road and saw the car approaching."

Frame

1) A single photograph on a strip of motion picture film 2) The outside border of the screen image within which shots are composed.

Overlapping

1) An editing technique which prolongs the time of an action by joining together several shots of the action from different angles, or by using cut-aways to allow repetition of parts of the action covered in previous shots. 2) A technique of sound editing which continues sound from one shot into a following shot where it does not belong, or which anticipates a shot by introducing its sound prematurely in the previous shot.

Focus

1) As a noun, the degree of sharpness and clarity in a photographic image. "Out of focus" means that the image is blurred, while "soft focus" refers to an image left slightly unfocused on purpose, probably for romantic effect. 2) As a verb, to adjust the focal distance of a lens in order to produce a clearly defined image; to call attention to an object by focusing on it.

Four Principal Methods of Charging Symbols

1. Repetition 2. Value Placed on an Object by a Character 3. Context 4. Special Visual, Aural, or Musical Emphasis.

Shot/Reverse Shot (Shot/Counter Shot)

A basic figure or pattern in continuity editing. In one shot we see a character looking at something off-screen; in the next shot, we see what the character is looking at. Usually these two shots are followed by a third, a reaction shot, which returns us to the character as shown in shot one. This does not necessitate a point of view shot, however when a character opens a door and enters a new space, a reserve shot will usually occur. moving us from one side of the door to the other.

Genre

A category or type of film which audiences and filmmakers recognize by its established narrative conventions. Common American genres; musical, western, and the gangster film, each of which has familiar generic conventions.

Fade

A common optical transition, usually marking a change of scene, a lapse of time, or both.

Fade-In

A completely black screen gradually brightens to reveal the beginning of a shot

Complication

A conflict or disequilibrium, begins and grows in clarity, intensity, and importance

Back Projection (Rear Projection)

A cost-saving process that combines foreground action filmed in the studio with background action filmed earlier and projected from behind a translucent screen. Conversations in moving vehicles, for example, are often shot in the studio in front of a back projected view of the passing traffic and scenery.

Match Cut

A cut in which an object or shape in the outgoing shot "matches" a similar object or shape in the incoming shot. Sometimes it simply involves a like object used to bridge a jump cut.

Match on Action

A cut in which occurs in the middle of a gesture or movement, with the result that the cut is less noticeable and the movement seems to continue without interruption.

Jump Cut

A cut which sharply breaks continuity by jumping forward abruptly in time; a direct cut from one shot to the next with no concern for smoothness of transition. Typically involves match cuts.

Symbol

A figurative device by which an object, event, or technique takes on a significance in addition to its literal meaning. A raging fire, for examples, often symbolizes sexual passion

Shooting Script

A film plot that has been broken down into serially numbered shots with basic camera directions

Period Film

A film set in the past, even the slightest anachronism may be jarring

Filter

A framed piece of glass, gauze, or plastic gel placed in front of the camera lens to affect the quality of the light entering the camera and alter the tonal and/or color values of the event being filmed. Shots or scenes filmed in full daylight, for example, may be filtered and underexposed to produce the illusion of night, referred to as "day-for-night" shooting.

Screenplay

A fully developed script that includes dialogue and a basic description of the scenes, characters, and action of a film plot. Primarily for reading, it will usually include transitions such as cuts, fades, and dissolves. It may provide some indication of specific shots. In most cases, it provides only a blue print for the film's more technically detailed shooting script.

Lens (Normal Lens)

A ground or molded piece of glass or other transparent material through which light is refracted onto the film stock inside a camera.

Steadicam

A lightweight, portable camera stabilization system introduced in the 1970's that makes it possible for handheld camera shots to be done smoothly and steadily.

Boom

A long mechanical arm that suspends a microphone over the source of sound and can be moved to follow it.

Classical Style

A method of narrative filmmaking that took shape early in the history of the American studio system and has dominated worldwide film production ever since. In terms of plot, typically focuses on one or more characters who attempt to achieve a clear-cut goal, often before a deadline, against an opposing force that creates conflict.

Dolly Shot

A mobile camera shot taken with the camera mounted on a dolly, a vehicle with wheels that supports the camera and can move backwards, forwards, or sideways during the shot.

Irony

A mode of expression in which the implied attitude is the opposite of the one being stated, as when on a dismally rainy day one might remark to a friend, "Nice weather we're having" Can be subtle or complicated.

Crane Shot

A moving camera shot taken from a heavy mechanical arm suspended above the action and capable of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal movement.

Allegory

A narrative in which the characters and situations represents abstract ideas.

Parable

A narrative, usually short, designed to illustrate a moral point or general truth. The Bible is an example

Slow Motion

A person or moving object filmed at a faster speed that the normal 24 frames per second will appear to move more slowly when the film is projected at a normal speed. Generally tends to emphasize gracefulness of movement, although it has also become a commonplace way of depicting moments of violence.

Re-Establishing Shot

A return to a wider or longer view of a scene after a sequence of closer shots following an establishing shot. Are often employed when characters change positions on the screen or a new character enters the scene. Their main function in the classical style is to remind the viewer of the overall spatial context and to clarify the position of the characters within it.

Over-the-Shoulder Shot

A shot commonly used in conversation scenes in which the speaker is seen from the perspective of a person standing just behind and a little to one side of the listener, so that part of the head and shoulder of the listen are visible at the side of the screen.

Gyrosphere

A shot created by a helicopter mounts with gyroscopic stabilizer

Stock Shot (Library Shot)

A shot drawn from a film library and cut into a film. Shots of city skylines, airplanes taking off or landing, establishing shots for familiar landmarks, crowd scenes, war footage, and the like are often inserted into movies to save the cost of filming them.

Fade-Out

A shot gradually darkens until the screen is completely black. In some cases, brightens to white or another color

Close Up Shot

A shot in which the camera is positioned very close to the object being photographed. Applied to a character, a view restricted to the face, or to the hand.

Long Shot

A shot in which the person or object being photographed is fairly distant from the camera

Process Shot

A shot involving the combination of two or more separate images into one "composite" shot, or the creation of special effects via processing of film in the laboratory. Some classical examples of process shots are Back Projection, glass shot, and matte shot.

Glass Shot

A shot made by shooting through a pane of glass on which have been painted (or photographically printed) objects or elements of setting meant to blend in with the actual set behind the glass. For example, the long shots of the city of Oz in "The Wizard of Oz"

Medium Shot

A shot of a character or characters from the knees or waist up.

Reaction Shot

A shot of a character reacting to the content of the preceding shot.

Sequence Shots

A shot of considerable length which shows an entire action or scene without cuts and which usually employs complex camera and/or character movement. The business of coordinating these movements- that is, the blocking of both the characters and the camera- is often referred to as the choreography of the shot.

Traveling Shot

A shot taken from a moving vehicle. Camera is usually motivated by a character or an object in motion, although suspense directors will sometimes track in or pull back from a character or an object. Camera will be mounted on a car that moved on rails.

Zoom Shot

A shot taken with the aid of a zoom lens, enabling the filmmaker to move from a more distant wide-angle shot to a closer telephoto shot (or vice versa) without changing the position of the camera.

Long Take

A shot that continues for an unusually long time before a cut to the next shot. Not to be confused with a long shot, which refers to camera distance rather than shot duration. A sequence inevitably involves a long take, but not all long takes are sequence shots.

Long Take

A shot that continues for an unusually long time before a cut to the next shot. Not to be confused with a long shot. A sequence shot inevitably involves a long take, but not all long takes are sequence shots.

Cut Away

A shot that cuts from the main action to a different action or to a detail somehow related to the main action. Within a scene, it is often used to manipulate time.

Extreme Long Shot

A shot that is taken from a great distance away and offers us a panoramic view of a city, landscape, or large crowd of people.

Point of View Shot

A shot that is taken from the viewpoint of a character, so that we see what the character is seeing.

Point of View Shot (Subjective Shot)

A shot that is taken from the viewpoint of a character, so that we see what the character is seeing. It is a fundamental to the classical style, for such shots can be attributed to a source within the story rather than seeming to be "shown" to us by the filmmakers

Long Shot

A shot that shows the main object at a considerable distance from the camera and in relation to the general surroundings.

Medium Shot

A shot that shows us a character or characters from the waist or knees up.

Reverse Angle Shot

A shot which photographs a character or an object from a point of view opposite to that of the previous shot. The camera seems to have swung around a semicircle so that it faces the subject from the opposite direction Often used to relate two people in conversation

Insert

A shot, usually a close-up, edited into a film after principal shooting has been completed. Shots showing the hands of the characters signing contracts, holding books or letters, and other such inserts are often done separately and inserted or cut-in the during the editing process.

Master Shot

A single long take that records the entire action and dialogue of a scene in order to assure adequate coverage.

Ideology

A system of values, beliefs, or ideas shared by a certain culture or social group and often taken for granted as "natural" and inherently true.

Overlapping Sound

A technique of sound editing which continues sound from one shot into a following shot where it does not belong, or which anticipates a shot by introducing its sound prematurely in the previous shot. For example, in Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, we see a maid who discovered a dead body screaming in close-up, but hear only the shriek of a train whistle, then cut to a shot of the train at another location.

Reflection Mapping

A technique that simulates reflections of real world images on three dimensional objects that are modeled and rendered on a computer

Motif

A technique, object, or thematic idea that is repeated throughout a film

Palette

A term drawn from painting, referring to the selection of colors, or the color scheme, used in a particular scene or that is characteristic of a film as a whole. Will communicate significant aspects of character and story to the viewer.

Transparency

A theoretical term used to describe the aim of the classical style to efface or make "invisible" the operations of film technique in the process of narration. Camerawork and editing, as well as the process of film projection itself, are intended to be like a transparent sheet of glass through which audience views the narrative.

Third Person Omniscient Point of View

A third-person narrator can sometimes be "omniscient," (all-seeing, all-knowing) and therefore capable of revealing the thoughts and emotions of the characters. Example: "When they saw the car approaching, the man was scared to death but the woman felt confident."

Dissolve

A transition from one shot to the next in which the second shot is gradually appears as the first disappears, creating in the process a momentary superimposition of the two shots. Usually implies both a passage of time and a connection between the events represented in the two shots.

Matte Shot

A type of process shot in which two separately photographed shots are combined into one composite image. Today, matting has been largely super-ceded by green-screen technique and digital imaging.

Sequence

A unit of film composed of a number of interrelated shots. Sometimes referred to as a larger unit of the film narrative made up of two or more scenes.

Shot

A unit of film recorded during a single, uninterrupted running of the camera (also called a take); in the finished film, a continuous piece of recorded action without a cut. It is often described by reference to camera distance. Three of the most commons shot are long shot, medium shot, and close-up.

Scene

A unit of narrative film made up of one or more interrelated shots taken at a specific location during a presumably uninterrupted period of time.

Witness Point

A useful term referring to the position of the spectator in a given shot, which is not always synonymous with the position of the camera.

Close Up Shot

A view of any object, usually focus on human faces, and because they are so important in communicating emotion they have a number of different designations.

Establishing Shot

A wide or long shot occurring at the beginning of a film scene that establishes the general setting, a provides the viewer with a context for subsequent closer shots. In other words, orients the viewers before the camera moves in to show detail.

Reaction Shot

Achieves considerable impact in a close-up of a character affected by the dialogue or action. An actor's face, even in a brief moment onscreen, can register clearly yet subtly and without the aid of dialogue a dramatic response.

Caricature

Actors often exaggerate or distort one or more dominant features or personality traits.

Exposure

Adjustment of the camera to control the mount of light that enters through the lens and strikes the surface of unexposed film. Film can be overexposed to produce a very light, bleached-out image, or underexposed to make the image darker, murkier, and more ominous

Telephoto Lens

Also known as long lens, Magnifies distant objects, flattens perspective and sharply reduces depth of field. An example is a televised baseball game; the space is compressed and the pitcher and batter seem closer to one another than they actually are.

Wide Angle Lens

Also known as short lens, permits the camera to photograph a wider area than a normal lens, but tends to exaggerate perspective and increase depth of field.

Rack Focus (Pull Focus)

Altering the area of focus in depth during a shot, often to shift emphasis.

Straight Cut

An abrupt and immediate transition from one shot to the next

Episodic

An adjective referring to a narrative structure made up of a number of thematically related but loosely connected scenes, events, or stories.

Iris

An adjustable, usually circular masking device that blacks out a portion of the screen. Is an alternative to the fade, but also can serve other narrative purposes.

Flash-forward

An alteration of normal story progression in which interrupts the present with a shot or sequence of shots from the future.

Flashback

An alteration of normal story progression in which the present in interrupted with a shot or sequence of shots from the past.

Surrealism

An artistic style that attempts to express subconscious states of mind by employing the imagery and irrational structure of dreams and hallucinations. An avant-garde movement emerged in France in the early 1920's as a revolution against conventional middle-class morality and its belief that human behavior and artistic creation were controlled by logical reason. Juxtaposition of bizarre, shocking, or illogically related images is typical of most dream or nightmare sequences and of horror films, generally.

Realism

An artistic style that attempts to preserve a sense of time, space, and the material world as they occur in actual experience. Convinces us that it is presenting an accurate and unmediated representation of life, but it actually relies on certain stylistic conventions of its verisimilitude (semblance of truth). Filmmakers prefer fast film stock, available lighting, non-professional actors, seemingly spontaneous dialogue and action, unobtrusive camerawork, and editing which respects the duration of real time. Is a particular style of filmmaking rather than objective reality itself

Expressionism

An artistic style that distorts exterior reality, in order to express inner experience. Represents the world subjectively, as it reflects his state of mind or the state of a character's mind. Characters, setting, lighting, costumes, and sometimes movement as well are not intended to be realistic in appearance, but emotionally charged and "poetic". Techniques include stylized setting, exaggerated acting, dramatically heightened lighting, unusual camera angles- all in the interest of expressing psychology rather than objective reality

Formalism

An artistic style, emphasis on form or structure rather than content, on the shaping and arrangement of material by the artist. As a critical method, a focus on the interrelationship among the parts of a work of art and how they contribute to the effect and meaning of the whole. Analysis would include study of how its visual and aural elements support its theme, as well as the way in which its shots are framed and organized.

Intercutting

An editing technique in which shots of one action intrude upon or alternate with shots of another. A filmmaker, for example, may intercut the progress of a police investigation with the continuing activity of the criminal at-large, or intercut several lines of action in order to heighten suspense and increase the speed of editing.

Parallel Editing

An editing technique in which two or more scenes in separate locations are shown alternately, usually with the assumption that they are occurring simultaneously. Generally speaking, crosscutting is an example, but the latter term might be more specifically applied to editing which aims to illustrate a parallel, as when shots of the thankless feasting of the rich are edited in parallel with shots of the poor servants downstairs, praying over their meager fare.

Eyeline Match

An editing technique obeying the 180 rule, in which the first shot shows a character looking off-screen and the second shows what the character sees from his of her approximate angle of vision (i.e. POINT OF VIEW SHOT). For example, if the character looks off-screen left, the second shot should imply that the character is off-screen right.

Decoupage

An imported French term (literally, "cutting out") referring to the way in which a scene is broken down into patterns of shots.

Vignette

An iris that is held steadily for a while without expanding or contracting.

Mask

An opaque shield or screen which blacks out part of the image in order to change the shape of the FRAME or isolate some important detail. In his silent blockbuster. The most common example used in films today are the shots in which the camera appears to be looking through binoculars, keyholes, or peepholes of some sort.

Wipe

An optical transition from one shot to another in which a line appears to move across the screen, pushing one shot off the screen and replacing it with another.

Convention

An unspoken agreement between the viewer and the artist to ignore certain artificialities in a work of art. Is widely used and accepted device or technique.

Narrative

Any work of fiction whose basis is a developing story. Casablanca is perhaps the best-known American narrative FILM

Cut

As a noun: 1) the point at which two shots are spliced together in the editing process; 2) in the finished film, an instantaneous change from one shot to another. As a verb: 1) to terminate the filming of a shot; 2) to trim the length of a shot in the editing process. Usually used for dramatic purposes.

Segmentation

Breaking a film down into units for the purpose of critical analysis. Since changes can occur during the production and postproduction of a film, neither a screenplay nor a shooting script can be taken for granted as a reliable record of a completed film's shots and sequences. Represents an accurate listing of shots and/or sequences as they appear in the film as released.

Film Shot

Can be designated in a number of different ways: *By reference to the apparent distance of the camera from the subject *By reference to the human figure *By reference to camera angle or the process used for the shot *By reference to the shot's function in the film's narration (its relating of the plot)

Internal Conflict

Centers on an interior, psychological conflict within the central character or protagonist.

Static Character

Characters that remain the same throughout the film. The action and their relationships with other characters have no real effect on their lives. Often insensitive to the meaning of the action and thus not capable of growth or change, or because they have such a strong personality that they remain untouched by other characters in the film.

Match Cut

Connects two shots that match one another in action, composition, or subject matter.

Foils

Contrasting characters whose behavior, attitudes, opinions, lifestyle, physical appearance, and so on are the opposite of those of a main character

Tight (close) vs. Loose (open) Framing

Depends on how much space is allowed for random movement of the character or object being photographed. Intimate moments suggest tight framing, while action events like battles are usually framed more loosely.

Ambiguity

Deriving from a Latin word meaning to wander about or to waver. Refers to an accidental or deliberate confusion of meaning. A film's ending, for example, is ambiguous when it is subject to more than one conflicting interpretation, none of which can rule out the others.

Linear Plot

Described in movies as a series of "acts"

Take

During the shooting of a film, a certain shot may be taken more than once. The final shot is then selected from these separate takes and trimmed in the editing process.

Cross-Cutting

Editing which alternates shots or two or more lines of action that are occurring simultaneously in different locations or space. The standard film chase, for examples, crosscuts shots of the chaser with shots of the person being chased. This term is often compared with parallel editing.

Opticals

Effects produced in the film laboratory using an optical printer, such as fades, dissolves, irises, wipes, split-screen, and matte shots

Intrinsic Metaphor

Emerge directly from the context of the scene itself and are more natural and usually more subtle than extrinsic metaphors.

The Kuleshov Effect

Even in reaction shots, the film actor is often assisted by the nature of the medium, for in film much of the powerful and expressive quality of the human face is created by context in which it appears, and the meanings of many expressions are determined by skillful editing.

Fast Film Stock

Film Stock that is highly sensitive to light, produces a grainy/high contrast image and is favored by documentary filmmakers, who must often shoot with only natural light, as well as by fiction filmmakers who are seeking a realistic, "documentary look".

Slow Film Stock

Film Stock that is less sensitive to light but produces a smoother, less grainy, low contrast image with great sharpness of detail and a broad mid-range of tones that are more appropriate for period pieced, romantic comedies, and musicals.

Tight Close Up

Frames the face very closely, creating an impression of tension

Avant-Garde

Generally used to denote artists and artworks that are experimental, unconventional, on the cutting edge. May be used either as a noun or an adjective. The film Ballet Mechanique is a famous early example of avant-garde cinema.

Extrinsic Metaphor

Has no place within a context of the scene itself but is imposed artificially into the scene by the filmmaker. May seem forced, heavy handed, or even ludicrous, destroying a sense of reality that may be very important to the film.

Subtitles

Has several advantages of dubbings. It does not interfere with the illusion of reality to the same degree as dubbing, even though the appearance of writing at the bottom of the screen is not completely natural to the film medium. Also, since the actors are not separated from their voices, their performances seem more real and human, as well as more powerful.

Panning

Horizontally swiveling the camera during a shot without moving the camera from a fixed mount or position. On the screen this appears as a horizontal scanning movement.

Fast Motion

If movement is filmed at a slower rate than the normal 24 frames per second, when projected it will appear faster than normal

Looping

If the sound is dialogue, is it the process which involves repetition on a loop of audiotape of the times to be re-recorded by the actor.

Name Typing

Important method of characterization is the use of names possessing qualities of sound, meaning, or connotation appropriate to a character. Screenwriters usually choose characters' names very carefully.

Plot

In a film narrative, all the events that are directly shown to us, as distinct from Story , which also includes events from the past that we learn about via exposition but don't actually witness. Plotting refers to the selection and arrangement of story information in a narrative, with an eye on causal relations, order, duration, employment of characters, use of settings, and so on-on short, to the process of constructing a narrative.

Diegesis

In a narrative film, the world of the film's story. A car radio playing during a scene, for example, or a dog barking offscreen, are both diegetic sounds because they are present in the world inhabited by the film characters.

Diegesis (Diegetic)

In a narrative film, the world of the film's story. For example, a car radio playing during scene or a dog barking off-screen because they are present in the world inhabited by the film characters.

Linearity

In a narrative, the clear, straightforward progression of events without significant digressions, delays, or irrelevant action. Episodic structure.

Accelerate Editing

In an action sequence, speeding up the pace of editing by decreasing the duration of shots. The crosscutting in a chase sequence, for example, is typically accelerated as the chase near its climax. This term is a staple of screen suspense, since it heightens excitement prior to the resolution of an event, when the young women descends the basement stairs to find...

Cheat Cut

In continuity editing, a cut that implies continuous time from one shot to the next, but slightly mismatches the screen position of figures or objects and thus "cheats" on continuity.

Contrast

In film, the range in brightness between the darkest and lightest areas of the image.

Montage

In its most familiar American usage, a transitional sequence of rapidly edited shots, usually connected by dissolves, used for purposes of ellipsis, to suggest a longer passage of time. In the thirties and forties, were often represented a rise of power or fame in a quick mix of zooming newspaper headlines, train rushing diagonally across the screen, windblown calendar pages, and the like. They are still used for scenes or sequences of violent physical upheaval or psychological disorientation, like earthquakes or car crashes; to summarize a topic; or to express a longer passage of time in a brief sequence of images usually accompanied by music. In French however, and in more general sense, it refers to the entire process of film editing, and the term is also used to refer to a particular style of film editing popularized by Soviet filmmakers in the 1920's.

Day for Night Cinematography

Involves mounting a blue filter on the camera and underexposing the film stock. The combination of the blue filter and the underexposing gave the image a faux nighttime look.

Open Frame

Is a frame that is fluid and flexible, implying action going on beyond its limits. Is like the "moving window of a car", with the action controlling the framing.

Close Frame

Is a frame that is more orderly and composed; characters and objects are contained by and arrange artfully within its limits. Like a "Painting"

Skycam

Is a small, computerized remote-controlled camera that can be mounted on the top of a lightweight magnesium pole or can "fly" on wires at speeds of up to twenty miles an hour and can go practically anywhere that cables can be strung

Fisheye Lens

Is an extreme wide angle shot. As if you were looking through a glass peephole in motel or hotel room door.

Kuleshov Effect

It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.

Eye- Level View

It is a straight on/normal angle that the camera observes a character from an approximate eye-level view, noncommittally.

Low-Contrast Lighting

Lighting that emphasizes a broad mid-range of tones between the darkest and brightest areas of the image.

Low-Key Lighting

Lighting that produces dramatic shadows and strong contrast, and for this reason, it is often called chiaroscuro lighting, which means "light-dark" and originally referred to a 16th-century printing technique.

Key Light

Lighting that provides the main source of illumination

Backlighting

Lighting that separates the foreground and background planes and to remove the shadows caused by key and fill lights.

High-Contrast Lighting

Lighting that shows a sharp difference between darkness and lightness, with little range in between

Fill Light

Lighting that tones down the harsh shadows caused by the key light.

High-Key Lighting

Lighting with a minimum of contrast and brilliant, even illumination.

Front Projection

Like Back Projection, a special effect which makes it possible to film studio action against previously shot background, in the case projected from the front rather than from behind.

Iconography

Literally "image drawing" in the original Greek, refers to the meaning that certain visual images imply or directly communicate, sometimes referred to as "codes" of meaning. Often more subtle.

Persona

Literally "mask" in Latin, the term is used in film criticism to refer to the screen "image" projected by an actor. A movie actor's persona consists of not only of his or her appearance, way of moving, and manner of speaking, but also of the recognizable and expected personality traits that persist from film role to film role.

External Conflict

May consist of personal and individual struggle between the central character and another character, traditionally referred to as the protagonist and the antagonist.

Story

Not only the events that we directly see and hear, but also all those that we learn about through exposition or assume to have occurred.

Normal (Straight On) Angle

Observes a character from an approximate eye-level view neutrally

Available Lighting

Outdoor, natural light may suffice without artificial enhancement

Film Stock

Raw, unexposed film, consisting of a clear base coated on one side with a light-sensitive emulsion. Aside from the sometimes subtle differences between color and black-and-white stock, the two features which have the greatest influence on the "texture" of the film image are grain and contrast.

Dramatic Irony

Refers to a situation in which a character is unaware of circumstances that are clear to the audience.

Point of View

Refers to the narrator and the emotional stance from which the story is told

Narration

Refers to the process of the story telling, the gradual unfolding of narrative information that makes up the plot of the film. The device of using the voice of a commentator on the sound track is also called narration.

Tilting

Rotating the camera vertically on its axis during a shot without moving the camera from a fixed mount or position.

Dead Screen

Screen area with no dramatically or aesthetically interesting visual information

Master Shot

Show the spatial position of all the characters in a scene so the film can move in for close-ups without confusing or disorientating viewers.

Extreme Close Up

Show us only a detail of the face, or some part of a character's body, such as a twitching finger.

Medium Close Up

Shows a character's face clearly, but including part of the chest and surroundings keep us from getting too uncomfortably close.

Over the Shoulder Shot

Shows someone or something from a camera position behind the shoulder of another character.

Subjective (Point of View) Shot

Shows us what a character sees

Theme

Similar to a motif, it is a central idea or thesis that a work of art incorporates, illustrates, and explores. In determining the theme of a film, one must be specific as possible.

Diffusion

Softening the quality of light by using a filter or coating on the camera lens, gauze, or silk in the lighting, or smoke on the set or location. Diffuse light is low or moderate in contrast, as on an overcast day.

Asynchronous Sound

Sound that does not match (or is out-of-sync),as when dialogue does not correspond to the lip movement of characters. Will use this as a subjective device, in dream sequences or in scenes when a character is sunder the influence of psychologically disturbed.

Sound Link (Sound Bridge, Audio Bridge)

Sound that is carried over the transition from one scene to another, or sound that begins before the transition to the scene in which it belongs. The technique is more frequently used with music or sound effects but dialogue can link two scenes as well.

Synchronous Sound

Sound that matches the movement of the images, corresponding with its visible on-screen source. Is usually expected in movies.

Non-diegetic

Sound, such as mood music and voiceover, which comes from a source outside the world of the story, as opposed to diegetic (or actual) sound, which has an onscreen or off-screen source in the world of the story.

Diegetic Sound

Sounds that are present in the world inhabited by the film characters.

Non-Diegetic Sound

Sounds that do not exist in the story world; for example, voice-overs.

Dubbing

Spoken dialogue in English that is recorded to synchronize as closely as possible with the mouth and lip movements of the foreign-speaking actors. To match image with soundtrack, a translator carefully selects English words that phonetically approximate the words being spoken is the other language. Disadvantage: Film does not seem so "foreign" and the limitations of voice dubbing are numerous, and few foreign language films are now dubbed into English exclusively.

Diagonal Lines

Suggest conflict and dynamic movement

Curved Lines

Suggest fluidity and sensuality

Horizontal Lines

Suggest restfulness and stability.

Vertical Lines

Suggests strength, authority, and dignity.

Inside Approach

Teaches to act from the inside out. Begin with the feeling and memory, and those feelings begin to affect behavior

Outside Approach

Teaches to do behavior and it starts to seep inside.

Aspect Ratio

Technical term denoting the relationship of the height and width of the film frame; the dimensions of a certain screen format. From the silent era to the mid-fifties, the standard American aspect ration was known as the Academy Ratio, was 1: 1.33. In the fifties, a number of widescreen formats emerged; the most successful of these Cinemascope, had an aspect ratio of 1:2.35. Today, the standard widescreen aspect ratio is 1:1.85

Exposition

That portion of a dramatic work, usually at the beginning, which fills in essential strikes the surface or unexposed film. Film can be overexposed to produce a very light, bleached out image, or underexposed to make an image darker, murkier, and more ominous.

Post Synchronization

The addition of sound to images after they have been shot and edited.

Camera Angle

The angle from which a film is shot is taken can affect our response to its. content

Depth of field

The area between the camera and the background in which everything is in clear focus.

Freeze Frame

The arresting or freezing of motion in a shot. The effect is achieved by reprinting an identical frame of film many times over, which when projected gives an illusion of a still photograph.

Screenplay

The basic blueprint in the filmmaking process, that will eventually turn into a shooting script

Storyboard

The breakdown of a film or film sequence into drawings of its individual shots, much like a comic strip or graphic novel.

High Angle Shot

The camera looks down above, which tends to make a character seem vulnerable or isolated. An angle from directly overhead is called a bird's eye view.

Low Angle Shot

The camera observes a character from below, looking upward, and it tends to emphasize the character's strength and authority. A shot taken from an extremely low angle is sometimes called a worm's eye view.

180 Rule

The continuity approach to editing demands that the camera stay on one side of the action to preserve consistent screen direction and clear-cut spatial relations between objects and characters with respect to the right and left sides of the frame. The imaginary line determining the side to which the camera is limited is referred to as the axis of action.

Forced Perspective

The designer physically distorts certain aspects of the set and diminishes the size of objects and people in the background to create the illusion of greater foreground to background distance.

Denouement

The ending or conclusion (the French word of "unraveling") in which the plot is "wrapped up" and equilibrium is restored.

Explicit Meaning

The film OPENLY TELLS the viewer what it is about. Example: A girl dreams of leaving home to escape troubles. Only after she has been away for awhile foes she realize that "There's no place like home"

Symptomatic or Repressed Meaning

The film reflects personal or cultural values of which the filmmakers themselves (and many viewers) may be unaware. Artist choose the things that feel right, but unaware. Example: In a culture which measure human worth by money, the family and female innocence may seem to be the last refuge of human values. This feeling is especially strong in times of severe economic crisis, such as in the United States during the Depression. Example: Hitchcock's films "blondes being punished"- but he was unaware of his own pattern.

Connotation

The ideas or feelings that words evoke in addition to their literal or primary meanings.

Continuity

The logic implied between edited shots; their means of coherence. A key component to the classical style, requires smooth, virtually "invisible" transitions between shots. Serves the emotional appeal of the story, and it provides clear narrative action by matching screen direction, character position, and temporal relations from shot to shot.

Characterization

The means by which characters are created in a work of fiction; the techniques, used to present and define them. Basic elements of characterization include costume, make-up, speech, and gesture, but fictional people can also be characterized by their association with certain objects or settings, behavioral traits or peculiarities, and often most importantly by the persona of the actor playing the role

Ellipsis

The omission of parts of film narrative. Uses transitions like jump cuts and dissolves to skip over certain events and thereby condense time.

Deep Focus (Pan Focus)

The photographic technique of producing an image that keeps all planes of depth in sharp focus, from close foreground to distant background.

Cut

The point at which two shots are spliced together in editing process. In the finished film, an instantaneous change from one shot to another. To terminate the filming of a shot. To trim the length of a shot in the editing process, could be for dramatic reasons. Is a synonym for editing

Setting

The position, direction, or a way in which something, such as an automatic control, is set.

Set Up

The positioning of the camera for a specific film shot

Blocking

The pre-planning of character movement for a given shot or scene. As on theater, the movement of characters in a film is usually blocked out beforehand with the overall visual image in mind.

Auteur

The presumed or actual "author" of a film, usually its director, whose personal signature is apparent. Often used to distinguish filmmakers who manage to express a unique style or viewpoint from studio directors whose work seems more impersonal, even mechanical.

Computer Generated Imaging (CGI)

The primary factor in this rapid increase in technology

Analytical Editing

The process of breaking a scene down into separate shots that can be edited to preserve spatial and temporal continuity.

Narration

The process of the storytelling, the gradual unfolding (or in some cases, withholding) or narrative information that makes up the plot of the film. The device using the voice of a commentator on the sound track

Projection Speed

The rate at which film passes through the projector during the screening of a motion picture. Silent films were about 16 frames per second; sound film- 24 frames per second. These figures, of course, also represent the camera speed at which the film images were recorded.

Leitmotif

The repetition of a single action, phrase, or idea by a character until it becomes almost a trademark of "theme song". Acts very much like a caricature

Screen Direction

The right/left, top/bottom relationships in a shot or scene, set up by an establishing shot and preserved through continuity and adherence to the 180 rule.

Composition

The selection and arrangement of the graphic elements of shape, line, color, tone, and texture on the rectangular surface of the screen; the organization of material within the film frame. Since, the standard camera records events from a monocular perspective (that is, from a single viewpoint in two dimensions rather than in the three dimensions of binocular human vision), compositional techniques in mainstream cinema rely greatly on classical painting and the principles of Renaissance perspective.

Off-screen

The space outside the frame, beyond the set, and behind the camera lens; the area outside what is visible onscreen. Sound and action can be located off-screen and still be assumed as part of the screen.

Non Linear Plot

The stages are not arranged chronologically. A plot may open in medias res (in the middle of things)

Metaphor

The substitution of one thing for another, or the identification of two otherwise different things by virtue of a certain similarity.

Climax

The turning point or crucial moment of the plot when the forces in the conflict confront one another and the conflict is resolved

Allegorical

The viewer can see strong similarities between what happens in the microcosm and in the world at large, and the film's theme can have universal implications.

Microcosm

The world in little, in which human activity in a small and limited area is representative of human behavior or the human condition in the world as a whole.

Third Person Limited Point of View

Third-person narration can also be "limited" when it reveals the thoughts and emotions of only one character in the story. Example: "When they saw car approaching, the woman felt confident but could tell that the man was scared to death."

Focal Point

This means the painting or a film shot is composed to draw the viewer's attention into the scene and toward the object of greatest dramatic significance

Round Character

Three-dimensional, lifelike, and unique. They have some degree of psychological complexity and ambiguity and thus are not easily categorized.

Oblique Angle Shot

Tilting the camera to one side or the other. Sometimes called a Dutch Angle or Canted Angle and in this case the lack of horizontally stability can make a character seem unbalanced, the world out of kilter.

Redundancy

To be redundant in speech or writing means to be needlessly repetitive. In classical film narrative, however, redundancy is a standard practice, referring to the relaying of important story information more than once or in two or more ways. When a new character enters the story, for example, his name will typically be repeated several times so viewers will remember it the next time he appears. Make-up, costume, and personalized setting may also be an example.

Dubbing

Translates the dialogue of foreign-language films.

Composite Character

Two or more characters from the novel are combined in one film character

Split Screen

Two or more shots appearing separately and simultaneously on the screen. In a narrative film, it is sometimes used to show the different components of a robbery occurring simultaneously, and the split screen telephone conversation has become a cinematic cliché.

Superimposition (Double Exposure)

Two or more shots photographed or printed so as to overlap on the film image.

Flat Character

Two-dimensional, uncomplicated, predictable, and lack any psychological depth

Dynamic Characters

Undergo some important change in personality, attitude, or outlook on life as a result of the action of the story and their relationship with other characters.

Blue/Green Screen

Use Chroma Key technology in order to place subjects in front of a projected background. Able to film people and objects in front of a static background, and remove the color from the background from the images and replace it with a new, separately filmed background.

Establishing Shot

Usually a long shot, often opens a film scene by showing where it will take place

Choreography

Usually this term refers to the design and execution of dance numbers in film musicals, but it can also be used to describe the synchronization of the movement of characters with the movement of the camera in a complex film shot.

Aside

When a character in a play turns and speaks directly to the audience without being heard by any other characters onstage

Soliloquy

With its ornate, poetic language and structure, does not translate effectively as a cinematic interior monologue, and it seems equally artificial if done as it would be on the stage.

Voice-Over

Words spoken over the image by an off-screen narrator or commentator.