IB Film Vocabulary

Kunstleroman

"artist novel" - a subtype of bildungsroman about the formation of an artist's personality and talents

Dissolve

(film) a gradual transition from one scene to the next

Niche Audience

...the targeting of a small but significant group of consumers with a media product that is directly targeted at their specific interests.

Round Character

A character who is well developed by the author and who many characteristics

Person vs Person

A conflict between two people

Person vs Machine

A conflict for a character as a result of a machine malfunction.

Person vs Self

A conflict within a person

Cheat (Noun)

A dishonest character who cheats out others of beneficial things

Scene

A division with no change of locale or abrupt shift of time

Oneric Theory

A dream-like state in a film

Feminist Theory

A sociological theory that focuses on the domination of women by men.

Person vs Nature

A struggle between a character, and a force of nature

Person vs Society

A struggle between a person and society

Continuity Editing **Invisible Editing

A system of cutting to maintain continuous and clear narrative action. **A style of editing that creates a continuity of space and time out of the fragments of scenes contained in individual shots

Auteur theory

A theory in film-making, in which the Director is viewed as the major creative person.

Genre

A type, class, or category, especially of fine art or literature

Representation

An activity that stands as an equivalent of something or results in an equivalent

Allegory

An expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances

Pre-production

Any activity on a program that occurs prior to the time that the cameras begin rolling.

Property

Any movable articles or objects used on the set of a play or movie

Diegetic Sound

Any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented as originating from a source within the film's world.

Realism

Artistic representation that aims for visual accuracy

Ambient Sound

Background Noise

Flat Character

Character who exihibits a single dominant quality

Transition Editing

Cut (invisible-does not occupy screen time), Dissolve (gradual transition-clearly visible transition-indicates a passage of time), Fade (fadeout fade-in-signals beginning or end of a scene), Wipe (classified as a special effect-pushy), Animated (use only in the right context)

Rising Action

Events leading up to the climax

Homage

Honor or respect shown publicly

Primary Research

Original research gathered specifically for the project at hand

Quantitative Research

Research that collects and reports data primarily in numerical form

Qualitative Research

Research that relies on what is seen in field or naturalistic settings more than on statistical data

On Location

Shooting in an actual interior or exterior location away from the studio.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud's approach to understanding human behavior that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, thoughts, and behaviors

Asynchronous Sound

Sound that is not matched temporally with the movements occurring in the image, as when dialogue is out of synchronization with lip movements.

Camera Angle *High *Low *Worms Eye *Aerial

The Camera Angle is the specific location of the camera. These locations include: *High: Camera is above eye level *Low: Camera is below eye level *Worms Eye: Camera is on the ground *Aerial: Camera has a view from the sky

Close-Up

The camera is zoomed in to focus on one person, thing, or action.

High Angle Shot

The camera looks down at the subject from a high angle.

Scenery

The environment around the actor

Ambient Light

The natural light in a scene.

Narrator

The person telling the story

Dramatic Climax

The point of greatest interest or intensity in the story. This type of climax is not related to plot structure. This climax is viewer-centered.

Editing

The process by which the editor combines and coordinates individual shots into a cinematic whole; the basic creative force of cinema.

Cutting

The process of deleting scenes from a film

Rushes

The unedited takes, scenes, and shots of a production

Target Audience

Those who the film is aimed towards

Complication

Trouble encountered while filming

Location Shot

When the film is actually being shot at the location

Farce

a comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations

Mass Audience

a diverse group of people who are spectating or listening to some from of communication

Leitmotif

a dominant or recurring theme

Doppelganger

a double or counterpart of a living person

Metaphor

a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity

Didactic

a film that intention is to teach

Analepsis

a flashback; to restore or do over

Dubbing

a new soundtrack that is added to a film

Cinematographer

a photographer who operates a movie camera

Antihero

a protagonist who lacks the characteristics that would make him a hero (or her a heroine)

Motif

a recurring theme, subject or idea

Flashback

a section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events to relate an event from an earlier time

Low-Angle Shot

a shot created by placing the camera anywhere from slightly to greatly below the eye level of the talent and pointing it upward

Night for Night

a technique of shooting outdoor night scenes at night while using units to selectively illuminte and highlight

Femme Fatale

a woman who is considered to be dangerously seductive

Score

a written form of a musical composition

French New Wave

academic movement of the 1930's-1940's; many young French men watched and analyzed American films; film became academic

Mise-en-scene

arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play or movie is enacted

Premise

assumption; postulate; proposition upon which an argument is based

Day for Night

cinematic techniques used to simulate a night scene. AKA: nuit américaine

Bildungroman

coming of age novel

Narrative

consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story

Dolly

conveyance consisting of a wheeled support on which a camera can be mounted

Low Humor

crude jokes relating to basic, physical elements of life

Period Drama

drama set in a particular historical period

Form

establish or impress firmly in the mind

Falling Action

events after the climax, leading to the resolution

Costume Drama

film which takes place in a historical period, requiring elaborate costumes and sets

Parody

humorous or satirical mimicry

Exposition

introduces the characters, setting, and basic situation

Dramatic Irony

irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the film

Film Noir

meaning black cinema, emphasizes a fatalistic, despairing universe where there is no escape from mean city streets, loneliness, and death.

Pan

moving only the camera to scan the set horizontally, while the dolly and tripod remain stationary

Frame

one of a series of still transparent photographs on a strip of film used in making movies

Dynamic Character

one whose character changes in the course of the play or story

Expressionism

presents life not as it appears on the surface, but as it is passionately felt to be by an author or character.

Deadwood

someone or something that is unwanted and unneeded

Director

someone who supervises the actors and directs the action in the production of a show

Anachronism

something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred

Non-Digetic Sound

sound that can be heard by the audience only, not the characters.

Person vs Fate

struggle that is pre-determined from which the character cannot escape

Characterization

the act of describing distinctive characteristics or essential features

Antagonist

the character who works against the protagonist in the story

Chiaroscuro

the contrasting of light and darkness

Post-production

the editing that is done after the movie, film, or video has been taped

Protagonist

the principal character in a work of fiction

Montage

the production of a rapid succession of images in a motion picture to illustrate an association of ideas Includes: *Soviet Montage, Metric Montage, Soviet Montage, Rhythmic Montage, and Tonal Montage.

Motivation

the reasons for a character's behavior

Denouement

the resolution of the conflict in a story's plot; a final outcome

Ingenue

the role of an innocent artless young woman in a play

Locale

the scene of any event or action (especially the place of a meeting)

Audience

those who view the film

Mainstream Audience

typical people who watch most movies

Digital

using or characterized by computer technology