ACM 255 EXAM 1

Anamorphic lens

(oval bokeh) oval shapes in the background, gives a softer feel, cinematic and artistic, slower

Spherical lens

(rounded bokeh) real life look, raw feel, sharper image, no distortion

dolly

A camera support with wheels, used in making tracking shots.

three-point lighting

A common arrangement using three directions of light on a scene: from behind the subjects (backlighting), from one bright source (key light), and from a less bright source balancing the key light (fill light).

aerial perspective

A cue for suggesting depth in the image by presenting objects in the distance less distinctly than those in the foreground.

Cut

A cut is whenever a film transitions from one shot or scene to the next.

eyeline match

A cut obeying the axis of action (180 degree rule) principle, in which the first shot shows a person looking off in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he or she sees. If the person looks left, the following shot should imply that the looker is offscreen right.

Fade-in

A dark screen that gradually brightens as a shot appears.

close-up

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is relatively large; most commonly, a person's head seen from the neck up, or an object of a comparable size that fills most of the screen.

long shot

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is small; a standing human figure would appear nearly the height of the screen.

extreme close-up

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very large; most commonly, a small object or a part of the body.

extreme long shot

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very small; a building, landscape, or crowd of people will fill the screen.

special effects

A general term for various photographic manipulations that create fictitious spatial relations in the shot, such as superimposition, matte work, and rear projection.

filter

A piece of glass or gelatin placed in front of the camera or printer lens to alter the quality or quantity of light striking the film in the aperture.

montage sequence

A segment of a film that summarizes a topic or compresses a passage of time into brief symbolic or typical images. Frequently, dissolves, fades, superimpositions, and wipes are used to link the images in a montage sequence.

lens

A shaped piece of transparent material (usually glass) with either or both sides curved to gather and focus light rays. Most camera and projector lenses place a series of lenses within a metal tube to form a compound lens.

Reverse shot

A shot in a sequence that is taken from the reverse angle of the shot previous to it. (film technique where one character is shown looking at another character, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.)

Fade-out

A shot that gradually disappears as the screen darkens. Occasionally, fade-outs brighten to pure white or to a color.

crane shot

A shot with a change in framing accomplished by placing the camera above the subject and moving through the air in any direction.

establishing shot

A shot, usually involving a distant framing, that shows the spatial relations among the important figures, objects, and setting in a scene.

storyboard

A tool used in planning film production, consisting of comic-strip-like drawings of individual shots or phases of shots with descriptions written below each drawing.

wipe

A transition between shots in which a line passes across the screen, eliminating one shot as it goes and replacing it with the next one.

dissolve

A transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disappears while the second image gradually appears; for a moment, the two images blend in superimposition.

mise-en-scene

All of the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed: the settings and props, lighting, costumes and makeup, and figure behavior.

Jump cut

An abrupt transition between shots, sometimes deliberate, which is disorienting in terms of the continuity of space and time.

flashforward

An alteration of story order in which the plot presentation moves forward to future events and then returns to the present.

Continuity editing

An editing system used to maintain consistency of both time and space in the film. The process in film and video creation where you combine related shots, or different components of a single shot, into a sequence which directs the audience's attention to the consistency of story across time and location.

motif

An element in a film that is repeated in a significant way.

cel animation

Animation that uses a series of drawings on pieces of celluloid, called cels for short. Slight changes between the drawings combine to create an illusion of movement.

asynchronous sound

Asynchronous sound is audio that doesn't match up with visuals. When sound doesn't match a film's visuals, it's asynchronous.

simultaneous sound

Diegetic sound that is represented as occurring at the same time in the story as the image it accompanies.

2D computer animation

Digitally generated series of images that give the appearance of flat drawings or paintings.

3D computer animation

Digitally generated series of images that imitate the rounded look of people, puppets, or models (not to be confused with stereoscopic 3D images viewed through glasses).

backlighting

Illumination cast onto the figures in the scene from the side opposite the camera, usually creating a thin outline of highlighting on those figures.

fill light

Illumination from a source less bright than the key light, used to soften deep shadows in a scene. Part of three-point lighting.

contrast

In cinematography, the difference between the brightest and the darkest areas within the frame.

key light

In the three-point lighting system, the brightest illumination coming into the scene.

diegetic sound

Sound that originates from a source within a film's world.

nondiegetic sound

Sound, such as mood music or a narrator's commentary, represented as coming from a source outside the space of the narrative.

exposure

The adjustment of the camera mechanism in order to control how much light strikes each frame of film passing through the aperture.

180 degree system (axis of action)

The continuity approach to editing dictates that the camera should stay on one side of the action (imaginary horizontal line and cameras must stay on one side) to ensure consistent left-right spatial relations between elements from shot to shot.

depth of field

The distance between the closest and farthest objects in a photo that appears acceptably sharp

focal length

The distance from the center of the lens to the point at which the light rays meet in sharp focus. The focal length determines the perspective relations of the space represented on the flat screen. See also normal lens, telephoto lens, wide-angle lens.

postproduction

The phase of film production that assembles the images and sounds into the finished film.

preproduction

The phase of filmmaking that prepares for production on the basis of a screenplay, design, and financing.

narration

The process through which the plot conveys or withholds story information. The narration can be more or less restricted to character knowledge and more or less deep in presenting characters' perceptions and thoughts.

Aspect ratio

The relationship of the frame's width to its height

sound perspective

The sense of a sound's position in space, yielded by volume, timbre, pitch, and, in stereophonic reproduction systems, binaural information.

framing

The use of the edges of the film frame to select and to compose what will be visible onscreen.

cinematography

art of making motion pictures

crosscutting

describes the video editing technique of switching back and forth between scenes, often giving the impression that the action occurring in different locations is unfolding at the same moment.

CGI (computer generated imagery)

using digital software systems to create figures, settings, or other material in the frame.