film to lit

Mise-en-scène

Everything that appears before the camera within a single shot: setting, lighting, costume, makeup, and actor placement/movement. It establishes the look and feel of a film.

Latham Loop

A small loop of film created in cameras and projectors to prevent tension and tearing, allowing for longer films to be shot and projected smoothly.

Rhythmic montage

A type of editing that cuts shots together based on visual or rhythmic patterns, often matching movement or pacing to music or action.

Unreliable narrator

A storyteller whose credibility is compromised, leading the audience to question the truth of their version of events.

Edwin S. Porter

Early American filmmaker best known for directing The Great Train Robbery (1903); helped pioneer narrative film and continuity editing.

Creative Geography

A film editing technique where separate locations are combined through editing to appear as one continuous space.

Tonal montage

A form of montage that uses the emotional tone of shots (lighting, shadows, music) to evoke a particular feeling or mood in the audience.

The Birth of a Nation

A 1915 film by D.W. Griffith, known for its groundbreaking cinematic techniques and highly controversial racist content.

German Expressionism

A film movement from 1910s-1920s Germany known for distorted sets, exaggerated lighting, and stylized acting to express emotional and psychological states.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

A 1920 German Expressionist film directed by Robert Wiene, famous for its twisted sets, eerie atmosphere, and unreliable narrator structure.

The Great Train Robbery

A 1903 film directed by Edwin S. Porter, one of the first narrative films to use cross-cutting and on-location shooting.

Kuleshov Effect

A film editing phenomenon demonstrating that viewers derive meaning from the juxtaposition of shots, rather than the shots themselves.

Georges Méliès

A French filmmaker and magician, pioneer of early special effects and fantasy cinema, best known for A Trip to the Moon (1902).

Intellectual Montage

A type of editing developed by Sergei Eisenstein that combines images to create abstract ideas or convey intellectual concepts (e.g., conflict, revolution).

A Trip to the Moon

A 1902 silent film by Georges Méliès, famous for its imaginative storytelling and innovative special effects (notably the 'rocket in the moon's eye' scene).