ENGL 2040: Shakespeare and Performance Terminology

Intertextuality

A term that describes the various relationships a given test may have with other texts; the conversations that works of art have with one another.

Auteur

When a director becomes an author of the story.

Script/Screenplay

A script including dialogue and essential action of characters that can be used (by a director) to create a film.

Close-Up

Cinematic image that takes up a large portion of the screen, achieved through close proximity of subject and camera.

Theatrical Mode

A mode of Shakespeare film that acknowledges Shakespeare’s theatrical roots by employing many long takes, allowing actors to build performance, and framing shots in a theatre.

Realistic Mode

A mode of Shakespeare film dominated by the sweep, agility, and mobility of a camera to move from a broad panorama to a tiny detail in an instant.

Filmic Mode

A mode of Shakespeare film constructed by the director’s own meditation on his Shakespearean material, self-consciously employing devices of filmmaking to create a cinematic poem as expressive of the director’s ideas as Shakespeare’s.

Hybrid Mode

A mode of Shakespeare film that strives to link their Shakespearean material with established modes and genres of popular Hollywood films.

Shot

A series of frames that run uninterrupted from the time the camera starts rolling (Action) to when it stops (Cut).

Scene

A continuous segment of action that takes place in a single location and time.

Sequence

A discrete section of film portraying scenes, which in their contiguity describe a complete cinematic action.

Voice-over

A voice in a film that is not synchronized with dialogue between characters, but spoken as a narrator outside of the context of cinematic action. Often articulates a character’s thoughts , which remain unspoken in the context of the film.

Deep Focus

The distant focusing of a lens which allows both close and distant planes in the camera’s field of view to remain in sharp focus.

Depth of Field

The complete area of sharp focus, both in front and behind the specific plane of depth, in the camera’s field of view.

Long Shot

A shot that projects the subject at a distance, typically, at minimum a full screen representation of a complete human figure.

Playscript

The written version of a play or film used to prepare for a performance.

Metatheatrical

The condition of action or narrative in a play commenting on itself, thereby exposing its inherent mimesis (reproduction of an external reality, such as nature). Reference to the audience is one example. For example, breaking the fourth wall.

Tracking Shot

A fluid, kinetic camera shot produced by the attachment of the camera to a mobile dolly or hand-held in unison with the motion of a filmed subject.

Iris-in

The gradual adjustment of a lens to allow a pinpoint circular projection to concentrically widen to the full screen. Iris-out is the reverse - a wide screen projection narrowing in to a pinpoint spot.

Soundtrack

All the sound contained in the film including dialogue, music, and sound effects.

Cineaste

A film aficionado; someone interested in film and filmmaking.

Low-Angle Shot

A camera angle whereby the position of the lens is lower than subject, producing a distorted view that magnifies the physical presence of the figure.

Pan Shot

The movement of a fixed camera along a horizontal axis to produce a smooth projection of images or subjects by scanning the field of view.

Film Score

The musical soundtrack that accompanies the film.

Chiaroscuro

A term borrowed from the visual arts which refers to the distribution of light and shade to enhance the dramatic effect of a pictorial image.