glossary of film terms

clcs 1110

narrative

an adjective describing a film as being primarily a work of fiction, or a noun that loosely means a fictional story

documentary

also an adjective or noun category used to describe a work of nonfiction. plot refers to all aspects of the narrative that we see on screen. for example, the film Jaws, Chief Brody’s talking to the town council on screen would be part of the plot

story

refers to all aspects of the narrative that we do not see on screen; these aspects may include events before, during, or even after the plot of the film. in Jaws, for instance, Chief Brody had been a police officer in the city prior to the film’s beginning; this information is part of the story but not part of the plot

diegesis

refers to the narrative that we see on screen. this term is much more specific to film, however, and refers to the world that the characters inhabit as much as the plot of the film. the adjective diegetic, for instance, refers to something the characters in the film could perceive, whereas nondiegetic refers to something they could not

mise en scene

refers to everything in the frame of the film, which would include lighting, set, props, and the staging and movement of actors. the term derives from the theater, where it is used in a similar way. in the 1950s, a group of French critics at the journal Cahiers due Cinema used this term in a different way. for them, mise en scene meant a special aspect of cinema associated with certain directors. eventually, you will want to understand both meanings of the term, since this secondary meaning is closely connected to the idea of auteurism in cinema. initially, however, use mise en scene in the first sense

setting

like the literary term, this word refers to the time and place of the film. the setting for The Usual Suspects, for instance, is New York and Los Angeles at a time contemporary with the film’s year of release (in this case, 1995)

set

this term refers to the actual construction in which the actors are filmed. in The Usual Suspects, for instance, a set might be the interrogation room in the film. sets are usually built for a film, as opposed to shooting on location, where a scene is shot in the actual place in which it occurs in the film. if a film crew shot on location in Venice, Italy, for instance, they might actually be shooting the scene in gondolas on the canals. set is also used generally, however, as a designation for the place where a film is being shot (so even in location shooting, the director would be “on the set” of his or her film every time he or she went to the place where the crew was shooting for that day.)

prop

another term borrowed from theater. a prop is generally any object on a set, though clearly the objects that characters will touch become more important. a trumpet, for instance, might be part of the backdrop in a music store scene, but if a character is going to play the trumpet, the prop takes on more importance

costumes

what the characters are wearing. bear in mind that even if a character is wearing contemporary clothing (in some cases, the actors’ own clothing), that clothing is still considered a costume

lighting

this term refers to the way in which lights are used for a given film. lighting, in conjunction with the camera, sets the visual look for a film

key light

main light used for a scene

back light

refers to a secondary source, usually placed behind the actors

fill

refers to a light placed to the side of the actors

three-point lighting

very common in classical Hollywood films

low-key lighting

means film was shot often using only the key light at a very low setting, low level of lighting creates dark shadows on the faces of actors and is particularly moody when used with black-and-white film. it is most often associated with film noir but is not exclusive to that genre

shot

generally the smallest unit of unbroken film. the camera can move within a shot, but the second that the film makes a transition to another shot, the previous shot has ended. alternatively, when used with certain adjectives, shot also refers to the distance from the camera to the subject, almost always the actor

long shot

or a wide shot, one can see the entire body of the actor

medium shot

one can see the actor from the waist up

close up

one can see only the actor’s face

extreme close up

where you can only see part of the actor’s face (just the eyes, for example)

two shot

generally a medium to medium-long shot of two actors, very common in the classical Hollywood era and continue to be used today

pan

the movement of a stationary camera on a horizontal axis. a camera on a tripod that moves from left to right (following a parade, for instance), would be panning

tilt

the movement of a stationary camera on a vertical axis. a camera on a tripod that moves up and down (following a plane landing, for instance), would be performing a tilt

take

refers to the time a shot is begun to the time it stops. on a film set, a director might have to go through several takes before setting on the shot he or she wants (you have probably seen this in films before, with the clapboard and someone shouting “Take 12” - meaning they have done this shot eleven times before this one). when combined with certain adjectives (in this case long and short), except that a long or short take refers to time, whereas a long shot or close-up refers to distance

short take

might be one or two seconds long, although contemporary films continue to use shorter and shorter takes of less than a single second (making two or three seconds, which sounds like a short amount of time, not very long at all)

long take

refers to a single unbroken shot that lasts for a larger amount of time - thirty seconds, for instance. one extreme recent example of a long take would be Russian Ark, a film shot on digital video using a single, very long take for the entire film. another more exterme example would be Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, where the director used long takes of several minutes apiece and attempted to hide the cuts by tracking behind character’s backs or pieces of furniture. some directors are also famous for the use of long takes, such as Jean Renoir and Orson Welles

frame

literally, a frame of film refers to the smallest unit of film possible. film frames appear on a film strip, which, when projected, creates the illusion of motion. film is shown at 24 frames per second (or f.p.s., a common abbreviation). in a much looser sense, scholars sometimes talk abou tthe frame to mean the four sides of the film as it is being projected, and they also often use it as a verb (e.g., “The film frames the action in such a way that we can see both characters at once.”)

screen

often used with on or off to refer to what we see within the frame. on-screen action, for instance, is something we can see, wherease off-screen action might be something we hear but which takes place outside the frame. screen refers to the actual physical screen on which we project a film

scene

a series of shots that form a cohesive unit of narrative. for instance, in Rear Window, we might discuss the scene where Grace Kelly kids Jimmy Stewart about not marrying her yet. Films have both acts and scenes, like theater, although they are often less obvious because there are rarely intermissions or accompanying programs in film. screenwriters typically use acts when writing a film. scholars, however, almost never discuss an act of a film, whereas scene is used extensively

sound

everything we hear from the audio track of the film

music

any music that comes from the audio track. music might be diegetic (a song on the radio of a car a character is driving) or nondiegetic (scary music when a villain appears on screen)

diegetic sound

sound that other characters would be able to hear. a song on a radio, for instance, as a character drives down the highway, would be a diegetic sound, as would someone coughing audibly during a scene. it is important to note that diegetic sound is a sound that characters could hear, even if they are not present when that sound occurs. the sound of a radio playing in an apartment, for instance, is a diegetic sound, even if no character is present in the apartment during the scene

nondiegetic sound

sound that characters cannot hear. the two most common types of nondiegetic sound are voiceovers, which is a character’s narration that plays over any given scene, and nondiegetic music, which is music used to inflect the mood of a given scene. creepy horror-movie music, for instance, that plays when a character is walking into an old house, is nondiegetic music, since that character cannot hear the music. sometimes, this effect is parodied (with characters commenting on the scary music playing), and some directors will transition from a nondiegetic sound to a diegetic sound (or vice-versa), as when a song is playing on a radio that then becomes the nondiegetic music even as the characters move into a new scene without the radio in it

ambient sound

this term generally refers to any sounds that are used to establish location. the ambient sound of a scene in a park, for instance, might include birds chirping, children laughing, or a dog barking. the ambient sound of a train station would include the whine of train brakes, the tinny sounds of arrival and departure announcements, and the general noise of people walking and talking