Comprehensive Film Studies: Vocabulary, Form, Genre, and Editing Cartes

Film

A series of moving images that communicates a story, idea, or experience.

Cinema

The art and practice of making and viewing films.

Shot

A continuous piece of film recorded by a camera.

Scene

A section of a film taking place in a particular time and place.

Sequence

A series of related scenes that form a larger part of a film.

Frame

A single image or the boundaries of what the camera captures.

Mise-en-scène

Everything placed in front of the camera and how it is arranged.

Cinematography

The art of creating and controlling the film's photographic images.

Editing

Selecting and arranging shots to create the finished film.

Sound

Audio elements used in a film, including dialogue, music, and effects.

Content

What a film is about or what it communicates.

Form

The way the different elements of a film are organized.

Style

The distinctive way a filmmaker uses cinematic techniques.

Active viewing

Watching a film while paying attention to how it creates meaning.

Film form

The overall system of relationships between a film's different elements.

Motif

A recurring element that has meaning.

Pattern

A repeated arrangement or element in a film.

Repetition

Using the same element more than once.

Variation

Changing an element that has previously been established.

Convention

A commonly recognized technique or feature associated with filmmaking or a genre.

Similarity

A connection between two elements because they share characteristics.

Difference

A contrast between two elements.

Development

The way an element changes or becomes more complex throughout a film.

Progression

A pattern of change that develops throughout a film.

Unity

When the elements of a film work together and feel connected.

Disunity

When elements feel disconnected or deliberately conflict with one another.

Function

The purpose or effect of a particular film element.

Genre

A category of films with recognizable characteristics and conventions.

Genre convention

A feature audiences commonly expect from a particular genre.

Subgenre

A smaller category within a larger genre.

Genre hybrid

A film that combines characteristics of two or more genres.

Documentary

A nonfiction film about real people, events, places, or issues.

Experimental film

A film that challenges traditional filmmaking or storytelling conventions.

Horror

A genre designed to create fear, suspense, shock, or feelings of unease.

Musical

A genre in which singing and dancing are integrated into the story and characters' actions.

Songs

Can communicate emotions, develop characters, or advance the narrative.

Science fiction (Sci-Fi)

A genre that explores imagined scientific or technological developments, often involving space, the future, aliens, or advanced technology.

Western

A genre traditionally set in the American West during the 19th century, often involving frontier life, cowboys, gunslingers, lawlessness, and conflicts over land or justice.

Film noir

A genre/style associated with dark stories, morally ambiguous characters, crime, pessimism, and a visually dark or shadowy style.

Gangster

A genre focusing on organized crime and the people involved in criminal organizations, often exploring power, loyalty, violence, and ambition.

Narrative

A chain of events connected through cause and effect.

Story

All the events that happen in the fictional world of a film.

Plot

The events selected and presented to the audience and their arrangement.

Causality

The relationship between events where one event causes another.

Character

A person, animal, or figure who participates in the narrative.

Protagonist

The central character whose goals drive much of the narrative.

Antagonist

A character or force that opposes the protagonist.

Goal

What a character wants to achieve.

Motivation

The reason a character wants to achieve a goal.

Narration

The way a film provides information about its story.

Restricted narration

When the audience receives limited story information.

Unrestricted narration

When the audience receives more information than one or more characters.

Dramatic irony

When the audience knows something that a character does not.

Point of view (POV)

The perspective from which information is presented.

Flashback

A scene showing an event that happened earlier.

Flash-forward

A scene showing an event that happens later.

Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces that creates a problem.

Exposition

Information that establishes the characters, setting, or situation.

Climax

A major turning point or moment of greatest intensity.

Resolution

The part of the narrative where the main conflicts are concluded or settled.

Narrator

The person, character, or agent who provides information about the story.

First-person narrator

A narrator who is a character in the story and tells the story from their own perspective.

Third-person narrator

A narrator who is outside the story and refers to characters as 'he,' 'she,' or 'they.'

Objective narration

Information is presented without giving us direct access to a character's private thoughts or feelings.

Subjective narration

Information is presented through a character's personal experience or perception.

Voice-over narration

Spoken narration heard over images, usually from a character or narrator who is not currently speaking on screen.

POV shot

A shot that represents what a particular character sees.

Long shot (LS)

Shows a large portion of the subject and its surroundings.

Medium shot (MS)

Usually shows a person from about the waist/chest up.

Close-up (CU)

Shows a subject very closely, often emphasizing the face or an object.

Cut

An immediate transition from one shot to another.

Continuity editing

Editing that makes the action appear continuous and easy to follow.

180-degree rule

Keeping the camera on one side of an imaginary line to maintain spatial consistency.

Montage

A series of shots edited together to compress time or communicate an idea.