Film Language and Analysis Flashcards

Practice vocabulary flashcards covering film analysis categories, technical terms, shot scales, points of view, and editing techniques based on the lecture notes.

Film Analysis (Analysis of the text)

An interpretive activity consisting of fragments representing the work, used to understand the work through revealing its signs; it occurs when something is not fully understood and creates a separation between the object and the subject.

Film as Text

Defined by Gianni Rondolino and Dario Tomasi as a set of films, a single film, or a part of a film that presents traits of homogeneity; Paolo Bertetto defines it as formal and significant sets that incorporate complexity.

Referential meaning

The level of meaning that refers to what the film actually tells or depicts.

Symptomatic meaning

A sense or meaning produced without a precise intention.

Soggetto (Subject)

A two-page document outlining the plot and story, including notes on the main characters.

Scaletta

A document that outlines the film scene by scene in summary, often including ideas for the soundtrack.

Sceneggiatura (Screenplay)

The final stage of script development; it is characterized as being fluctuating, unstable, and functional to images and sounds.

Diegesi (Diegesis)

A world populated by characters, places, times, events, feelings, objects, words, noises, and music, within which the story develops according to a causal logic.

Sequenza (Sequence)

The narrative unit of a film.

Inquadratura (Frame/Shot)

The technical unit of a film; a representation in continuity of a certain space for a certain time.

Scena (Scene)

The realization unit or the unit defining the time of the story.

Campo lunghissimo (Extreme Long Shot)

A shot where the environment is very broad and the characters are practically indistinguishable from the setting.

Piano americano (American Shot)

A shot that frames the character from the knees up.

Primissimo piano (Extreme Close-Up)

A shot focusing on the face, typically from the forehead to the mouth.

Totale (Establishing Shot)

A shot where every person in a scene is visible, coordinating the situation and balancing characters and environment.

Particolare vs. Dettaglio

'Particolare' refers to a close-up of a human body part, while 'Dettaglio' refers to inanimate objects.

Focalizzazione (Focalization)

A concept from Todorov regarding the point of view; it can be zero, internal, or external (where the narrator describes the world but not the people's inner thoughts).

Ocularizzazione (Ocularization)

A concept from Jost regarding what we see; categorized as zero, internal primary, or internal secondary.

Fabula vs. Intreccio

Proposed by Russian formalists; Fabula refers to the chronological order of events in the story, while Intreccio (plot) refers to the order in which they are presented in the narrative.

Sommario (Summary)

A temporal relationship where the time of the narrative is less than the actual time of the story events ($\text{Tempo del racconto} < \text{Tempo della storia}$).

Ellissi (Ellipsis)

A temporal relationship where the time of the narrative is zero while the story time continues ($\text{Tempo del racconto} = 0$).

Altezza, Angolazione, e Inclinazione

'Altezza' is the absolute height of the camera; 'Angolazione' is the relationship between the camera and the subject; 'Inclinazione' is the relationship between the camera base and the horizon line.

Fuoricampo (Off-screen space)

A series of elements that are not included in the frame but have a spatial relationship of contiguity with what is visible; it has six dimensions.

Panoramica (Pan)

A camera movement where the camera moves on its own axis (horizontal, vertical, or oblique).

Carrellata (Tracking/Dolly shot)

A camera movement where the camera moves along with its axis, often on tracks, a dolly, or a steadicam.

Key Light

The primary source of light in a scene.

Fill Light

The fill light used to accentuate features and soften shadows.

Back Light (Controluce)

Light placed behind the subject to detach the figure from the background and create a sense of three-dimensionality.

Montaggio (Editing)

The function of articulating diegetic space and time by establishing connections between units according to a narrative project.

Jump-cut

A type of discontinuous editing most common in modern cinema.