Cinema studies

180 rule

Also known as the axis of action, the 180 rule is a continuity approach to editing that dictates that the camera should stay on one side of the action. This is done to ensure consistent left-right spacial relations between elements from shot to shot.

Abstract form

A type of filmic organization in which parts relate to one another through repetition and variation of such visual qualities as shape, colour, rhythm, and direction of movement.

Associational form

A type of organization in which the film's parts are juxtaposed to suggest similarities, contrasts, concepts, emotions, and expressive qualities.

Asynchronous sound

Sound that is not match temporally with the movements occurring in the image. For example, when dialogue is out of sync with lip movement.

Axis of action

In continuity editing, the imaginary line that passes through the actors or the principal movement and moves from left to right. The camera is not supposed to cross the axis of a cut.

Film form

The overall system of relationships among the parts of a film. This constructs film elements to make them understandable.

What are the 4 principles of film form?

Function, similarity/repetition, difference/variation, development, unity/disunity.

Narrative

A chain of events linked by cause and effect and occurring in time.

Narration

The process through which the plot conveys or withholds story information. This is how the film prompts viewers to align the story that is told through space and time.

Elements of mise-en-scene

Setting, props, costume/makeup, staging, blocking, and acting.

Mise-en-Scene

Meaning "placing of the scene", all of the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed: the settings and props, lighting, costumes and makeup, and figure behavior.

Deep Space Staging

An arrangement of mine-en-scene elements so that there is considerable distance between the plane closest to the camera and the one furthest away. Any or all of these elements may be in focus.

4 major aspects of lighting

Quality, direction, source and colour.

Planimetric compositions

Cinematographic technique where the camera is positioned perpendicular to a flat surface.

Focal Length

The distance from the centre of the lens to. the point at which the light rays meet in sharp focus. The focal length determines the perspective relations of the space represented on the flat screen.

Depth of Field

The measurements of the closest and farthest planes in front of the camera lens between which everything will be in sharp focus.

Framing

The use of edges of the film frame to select and to compose what will be visible onscreen.

How is framing constructed?

Aspect ratio, onscreen/offscreen space, camera position, and camera distance.

Mobile Framing

Allows a filmmaker to change distance during a shot, which makes the audience feel like they are moving with the character.

What are the kinds of mobile framing?

Pan, tilt, tracking shot, crane, and handheld.

Handheld

A mobile framing type where the camera is held by hand and is moved in jerky movements.

What are the 4 components of the 180-degree rule?

Consistent eyelines, screen direction, spatial relations, and schema.

Pan

A camera movement with the camera body turning to the right or left. On the screen, it produces a mobile framing that scans the space horizontally.

Tilt

A camera movement with the camera body swivelling upward or downward on a stationary support, It produces a mobile framing that scans the space vertically.

Tracking shot

A mobile framing that travels through space, forward, backwards or laterally.

Crane

A shot with a change in framing accomplished by placing the camera above the subject and moving through the air in any direction.

What are the types of shot transition?

Cut, fade in/out, dissolve, wipe, and iris out/in.

What are the types of relations in film editing?

Graphic, rhythmic, spatial, and temporal relations.

Continuity editing

The most commonly used editing technique in commercial film. It is a system of cutting used to maintain continuous and clear narrative action. It relies on matching screen direction, position, and temporal relations.

What are the ways film sound can be characterized?

Loudness, pitch, and timbre.

What are examples of similarity and repetition in film form?

Parallelism and motifs.

Story

All the events we see and hear plus all the inferred and assumed events arranged in their chronological order, duration, frequency, and spatial relations.

Plot

All the events directly presented to us in a film, they may be presented out of chronological order. The viewer interprets the plot to construct a film’s story.

Diegesis

The film’s constructed world.

High-key lighting

Illumination that creates comparatively little contrast between the light and dark areas of the shot. Shadows are fairly transparent and filled with bright light.

Low-key lighting

Illumination that creates strong contrast between light and dark areas of the shot with deep shadows and little fill light.

Three-point lighting

A common arrangement using three directions of light on a scene: from behind, from one bright source, and from a less bright source balancing the key light.

Key light

In three point lighting, the brightest illumination coming into a scene.

Fill light

Illumination from a source less bright than the key light, used to soften deep shadows in a scene.

Rack focus

Where focus is shifted from one plane to another during a shot.

Superimposition

The exposure of more than one image on the same film strip or in the same shot.

Canted Framing

A view in which the frame is not level: either the right or the left side is lower than the other causing images to seem slanted in an upright position.

Mask/iris

An opaque screen placed in the camera or printer that blocks part of the frame off and change the shape of the photographed image, leaving part of the frame a solid colour.

Split-screen imagery

A shot in which which two or more images are juxtaposed and projected simultaneously on the screen.

Long take

A shot that continues for an unusually lengthy amount of time.

Cut

An instantaneous change from one scene to another.

Fade in/Out

A shot that gradually brightens as it appears/gradually darkens as it disappears.

Iris out/in

A round, moving mask that can close down to end a scene or can open to begin a scene.

Flashback

A narrative technique of interrupting the chronological sequence of events to interject events of earlier occurrence.

Flashforward

An alteration of the story order in which the plot presentation moves forward to future events and then returns to the present.

Elliptical editing

Shot transitions that omit plot events, causing an ellipsis in plot duration.

Jump cut

An elliptical cut that appears to be an interruption of a single shot. Either figures or the background change while the other remains constant.

Overlapping editing

Cuts that repeat part or all of an action and thus expanding its viewing and plot duration.

Shot/reverse shot

Two or more shots that alternate characters, typically in a conversation situation.

Eyeline match

A cut in which the first shot shows a person looking off in one direction and the second shows what they are seeing. If the person looks left, the next shot should be to the right.

Match on action

A cut that splices two different views of the same action together at the same moment in the movement making it continue uninterrupted.

Cross cutting/Parrallel editing

Editing that alters shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously.

Sound fidelity

How faithful a sound is to the source from which the audience logically conceives it.

Sound envelope

The initial attack, sustaining time, and decay of a sound.

Sound bridge

At the beginning of one scene, the sound from the previous scene carries over briefly before the sound from the new scene begins and vice versa.

Dialogue overlap

Arranging the cut so that bits of dialogue coming from shot A is heard under a shot that shows another character or another element of the scene.

Style

The repeated and salient uses of film techniques characteristic of a single film or a group of films.

Range of narration

The range of information the viewers are given about the events of the film. Can either be restricted or unrestricted,

Depth of narration

What kind of information the audience is given about the films events. Can be subjective or objective depending on the source.

What are the kinds of documentary film?

Expository, observational, participatory, and reflexive.

Expository film

“Classic documentary” style where a narrative voice tells us what we need to know about the images and visuals we are being shown.

Observational film

A documentary style wherein the camera is observing autonomous events with no intervention from the filmmaker.

Participatory mode

A documentary style where the filmmaker intervenes in the proceedings of the film and has an active role in the story.

Categorical form

A type of filmic organization in which the parts treat distinct subsets of a topic.

Cel animation

Animation that uses a series of drawings on a piece of celluloid. Slight changes between the drawings create the illusion of movement.

Rhetorical form

A type of filmic organization in which parts create and support an argument.

Defamiliarization

The filmic technique of making everyday objects appear strange and unfamiliar to disturb normal perception.

Reflexive mode

A documentary mode in which the processes of negotiation between filmmaker and viewer become the focus of attention by drawing attention to the film’s creation.

Direct animation

An animation technique where images are drawn over film stock

Wide angle lens

Lens with a size >35mm which allow for a wide field of view.

Normal Lens

Approximately 50mm lens which flattens an image and creates a lack of depth along the camera axis.

Telephoto lens

Lens with a size <50mm which flattens an image and creates a lack of depth along the camera axis.

Zoom lens

Lenses which allow for a change of focal length and perspective mid-shot.