Film Terms

Camera Shots

In film editing, a shot is the continuous footage or sequence between two edits or cuts.

Reading a film

like reading a novel or play in terms of narrative elements; however, the language of film creates unique semantic and syntactic features that compose the narrative.

Basic film elements

include camera shots, camera angles, camera movement, edits, lighting, and sound.

ESTABLISHING / LONG / WIDE SHOT

This is a shot that shows the subject within their surrounding environment. tells the audience who is in the scene, where the scene is set, and when the scene takes place Often establishes the setting or atmosphere

CLOSE UP (inc. extreme & medium)

A type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. It is used to draw the audience closer and to involve them in what is happening. Also used to observe reactions and emotions.

Medium Shot

A camera angle shot from a medium distance. It is Used to show more detail – often of interaction between characters.

Focus

central point of attraction or attention. is manipulated to highlight certain parts of a shot, guiding the viewer’s attention and creating different effects.

Point of View

enables a viewer to see a scene through the eyes of a particular character. It provides a single, personal, perspective of the action.

Camera Angles

describes the relationship between the location at which the movie camera or video camera is placed and the subject of a shot.

High Angle

A cinematic technique where the camera looks down on the subject from a high angle and the point of focus often gets "swallowed up". Often makes the subject look vulnerable, isolated or powerless.

Low Angle

This is a shot from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up. Psychologically, the effect of the low-angle shot is that it makes the subject look strong and powerful.

STRAIGHT ON or EYE LEVEL

When the level of your camera is placed at the same height as the eyes of the characters in your frame. does not require the viewer to see the eyes of the actor, nor does the actor need to look directly into the camera for a shot to be considered eye level. The shot is normal in relation to the subject.

AERIAL SHOT

taken from a vantage point above what is framed in the shot. It gives a clear view of the action and is often used to emphasise a spectacle.

Camera Movement

This term refers to the way in which the camera follows the action. It shapes the viewer's perspective of space and time and controls the delivery of narrative information.

Pan

Camera moves horizontally across/around the scene.

Crane

Camera above the action.

Handheld

Camera used without a tripod. This produces an immediacy and a feeling of excitement.

Tilt

the camera moves up or down.

Zoom

The filmed object will then increase in apparent size, and fewer objects become visible on film. The filmed object will shrink in apparent size, and more objects come into view. is used to involve the audience and focus on the expression of a character.

Tracking Shots

the camera moves along a track beside, in front of or behind the subject of the shot e.g. alongside athletes in a race.

Dolly

a wheeled cart that enables smooth horizontal camera movements. As with tracking shots, moving the camera in relation to the subject of a shot will create effects. By combining movement with the use of zoom, further effects can be created

CAMERA MOVEMENT & EMOTION

The position of the camera in relation to the subject of a shot greatly influences mood. Adding movement to directly manipulate that relationship is very effective as a means to control and manipulate the viewer’s emotional response to a work.

Editing

the process of manipulating the component pieces of the work in order to prepare the final version. This process involves the deleting, arranging, and splicing of all the individual sections of film / video & sound from each shot and synchronizing everything with the soundtrack.

SPEED OR PACE OF EDITS

The length of the shots and the way in which shots change guides the viewer’s emotional response to the scene. Editing will control the pace and flow of action within a sequence and will create & enhance moods e.g. fast cuts for action or to create suspense.

JUMP CUT or CUT AWAY SHOT

when a single shot is broken with a cut that makes the subject appear to jump instantly forward in time. ... They are seen as a violation to typical continuity editing, which seeks to give a seamless appearance of time and space to the story. Camera moves to a significant object or close-up

SIMPLE STRAIGHT CUT

A cut is where one shot is instantly replaced with another usually from a different camera angle. the continuation of one shot too another in the same place and at the same time. Used to create smooth continuity of events and ‘normality’.

FADE TO BLACK or DISSOLVE

One image is slowly brought in underneath to indicate the end of an event – gives time for audience to think about what has happened.

Montage

A series of short, interrelated shots used to convey the passage of time, plot progression, or information.

Lighting

the way in which the amount, size, color, and harshness of light in a scene in a shot is controlled or manipulated in order to achieve specific dramatic and emotional effects.

LOW-KEY lighting

has greater contrast between the dark and light areas of the image with a majority of the scene in shadow (creating contrast).

High-key lighting

reduces the lighting ratio in the scene, meaning there's less contrast between the darker tones and the brighter areas (More natural lighting).

USE OF COLOUR / TINTS

This is the process of adding colour to black-and-white film, usually by means of soaking the film in dye and staining the film emulsion. The effect is that all of the light shining through is filtered, so that what would be white light becomes light of some colour. Colour effects enhance mood or setting

Sound

This refers to any music, dialogue, effects, ambient noise, and/or ground noise within the work as well as its soundtrack.

Incidental Music

The use of music to highlight the mood/emotion/tension.

Diegetic Sound

Sound which is recorded with the image or added later to give the impression it is part of the natural sound of the scene.

NON - DIEGETIC SOUND

Sound whose source is not visible on the screen or implied to be present in the action of the film. For example: incidental music, voice of the narrator.