Film

Basic Film Terms

Extreme Long Shot

A shot of a person dwarfed by their surroundings.

Long Shot/Full Shot

A shot of a person from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet

Medium Long Shot

A shot of a person from the knees up. Also called a cowboy shot

Medium Shot

A shot of a person from the waist up.

Medium Close Up

A shot of a person from the chest up. (2nd button on a button down shirt)

Close-Up

A shot of a person from the shoulders/neck up

Extreme Close-Up

A shot of a part of a person, or an object from very close

Wide Shot

A long shot focused predominantly on the setting

Establishing Shot

A shot that establishes the setting of a scene

Over-The-Shoulder-Shot

A shot of one subject composed over the shoulder of another

Point-Of-View Shot

A shot that seems to display what a character sees

Pan

A camera pivoting from side to side

Tilt

A camera tipping up or down

Dolly

A camera moving in space, specifically on wheels

Track

A camera moving in space, specifically on a track

Push In/Pull Out

A camera moving away from or towards it’s subject

Boom

A camera being lifted up or down in space

Crane

A camera moving while it’s attached to a crane or jib arm

Roll

A camera leaning over

Wide-Angle

A lens that provides a wider angle

Telephoto

A lens that provides a thinner angle of view

Zoom

Shifting camera focal length, camera does not move

Depth of Field

The range of appart focus

Shallow Focus

A shot with a shallow depth field, only one plane appears in focus

Deep Focus

A shot with a deep depth field, everything appears in focus

Rack

Shifting focus between subjects in the foreground and the background

Cut

An instantaneous replacement of one shot with another

Jump Cut

A cut between two shots with similar compositions

Dissolve

A gradual replacement of one shot with another

Fade

A transition from one shot to black

Wipe

A transition between two shots during which both shots appear on screen at the same time without overlapping

Iris

A wipe in the same of a circle

Natural Wipe or Zero Edit

A wipe in which the transition line is invisible or hidden by the mise-en-scene

Montage

A series of rapidly edited shots

Insert

A close-up of an object in the scene

Cutaway

A brief cut to something outside of the team

Shot/Reverse-Shot

The camera cuts between matching shots of two objects

Punch In

Cut from one point of a shot to a closer point

Composite

Putting two shots together in a frame

Narrative

How the story is told

Cinematography

Camera work

Mise-en-scene

Staging the film

Editing

How the shots are put together in a sequence

Sound

What you hear

Performance

The people or objects in the film

The Frame

The boundaries of the screens image

Framing Distance

The apparent distance of the camera from the subject

Composition

The arrangement of visual elements in the frame

Aspect Ratio

Width to height ratio

Diegesis

The narrative world

Shot

Continuous footage between two edit points

Scene

Narrative action in continuous time and space