HUM 115 Vocab Week 3

Auteur

French term for author, used by film historians in reference to certain directors who develop a reputation as serious artists whose imprint is found in almost every film they make because of recognizable camera styles, rhythms, themes, and symbols

Cinematography

The way the camera tells a story

Documentary

Nonfiction film that usually has a narrator but not a structured storyline

Cut

A director's command that the shooting of a scene must stop; also, when the camera moves from one character to another or from one scene to another

Film noir

French term for a genre of film known for dark settings, cynicism, and emphasis on the seamy side of human nature; the story usually centers on crime in the city investigated by an alienated tough-guy hero

Freeze frame

When the camera suddenly stops in mid-scene and the image becomes a photograph

genre

A category of film, such as romantic comedy, Western, or film noir; recognizing genre helps filmgoers know what to expect about style and content

Close up

Mise-en-scene

The overall visual look of a scene, including placement of actors and props within a space, lighting, costumes, and background

Dissolve

When one scene fades out to be replaced by another; or when the camera, instead of cutting from one scene to another, superimposes the next scene on the present one, then gradually fades out

Elongated moment

Technique associated with Eisenstein in which an action that may be brief in real time is broken into component details and thus lasts longer in screen time

Persona

A characterization identified with a certain actor, such as Humphrey Bogart, often to the point where the public comes to believe the actor and the character are the same person

Slapstick

An enduring style of physical comedy in which characters often suffer mock violence; the term comes from the practice of hitting two sticks together to create the sound of a punch or a slap in early films

tracking shot

The camera on rollers or rails moving in for a close-up or moving outward to display a wider area, such as gradual revelation of the hundreds of dead or dying soldiers in the railway depot scene from Gone with the Wind

Pan

When the camera travels from one character to another, from one object in a room to another, and so on without pausing on anyone or anything