Film Test Terms

Terms with definition (+ example if included)

form

the overall set of relationships among the film’s parts - patterns of the movie

scene

a section of the movie unified by being in one place at one time

sequence

a series of scenes that form a distinct narrative unit

genre

a stylistic or thematic category of film, i.e. the western, romantic comedy

auteur

a filmmaker with unusual artistic control and personal influence over his or her movies

motif

any significant repeated element that contributes to a film’s overall form

plot

a sequence of events that are usually casually related

anticipatory setup

an image that prepares that audience for something to happen (ex: doorway centrally located suggests that someone will walk through)

proxemic patterns

the relationship of people in a given space

open form

an informal, unobtrusive composition. the frame is de-emphasized, objects cut off seemingly arbitrarily, like a candid photo. an open form shot image can seem uncontrolled, ugly.

closed form

more stylized design, with objects usually placed more exactly in the frame, with a balance of weights, often with a miniature proscenium arch

full front

most intimate, sometimes breaking frame

quarter turn

favored position in movies

quarter turn

more remote, less aware of being observed

three quarter turn

more anonymous, antisocial

back to camera

mysterious, alienated (ex: Cary Grant in Notorious)

top

suggests power and authority

bottom

suggests subservience, vulnerability, and powerlessness

left and right sides

often suggests insignificance, literally close to the darkness

off frame

often threatening, since the audience cannot see

behind a closed door

provokes the viewer’s curiosity, imagination

dominant

where the eye goes first at given moment, often due to lights juxtaposed with darks or color contrasts

subsidiary contrasts

where the eye goes next, with diminishing interest

intrinsic interest

where the eye goes due to story elements, viewer identification (usually face of lead actor)

blocking

arrangement and movement of actors in relation to each other within the mise-en-scene

compositional weights

elements in an image that draw your eye and forms symmetrical or asymmetrical patterns. an image is balanced in the weights when they are evenly distributed

costumes

the clothing and related accessories that a character wears and that define that character

fill lighting

a lighting technique using secondary fill lights to balance the key lighting by removing shadows or to emphasize other spaces and objects in the scene

hard lighting

a high-contrast lighting style that creates hard edges, distinctive shadows, and a harsh effect, especially when filming people

key lighting

the main source of non-natural lighting in a scene. high-key light is even (ratio between key and fill light is high); low-key light shows strong contrast (the ratio between key and fill is low)

lighting

sources of illumination - both natural light and electrical lamps - used to present, shade, and accentuate figures, objects, and spaces, or mise-en-scene

make-up

refers to cosmetics applied to the actor’s body that highlight certain aspects of the face or body or even disguises or distorts that face or body

mise-en-scene

a French theatrical term meaning literally “put on stage”; used in film studied to refer to all the elements of a movie scene that are organized, often by the director, to be filmed and that are later visible onscreen. they include the scenic elements of a movie, such as actors, lighting, sets, costumes, make-up, and other features of the image that exist independently of the camera and the process of filming and editing

natural lighting

light derived from a natural source in a scene or setting, such as the illumination of the daylight sun or firelight

props

objects that function as parts of the sets or as tools used by the actors; shorthand for “property”

right side

more positive; movement to the right is more favorable

left side

more negative; movement to the left is not good

set

a constructed setting that serves as the space in which scenes are shot. sets are often on a studio sound stage, but can consist of a combination of natural and constructed backgrounds

setting

refers to a fictional or real place where the action and events of the film occur

soft lighting

a diffused, low contrast lighting that reduces or eliminates hard edges and shows and can be more flattering when filming people

three-point lighting

a lighting technique common in Hollywood that combines key lighting, fill lighting, and backlighting to blend the distribution of light in a scene

kinetic arts

pantomime, ballet, modern dance - human movement that can be realistic, aesthetic, and/or abstract

movement up

often conveys aspiration, joy, power, and authority

movement down

often conveys grief, death, depression, and weakness

movement towards the camera

conveys strength, withdrawal, lessening of tension, weakness, fear, suspicion

kinetic outburst

explosive outward movement, often climactic

swish pan

when camera moves sideways so quickly, the pictures blurs into indistinct streaks. Citizen Kane has swish pans in the midst of the montage of breakfast scenes with Emily and Charles Kane

realism

the illusion the the film world is unmanipulated - with a minimum of distortion - a term used to describe the extent to which an entire movie creates a convincing or accurate picture of a society, person, or some other dimension of life

formalism

a much more highly artificial form with lots of film techniques on display - director dominated, and with a high degree of manipulation

classical cinema

uses both formalist and realist elements, provides a surface plausibility

expressionist

concerned with depicting psychological truths by distorting the surface of the material world; Notorious has an expressionist scene when Alicia learns that her husband and her mother in law are plotting to kill her, so she sees their shadows merge in a sinister fashion

aerial shot

an exterior shot taken from a plane, crane, helicopter, or a drone

avant-garde

an aesthetic extreme - pure form removed from subject matter, with attempts to create abstract, formal beauty - absolute film

animation

a process that traditionally refers to moving images drawn or painted on individual cells or to manipulated three-dimensional objects, which are photographed onto single frames of film. animation now encompasses imaging techniques

aspect ratio

the width-height ratio of the film frame as it appears on a movie screen or television monitor

backlighting

lit from behind, often creates a halo effect with blond actors especially

camera lens

a piece of curved glass that focuses light rays in order to form an image on film

canted frame

framing that is not level, creating an unbalanced appearance. also called an oblique angle

cinematography

motion-picture photography, literally means “writing in movement”

claymation

a process that uses stop-motion photography with clay figures to create the illusion of movement

close-up

the type of shot that shows details of a person or object, such as a character’s face

color filter

a device fitted to the camera lens to change the tones of the filmed image

cool colors

(blue, green, violet) often conveys tranquility, aloofness, and serenity

warm colors

(red, yellow, orange) conveys aggression, more violent, simulated

computer-generated imagery (CGI)

still or animated images created through digital computer technology. first introduced in 1970s, CGI was used to create feature-length films by the mid 1990s and is widely used for visual effects

crane shot

a shot taken from a camera mounted on a crane that can vary distance, height, and angle

deep focus

a focus in which multiple planes in the shot are all in focus simultaneously; usually achieved with a wide-angle lens

depth of field

the range or distance before and behind the main focus of a shot within which objects remain relatively sharp and clear

dolly shot

when the camera is mounted on a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails. also, called a tracking shot. a pull-back dolly shot can reveal something surprising to the audience

establishing shot

often the exterior of an encompassing view a place to orient the audience earlier in the editing of a scene. sometimes, editors deliberately leave out the establishing shot to set up other tensions in a scene

extreme close-up (ECU)

a framing that is comparatively tighter than a close-up, singling out, for instance, a person’s eyes, or the petal of a flower

extreme long shot

a quarter of a mile or so distance within a shot, usually filmed outside

flare

a spot or flash of white light created by directing strong lighting directly at the lens

framing

the portion of the filmed subject that appears within the borders of the frame; it can correlate with camera distance, e.g., long shot or medium close-up

full shot

just barely includes the full-length human body

handheld shot

a film image produced by an individual carrying the camera, creating an unsteady shot that may suggest the point of view of an individual moving through space

high angle

a shot directed at a downward angle on individuals or a scene

high contrast

harsh streaks of light with dramatic streaks of blackness

high key

bright, even illumination with few shadows

iris-in

an optical effect used as an editing transition that gradually opens from a small, usually circular, portion of the frame to reveal the entire image. it is infrequently used in modern cinema

iris-out

an optical effect used as an editing transition that begins by masing the corners of the frame in black and gradually reduces the image to a small circle. it is infrequently used in modern cinema

long shot

roughly the distance between the audience and a stage, a bit more distance than a full shot

low angle

a shot from a position lower than its subject

low key

diffused shadows and atmospheric pools of light, a darker type of lighting used for noir, gangster films

medium shot

a middle-ground framing in which we see the body of a person from approximately the waist up. there is also the two or three shot (medium shots with one or two people inside of them)

off-screen space

the implied space outside the boundaries of the film frame

onscreen space

space visible within the frame of the image

over the shoulder shot

often used in shot/reverse shot dialogue exchanges

overhead shot

a shot that depicts a scene from above, generally looking down on the subject; the camera may be amounted on a crane

bird’s eye view shot

a shot that depicts a scene from directly overhead, as in the stairs scene in Psycho

pan

a left or right rotation of the camera, whose tripod or mount remains in a fixed position that produces a horizontal movement onscreen

point-of-view (POV) shot

a subjective shot that reproduces a character’s optical point of view often preceded and/or following by shots of the character looking. Psycho includes many POV shots

rack focus (pulled focus)

a dramatic change in focus from one object to another

reframing

the process of moving the frame from one position to another within a single continuous shot, as in the bedroom scene in Psycho

shallow focus

a shot in which only narrow range of the field is in focus

shot

a continuous point of view (or continuously exposed piece of film) that may move forward or backward, up or down, but not change, break, or cut to another point of view or image

slow motion or fast motion

a cinematic special effect that makes the action move at unrealistic speeds (achieved by filming the action faster or slower than normal and then projecting it as standard speeds)

special effects cinematography

a variety of technical processes that alter the filmed image to achieve a visual effect, such as slow motion, color filters, process shots, and matte shots

steadicam

a camera stabilization system introduced in 1976 that allows a camera operator to film a continuous and steady shot without losing the freedom of movement afforded by the handheld camera

stop motion photography

a process that records inanimate objects or actual human figures in separate frames that are then synthesized on film to create the illusion of motion and action