The Film Experience An introduction Glossary

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above-the-line expenses

A film’s initial costs of contracting the major personnel, such as directors and
stars, as well as administrative and organizational expenses in setting up a film
production

absolute film

A film movement that focused on abstraction in motion in Germany in the 1920s

abstract film

A nonrepresentational experimental film

academy ratio

An aspect ratio of screen width to height of 1.37:1

the standard adopted by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1932 and used by most films until the introduction of widescreen in the 1950s; similar to the standard television ratio of 1.33:1 or 4.

actor

An individual who embodies and performs a film character through speech,
gestures, and movements

actualities

Nonfiction films introduced in the 1890s depicting real people and events through continuous footage

A famous example is Louis and Auguste Lumière’s Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1895)

adaptation

The process of turning a book, television show, play, or other artistic work into a
film

affect

The feelings, emotions, and sensations that arise in the viewer engaging with a
film

agent

An individual who represents actors, directors, writers, and other major
personnel employed by a film production by contacting and negotiating with
writers, casting directors, and producers

alternative film narrative

Film narratives that deviate from or challenge the linearity of classical film
narrative, o􀃗en undermining the centrality of the main character, the continuity
of the plot, or the verisimilitude of the narration

analytical essay

The most common kind of writing done by film students and scholars,
distinguished by its intended audience and the level of its critical language

analytic philosophy

A branch of philosophy that emphasizes logical argument

anamorphic lens

A camera lens that compresses the horizontal axis of a widescreen image onto a
strip of 35mm film or a projector lens that decompresses such an image

ancillary market

A venue other than theatrical release in which a film can make money, such as
foreign sales, airlines, DVD, or on demand

animated musical

A subgenre of the musical that uses cartoon figures and stories to present songs
and music

animation

The use of cinema technology to give the illusion of movement to individual drawings, paintings, figures, or computer-generated images

Animation now encompasses digital imaging techniques

The process traditionally refers to drawing or painting on individual cels or to manipulating three-dimensional objects and then photographing the cels or objects onto single frames of film

anime

Japanese animation, first launched following World War II

antagonist

A character who opposes the protagonist as a negative force in a film

anthology films

Films comprised of segments by different directors

A picture

A feature film with a large budget and prestigious source material or actors that
has been historically promoted as a main attraction receiving top billing in a
double feature

apparatus theory

Jean-Louis Baudry’s theory that ideological assumptions are reproduced through
the impression of reality conveyed by film technology and the viewing situation
itself

apparent motion

The psychological process that explains our perception of movement when
watching films, in which the brain actively responds to the visual stimuli of a
rapid sequence of still images exactly as it would in actual motion perception

archetype

A spiritual, psychological, or cultural model expressing certain virtues, values, or
timeless realities

art director

The individual responsible for supervising the conception and construction of the
physical environment in which the actors appear, including sets, locations, props,
and costumes

art film

A film produced primarily for aesthetic rather than commercial or entertainment
purposes, whose intellectual or formal challenges are o􀃗en attributed to the
vision of an auteur

aspect ratio:

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

television monitor.

asynchronous sound:

Sound that does not have a visible onscreen source; also referred to as offscreen

sound.

augmented reality (AR):

An experience or environment that combines real objects with fabricated design

elements, oen computer-generated. AR experiences can include video and audio

as well as touch and smell.

auteur:

The French term for “author”; the individual credited with the creative vision

defining a film; implies a director whose unique style is apparent across his or her

body of work. See also auteur theory.

auteur theory:

An approach to cinema first proposed in the French film journal Cahiers du cinéma

that emphasizes the director as the expressive force behind a film and sees a

director’s body of work as united by common themes or formal strategies; also

referred to as auteurism.

automated dialogue replacement (ADR):

A process during which actors watch the film footage and rerecord their lines to

be dubbed into the soundtrack. See looping.

avant-garde films:

Aesthetically challenging, noncommercial films that experiment with film forms.

average shot length:

The average duration of time (usually measured in seconds) of individual shots in

a particular movie.

axis of action:

An imaginary line bisecting a scene corresponding to the 180-degree rule in

continuity editing.

backlighting:

A highlighting technique that illuminates the person or object from behind,

tending to silhouette the subject; sometimes called edgelighting.

below-the-line expenses:

The technical and material costs — costumes, sets, transportation, and so on —

involved in the actual making of a film.

benshi:

Storytellers who narrated and interpreted silent films in Japan.

blaxploitation:

A genre of low-budget films made in the early 1970s targeting urban, African

American audiences and featuring streetwise African American protagonists.

Several black directors made a creative mark in a genre that was primarily

intended to make money for its producers.

block booking:

A practice in which movie theaters had to exhibit whatever a studio/distributor

packaged with its more popular and desirable movies; declared an unfair business

practice in 1948.

blockbuster:

A big-budget film, intended for wide release, whose large investment in stars,

special effects, and advertising attracts large audiences and big profits.

blocking:

The arrangement and movement of actors in relation to one another within the

physical space of the mise-en-scène.

Bollywood:

A commonly used name for the popular Hindi-language film industry based in

Mumbai, India, sometimes used to refer to the entire Indian film industry, the

world’s largest.

boom:

A long pole used to hold a microphone above the actors to capture sound while

remaining outside the frame, handled by a boom operator.

B picture:

A low-budget, nonprestigious movie that usually played on the bottom half of a

double bill. B pictures were oen produced by the smaller studios referred to as

Hollywood’s Poverty Row. See A picture.

British New Wave:

A movement of British films between 1959 and 1963 that focused on working-class

realism, discontent, and rebellious youth.

camera height:

The level at which the camera is placed.

camera lens:

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

camera movement:

See mobile frame.

camera operator:

A member of the film crew in charge of physically manipulating the camera,