Film Technique Glossary hodge ap English

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering terms, definitions, and functions related to film techniques including framing, focus, angles, focalization, camera movement, lighting, sound, editing, and mise-en-scène.

The Shot

The building block of all filmmaking; the image you see on-screen until it is replaced by another image through an editing technique.

Framing

How the object will be positioned within the shot, offering almost unlimited variations.

Long Shot

A shot in which the on-screen object appears small or seen from some distance away; gives the viewer a sense of time and place and allows them to decide where to look.

Establishing Shot

A shot used when a long shot remains onscreen long enough to establish setting.

Close-up (Head Shot)

A shot where the on-screen object appears large, taking up approximately 80% of the screen; forces the viewer to look at what the director intends, being intimate, revealing, intrusive, and authoritative.

Medium Shot

A shot positioned between a long and close shot; considered the most common and naturalistic shot.

Soft Focus

A focus setting that is ever-so-slightly out of focus; can create a lighter mood (love, sadness, reminiscence) or uncertainty.

Rack Focus

A focus technique that brings either the background or the foreground into sudden focus to shift the viewer's attention to one thing without cutting away.

Deep Focus

A focus technique where all objects, both background and foreground, remain in focus; serves as a way of shifting the viewer's attention without cutting away.

Low Angle

A shot in which the camera is placed below the subject; characters shot from this angle tend to appear more powerful.

High Angle

A shot in which the camera is placed above the subject; characters shot from this angle appear weak and vulnerable.

Eye Level

A neutral shot in which the camera and the subject are on the same level.

Dutch Angle/Tilt

A shot in which the camera is slightly canted, or tilted; used to indicate tension, conflict, uncertainty, or danger.

Focalization

A way of defining and/or manipulating the audience's point of view in a shot.

Subjective Focalization

A shot or series of shots that aligns the audience with one character's (the subject's) point of view; shows what one character sees or is able to see.

Authorial Focalization

The filmmaker's way of using framing, focus, camera angle, or movement to give the viewer information a character might not have; creates dramatic irony.

Pan

A camera movement where the camera pivots along the horizontal axis, looking left to right or vice versa; often used to introduce a setting or observe characters taking in surroundings.

Whip Pan

A pan movement executed so fast that the picture blurs beyond recognition; often accompanied by a "whoosh" sound.

Tilt

A camera movement where the camera tilts along the vertical axis, looking up to down or vice versa; often used to communicate distance, size, or strength.

Zoom

A camera technique where the focal length of the lens changes to make an object grow or shrink in size; directs audience attention to a detail the director feels is crucial.

Dolly Zoom (Vertigo Effect)

A shot where the camera physically moves at the same speed and in the opposite direction in which the lens is changed; often indicates psychological distress, tension, distortion, or unreality.

Arc

A shot in which the subject is circled by the camera; often used in sequences of intense questioning or ordeals where the subject is the focus of chaos or stress.

Tracking or Dolly Shots

Shots during which the camera physically moves in accordance with on-screen action, bringing the audience into the action rather than leaving them as spectators.

Low-Key Lighting

Lighting distinguished by darkness, shadows, and patches of bright key light; creates moods of suspicion, mystery, and danger.

High-Key Lighting

Lighting distinguished by brightness, openness, and lack of shadows or contrasts; used to show revelation, openness, clear seeing, and absence of threat.

Neutral Lighting

Lighting that is even and balanced throughout the shot.

Bottom/Side Lighting

Lighting that illuminates only part of a subject (often a face); indicates characters who may be evil, deceptive, ambiguous, or conflicted.

Front Lighting

Lighting where no shadows appear; demonstrates innocence, openness, revelation, or confession.

Diegetic Sound

Sound that can logically be heard by a character within the movie environment, such as background noise, traffic, or dialogue.

Nondiegetic Sound

Sound that cannot logically be heard by a character within the movie environment, such as soundtracks/music or voice-over narration.

Internal Diegetic Sound

Sound which only one character can hear while other characters do not.

Editing

The methods by which a director moves from one shot to another.

Cut

A sudden but inconsequential transition from one shot to another; the most common editing technique in film.

Fade

An editing technique where the on-screen image fades to black for a period of time and is slowly replaced by another image; often indicates the passage of time or end of a segment.

Dissolve

An editing transition where an image slowly fades directly into another image fading in at the same time; often makes a connection between two objects or characters.

Crosscut (Parallel Editing)

An editing technique showing clips of separate places quickly transitioning back and forth; creates suspense and establishes linkages between characters, themes, or plots.

Flashback and Flash-Forward

An editing convention designed to give the viewer important information about past events; can include verbal signals (such as "I remember when…") or shot dissolves.

Eye-Line Match

A sequence of three or more shots comprising a shot of a character, a shot of what the character sees (subjective focalization), and a shot of the character's reaction; develops tension, suspense, and characterization.

Long Take

A shot that lasts more than twenty or thirty seconds; can create a calmer, more peaceful environment.

Mise-en-Scene

A theatrical term which describes what appears onstage; can refer to sets, costumes, props, lighting, acting, etc.