7: Image, Camera, Editing, and Production Mechanics

celluloid

the transparent plastic material called cellulose nitrate, that was originally used in motion picture photography. it is extremely flammable and prone to rapidly deteriorate so it was discontinued for cellulose acetate. celluloid is used to describe both film stock and processed film in general

crane

a camera movement in which the camera moves up and down through space

hand held (shot)

a shot taken from a camera that is small and lightweight enough to be carried by the camera operator, unlike the cameras that are mounted on devices such as tripods or dollies or cranes, lends a jerky quality to handheld shots

iris (in and iris out)

transitional devices between shots and or scenes in which the image appears first as a small circle in the center of the screen and expands outward until it fills the screen or the reverse

master shot

a shot taken from a long distance that includes as much of the set or location as possible and all the characters in the scene

matching

any three ways of diminishing the jarring effect of slicing one shot to another

moving shot

a camera movement that results from the camera shooting from a moving object such as a shot taken out of a train window as the train speeds along, or a shot of the ocean taken from the deck of an ocean liner as its sails

postproduction

the period of filmmaking after shooting has been completed

segmentation

a formal written breakdown of the films narrative into its component parts

shot

the basic element of filmmaking a piece of film run though the camera exposed and developed, an uninterrupted run of the camera or an uninterrupted image on film

steadicam

an apparatus that fits onto a camera operators body, in such a way that when he or she walks the camera which is small and lightweight enough to be carried records a very smooth movement as opposed a hand held camera that records every bump in every step

take

a single attempt to record a shot, a shot may require many takes before the director is satisfied

telephoto lens

a lens that greatly magnifies distant objects the way a telescope does a telephoto lens has shallow depth of field, meaning that only objects in the distance are in focus and everything in front is blurry

three point lighting

a very commonly used lighting setup, consisting of three main light sources—key light fill light and backlight—the effect is a centrally illuminated subject seen in an evenly lit setting and separated visually from the background

transitions

any number of methods by which one shot is linked to the next

wide angle lens

a lens with a wide horizontal field of view, the opposite of a telephoto lens, wide angle lenses have great depth of field, meaning that object are various degrees of distance from the camera can remain in focus, while objects very close or very far away are blurry

zoom

a lens with a variable focal length meaning that it shifts from wide angle to telephoto and back with a tracking shot the whole camera moves whereas with a zoom only parts of the lens but the camera itself remains in place