Film Terms

CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • Cinematography

    • The overall visual look of a film created through:

    • Camera work

    • Framing

    • Movement

    • Lenses

    • Focus

    • Lighting

  • Types of Shots

    • Extreme Close-Up (ECU)

    • Presents only part of the face or an object.

    • Close-Up (CU)

    • Fills the screen with an object or figure of significance.

    • Medium Close-Up (MCU)

    • Presents the human figure from the mid-chest up.

    • Medium Long Shot (MLS)

    • Begins to isolate one or more figures; body visible from the knees or ankles up.

    • Long Shot (LS)

    • Renders the central characters as small figures relative to their surroundings.

    • Extreme Long Shot (ELS)

    • Shows a wide view of the setting and places characters in space.

    • Zoom

    • Traverses space by changing the focal length rather than moving the camera.

    • Two Shot

    • Shows two people framed together, usually from the waist up.

    • Camera Angles

    • High Angle: Looks down and weakens the subject.

    • Low Angle: Looks up and empowers the subject.

    • Eye-Level: Neutral perspective.

    • Canted: Tilts the frame to create tension.

    • Focus Techniques:

    • Deep Focus: Keeps objects at different distances in focus using wide-angle lenses and lots of light.

    • Shallow Focus: Isolates one plane of focus while the rest of the image remains blurred.

    • Camera Movements:

    • Pan: Horizontal movement of the camera left or right.

    • Tilt: Vertical movement of the camera up or down.

    • Tracking / Dolly: Camera moves through space with the subject on a wheeled platform.

    • Crane / Boom: Camera moves vertically through space for expressive movement.

    • Steadicam vs Handheld:

      • Steadicam: Smooths human motion.

      • Handheld: Keeps natural shakiness.

    • POV Shot: Shows what a character sees from their position.

    • Unmatched POV: A point of view shot not followed by a reverse shot of the character looking, creating a freer, less anchored perspective.

    • Depth of Field: The span of distance over which the image remains in sharp focus.

MISE-EN-SCÈNE

  • Mise-en-scène: French for “put in the scene”; refers to everything arranged in front of the camera.

  • Set Design: The physical environment where the scene takes place.

  • Props: Objects used in the diegesis that support story and action.

  • Costuming & Makeup: Clothing and appearance that express character, time, class, and identity.

  • Composition and Space: The arrangement of elements within the frame.

  • Character Blocking: The positioning and movement of actors in a scene.

  • Performance: The expression of character through body, voice, and emotion.

  • 3-Point Lighting: A lighting system using key, fill, and back lights.

  • Lighting Styles:

    • High Key: Bright lighting with low contrast and minimal shadow.

    • Low Key: Dark lighting with strong contrast and shadow.

    • Natural Lighting: Lighting that seems to come from real sources in the scene rather than obvious studio lights, creating realism.

EDITING

  • Editing: The process of arranging shots into a meaningful sequence.

  • Transitions:

    • Fade (In / Out): Image gradually appears from or disappears to black.

    • Dissolve: One image overlaps into another to signal a change in time or space.

    • Wipe: One shot replaces another by sliding across the frame.

    • Mask: Covers part of the camera’s field of vision.

    • Iris (In / Out): Circular opening or closing around the image.

  • Types of Cuts:

    • Jump Cut: Abrupt cut that disrupts continuity of time or space.

    • Shot Duration: The length of time a shot lasts before cutting.

    • Establishing Shot: First shot revealing overall space of a scene.

    • 180-Degree Rule: Camera must stay on one side of the action axis to maintain direction.

    • Match on Action: A cut during movement that continues smoothly.

    • Eyeline Match: Character looks off-screen, and next shot shows what they see.

    • Graphic Match: Links shots by similar shapes, colors, or compositions.

    • Shot / Reverse Shot: Alternates views of characters in conversation.

    • Parallel Editing: Cross-cuts between two spaces to show simultaneous action.

    • Discontinuity Editing: Jarring editing that calls attention to cuts.

    • Soviet Constructivism: Theory that meaning is created through editing and the relationship between shots rather than within a single image.

    • Graphic Clash: A cut between two visually opposing shots that disrupts continuity and draws attention to the edit.

HITCHCOCK / NARRATIVE

  • Pure Cinema (Hitchcock): Storytelling through images and montage rather than dialogue.

  • Hitchcock’s Single Set: Restricting space to intensify suspense and attention.

    • Film: Creates meaning through shots and editing.

    • Theater: Creates meaning through continuous space and performance.

  • Visual Patterning: Repetition of visual elements across a film.

  • Parallel Narrative Structures: Multiple storylines unfolding across spaces (e.g., Rear Window).

  • Story vs Plot:

    • Story: All events in chronological order.

    • Plot: How the film presents those events.

  • Sound Types:

    • Diegetic Sound: Sound originating in the story world.

    • Non-Diegetic Sound: Sound added from outside the story world (e.g., music, narration).

  • Narrative Techniques:

    • Flashback: Jumps backward in narrative time.

    • Flashforward: Jumps forward in narrative time.

MONTAGE & THEORY

  • Kuleshov Effect / Experiment: Viewers create meaning from the relationship between shots.

  • Montage (Hollywood System): Condenses time and space through editing patterns.

    • Eisenstein’s Dialectical Montage: Meaning arises from collision of opposing shots.

    • Metric Montage: Cutting based on absolute shot length.

    • Rhythmic Montage: Cutting based on movement in the frame.

    • Tonal Montage: Editing based on mood and emotional tone.

    • Associational Montage: Links images emotionally or symbolically.

    • Intellectual Montage: Editing that communicates abstract ideas and ideology.

CAMERA STYLE & POV

  • Sequence Shot (Roma): A long, continuous take with little or no cutting that allows time and space to unfold naturally.

  • Static Shot: A shot in which the camera does not move, with action happening within the frame.

  • Cybernetic Camera: A camera style that actively explores space through movement instead of remaining fixed.

  • Internal Focalization: The camera aligned with a character’s perception.

  • External Focalization: The camera observes neutrally from outside characters.

FILM MOVEMENTS / ANALYSIS

  • Biographical Analysis: Interpreting a film through the filmmaker’s life.

  • Historical Analysis: Reading a film through social and historical context.

  • Thematic Analysis: Studying recurring ideas and meanings in a film.

  • Italian Neorealism (Formal):

    • Long takes

    • Real locations

    • Non-actors

    • Natural light

  • Italian Neorealism (Social): Focus on working-class life and postwar struggle.

  • Classic Hollywood Cinema: Narrative-driven, continuity-based studio filmmaking.

  • Third Cinema: Political, anti-imperialist, collective cinema of liberation.

  • Imperfect Cinema: Committed cinema valuing social change over polish.

  • Formal Analysis: Analysis of how a film’s style works (camera, editing, sound, mise-en-scène).

  • Social Analysis: Analysis of how a film represents society, power, race, gender, class, and ideology.

  • Historical Analysis: Study of a film within its production moment.

DOCUMENTARY

  • Non-Fiction Film: Film referring to the historical world but still mediated.

  • Documentary: "Telling stories with evidence and argument."

  • Nichols’ 3 C’s:

    • Credible

    • Compelling

    • Convincing

  • Documentary Modes:

    • Expository Mode: Uses direct address and argument.

    • Poetic Mode: Emphasizes mood and pattern over story.

    • Observational Mode: Fly-on-the-wall recording.

    • Participatory Mode: Filmmaker interacts with subjects.

    • Reflexive Mode: Reveals the filmmaking process.

    • Performative Mode: Emphasizes personal experience.

  • Ethnographic Film: Studies culture and people through film.

  • Documentary Modes of Address: Different ways documentaries communicate with viewers.

BROADER CONCEPTS

  • Film as Microcosm: Film reflects social realities and ideology.

  • Realism vs Formalism:

    • Realism: Hides construction.

    • Formalism: Exposes style.

  • Male Gaze: Camera aligns with male power and objectifies women.

  • Voyeurism: Pleasure in watching others.

  • Scopophilia: Sexual pleasure in looking.

  • Fetishism: Fixation on bodies or objects as visual pleasure.

  • Fetishizing: Reducing a person to an object of visual pleasure instead of treating them as a full character.

  • Modeling Desire: Presenting desire through narrative goals and emotional conflict rather than through pure spectacle.

  • Ideology: Values presented as natural and normal.

  • Dominant Ideology: The belief system that supports existing social and political power structures.

  • Hegemony: Power made to seem normal and worth defending.

  • Dialectic: Meaning created through conflict.

  • Colonization: Political and cultural domination.

  • Decolonization: Resistance to and removal of colonial control.

  • Neocolonialism: Control exerted through culture and economy instead of direct occupation.

  • Radical Form / Content: Cinema that challenges dominant style and ideas.

  • Cuts:

    • Jump Cut: Abrupt cut that disrupts continuity of time or space.

    • Shot Duration: The length of time a shot lasts before cutting.

    • Establishing Shot: First shot revealing overall space of a scene.

    • 180-Degree Rule: Camera must stay on one side of the action axis to maintain direction.

    • Match on Action: A cut during movement that continues smoothly.

    • Eyeline Match: Character looks off-screen, and next shot shows what they see.

    • Graphic Match: Links shots by similar shapes, colors, or compositions.

    • Shot / Reverse Shot: Alternates views of characters in conversation.

    • Parallel Editing: Cross-cuts between two spaces to show simultaneous action.

    • Discontinuity Editing: Jarring editing that calls attention to cuts.

    • Soviet Constructivism: Theory that meaning is created through editing and the relationship between shots.

    • Graphic Clash: A cut between two visually opposing shots that disrupts continuity and draws attention to the edit.

  • Transitions:

    • Fade (In / Out): Image gradually appears from or disappears to black.

    • Dissolve: One image overlaps into another to signal a change in time or space.

    • Wipe: One shot replaces another by sliding across the frame.

    • Mask: Covers part of the camera’s field of vision.

    • Iris (In / Out): Circular opening or closing around the image.

  • Hitchcock / Narrative:

    • Pure Cinema (Hitchcock): Storytelling through images and montage rather than dialogue.

    • Hitchcock’s Single Set: Restricting space to intensify suspense and attention.

    • Visual Patterning: Repetition of visual elements across a film.

    • Parallel Narrative Structures: Multiple storylines unfolding across spaces.

    • Story vs Plot:

      • Story: All events in chronological order.

      • Plot: How the film presents those events.

  • Montage & Theory:

    • Kuleshov Effect / Experiment: Viewers create meaning from the relationship between shots.

    • Montage (Hollywood System): Condenses time and space through editing patterns.

    • Eisenstein’s Dialectical Montage: Meaning arises from the collision of opposing shots.

    • Metric Montage: Cutting based on absolute shot length.

    • Rhythmic Montage: Cutting based on movement in the frame.

    • Tonal Montage: Editing based on mood and emotional tone.

    • Associational Montage: Links images emotionally or symbolically.

    • Intellectual Montage: Editing that communicates abstract ideas and ideology.

  • Camera Style & POV:

    • Sequence Shot (Roma): A long, continuous take with little or no cutting that allows time and space to unfold naturally.

    • Static Shot: A shot in which the camera does not move, with action happening within the frame.

    • Cybernetic Camera: A camera style that actively explores space through movement.

    • Internal Focalization: The camera aligned with a character’s perception.

    • External Focalization: The camera observes neutrally from outside characters.