Glossary

IB Film Glossary Chambless / Lehman

Students should be familiar with the following cinematic words and phrases.

Allusion A brief & indirect reference to a person, object, place or event which is not actually explicitly mentioned. They are typically achieved by drawing on a body of general information or knowledge that the director presumes the viewer is aware of.

Ambient Sound Natural background noise on television, film or radio. In the same manner, ambient light refers to natural, available light that is not enhanced in any way. (Diegetic) Provides continuity between shots & dialog & establishes mood of a scene.

Aperture An adjustable opening in a photographical device which limits the amount of light passing through a lens to a film frame or digital sensor. Reducing aperture increases depth of field & the opposite holds true for depth of field decrease for enlarged aperture.

Audience All those who receive or interact with any media product. A target audience is the group of people to whom a product is particularly aimed.

This may be identified as either “mass” (or mainstream) if it is targeted at a very large number of people, or “niche” if it is targeted at a smaller, more specific group of people.

Balance An aspect of mise en scene which describes a state of compositional evenness or proportion. Balance can be achieved in various forms, ie., symmetrical presence of characters/objects, color, light, form, etc.

Body Language Instinctual outward gestures that communicate thought, feelings & emotions to another. This includes facial expressions & other gestures that people use to instinctively communicate their emotions in a non-verbal way. While some body language codes are universal, others (primarily to rules of behavior) differ from culture to culture & can be quite radical.

Buzz Track A soundtrack of natural, atmospheric, on-location background noise that is added to the re-recorded (or looped) track of actors' dialogue & other sound effects recordings to create a more realistic sound. Aka referred to as room tone or matching ambient sound; a wild track or sound refers to a soundtrack w/o any synchronized picture accompanying it (e.g., the sounds of a playground)

Camera Angle The position of the camera in relation to the main subject. It could be a high angle, low angle, worm’s-eye view or aerial view.

Camera Distance A classification system for shots & determines the amount of subject matter that is visible in the frame. The relation is to the “apparent:” distance between the camera lens & the filmed subjects.

Camera Height The position of the camera above the ground & in relation to the subject.

Camera Movement Fixed Movement (mounted on a tripod), Mobile Camera (able to move

anywhere in physical space) & Apparent Movement (focal distance movement – zoom)

Catch Light The reflection of a light source in a subject’s eye.

Chiaroscuro Strong contrasts between lit & shady areas also referred to as low key lighting.

Chromatic Aberration An optical aberration caused by a lens bringing different colors of light to

focus at different points. A color fringing around your subject.

Cinematographer The person responsible for camera and lighting. Often referred to as the

“director of photography - DP”. Jointly responsible for artistic & technical aims in relation to the film.

Closure Makes the story largely complete, ties up loose ends, answers questions. IE. the happy ending.

Color Brightness The luminosity of a pure color without modification by adding black or white.

Black shades a color & white tints a color. Tinting pushes color towards pastel.

Color Quality or Hue Pure colors as on the color wheel not broken down by any other color. These

are of the highest luminosity, vividness & saturation.

Color Scheme A limited selection of colors. Two to three colors brought together for creative harmony in imagery. From these tints, shades & saturations can be endless.

Complementary Contrast Colors opposite on the color wheel. Mixed together, they desaturate each

other toward grey (loss of luminosity). Placed side by side they appear brighter/contrast is strongest but marked by a sense of unity.

Composition The arrangement of the elements of the mise en scene within the frame & the camera parameters employed in the respective shot. Whether it is some special formal balance or implied design, it is said that every shot must be comprised in some way. Considerations: use of space, directionality, leading lines, geometric shapes, balance or symmetry.

Continuity Editing Sometimes referred to as “invisible” or “academic” editing, this is the unobtrusive style of editing developed by Hollywood that is still the basis of most commercial productions. The basis of continuity editing is to cut on action so that the whole sequence looks natural.

Cutaway A brief shot (a related action, object or person) that interrupts the action of the main shot then cuts back to the main shot/action to continue narrative. The Cutaway is not covered by the master shot! They are used to hide discontinuity, emphasize or introduce something or show simultaneous events. Could also be esthetic.

Day for Night Simulation of night scenes by using special filters or manipulation of ISO & post production techniques that allows shooting scenes during daytime. Also, known as nuit amèricaine (American night)

Depth of Field Elements are placed along very different depth planes of the image (i.e. foreground, middle ground and background) all be in focus at the same time, thus giving the audience a choice about what to look at rather than limiting their attention to specific focused elements. A relatively large depth of field is one of the technical conditions for deep focus, which can be achieved using wide-angle lenses.

Depth of Focus Distance in front of the camera which all elements are in sharp focus. The extent to which the space that is presented in focus.

Diegetic / Non-diegetic Sound Diegetic sound is that which appears to come from a recognizable source

within the narrative world of a film, radio or television text.

Non-diegetic sound is that which appears to come from a source unconnected to the narrative world of a text. An example of non-diegetic

sound would be a film musical score. Diegetic sound would be the sound of crashing waves on cliffs or birdsong, even though these may be added in post-production.

Digital The conversion of sound and visual to transmit information in a code using the numbers zero and one.

Directing the Eye Using light and dark lighting and frame composition to emphasize what is

important.

Discovery Shot / Reveal When the moving or panning camera unexpectedly comes upon or

'discovers' an object or person previously undisclosed to the viewer.

Directionality OR Screen Direction It’s said that every object in a frame that isn’t static has a directional property.

Directionality can help drive the emotional or psychological state of the audience. This describes movement of subjects, objects & even the camera within the frame & can be implemented with different axes & vectors such as:

1. Vertical 2. Horizontal 3. Diagonal 4. Z-Axis

Dubbing A process whereby sound is added to film. This may take the form of adding music or additional sound to dialogue, or it may refer to the addition of an entire soundtrack, including dialogue.

Editing the process of selecting, assembling, arranging, collating, trimming, structuring & splicing-joining together many separate camera takes (includes sound also) of exposed footage (or daily rushes) into a complete, determined sequence or order of shots (or film) - that follows the script. Digital

editing refers to changing film frames by digitizing them and modifying them electronically; relational editing refers to editing shots to suggest a conceptual link between them; an editor works in a cutting room; the choice of shots has a tremendous influence upon the film's final appearance. An editor is a cross between a short order cook & a brain surgeon.

Ellipsis The shortening of the plot duration achieved by deliberately omitting intervals or sections of the narrative story or action; an ellipsis is marked by an editing transition (a fade, dissolve, wipe, jump cut or change of scene) to omit a period or gap of time from the film's narrative.

Epilogue A short, concluding scene in a film in which characters (sometimes older) reflect on the preceding events.

Episode A self-contained segment or part of an anthology film or serial; a number of separate and complete episodes make up an episode film.

Episodic A film that is composed of a series of loosely-related segments, sections, or episodes, with the same character(s).

Exposition The conveyance (usually by dialogue or action) of important background information for the events of a story; or the set-up of a film's story, including what's at stake for the characters, the initial problem, and other main problems.

Eyeline Match A cut between two shots that creates the illusion of the character (in the first shot) looking at an object (in the second shot). Eye-line matches help establish & stabilize spatial continuity.

Flashback or Flash forward A filmic technique that alters the natural order of the narrative; a flashback

may often be the entire film; it takes the story order back chronologically in time to a previous or past event, scene, or sequence that took place prior to the present time frame of the film; the flashbacked story that provides background on action & events is often called the backstory.

Flash forward: a filmic technique that depicts a scene, event or shot taking place (or imagined) or expected that is projected into a future time beyond the present time of the film, or it can be a flash forward from the past to the present.

Focus Refers to the degree of sharpness or distinctness of an image (or an element of an image such as a person, object, etc.); as a verb, it refers to the manipulation or adjustment of the lens to create a sharper image; terms related are deep focus, shallow focus (very common in close-ups), soft focus, & rack focusing

Foley In the post-production & editing stage of a film's production, the foley artist (named after pioneer Jack Foley) creates or adds sound effects/noises (e.g., footsteps, gunshots, kisses, punches, storm noises, slamming doors, explosions, etc.) to the film as it is projected, often with props that mimic the action.

Foreshadowing To supply hints (in the form of symbols, images, motifs, repetition, dialogue or mood) within a film about the outcome of the plot, or about an upcoming action that will take place, to prepare the viewer for later events, revelations, or plot developments; also, ominous music often foreshadows danger or builds suspense.

Form The structure, or skeleton, of a text and the narrative framework around which it is based. For example, a feature film commonly has a three-act structure. Some structures are determined by a genre and its corresponding codes and conventions.

Forth Wall Refers to the imaginary, illusory invisible plane through which the film viewer or audience is thought to look through toward the action; the barrier between the fictional world of the film's story and the "real world" of the audience is shattered - when an actor speaks directly to the viewers by making an aside.

Frame As a noun, this refers to the single area on a strip of film that holds a single image (or a single still image on video). As a verb, it means to adjust the position of the camera or to adjust the camera lens to compose the required image. An image can be framed to construct a close-up shot, long shot or medium shot.

Framing The way a shot is composed & the way subjects & objects are surrounded ('framed') by the boundaries or perimeter of the film image, or by the use of a rectangle or enclosing shape (such as a shadow, mirror, door or hallway) within the film image.

F- Stop The scale measurement of the size of the opening of the iris (the opening that lets light in) on a lens; common f-stops are 1.4, 2, 2.8, 3.2, 3.5, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 & 22; the smaller the number, the larger the opening & the more light that is allowed.

Gaffer The chief or head electrician or supervisory lighting technician in the film/photography crew on a movie set, responsible for the design & execution of a production's lighting on the set. The gaffer's right-hand assistant is known as the best boy.

Genre The classification of any media text into a category or type, for example: news, horror, documentary, soap opera and so on. Genres tend to have identifiable codes and conventions that have developed over time and for which audiences may have developed particular expectations. Media texts that are a mixture of more than one genre are called “generic hybrids”.

Grip The crew member responsible for setting up dolly tracks & camera cranes, erecting scaffolding, moving props or scenery, or the adjustment or maintenance of any other production equipment on the set - a physically demanding job. The key grip is the head grip who coordinates all the other grips in the crew & receives direction from the gaffer or head lighting technician. The key grip's right-hand assistant is known as the best boy grip.

Highlighting The use of thin beams of light to illuminate selected or limited parts of the subject (e.g., an actress' eyes).

In-camera Editing Filming in the exact order required for the final product, thereby eliminating

the post-production editing stage; requires advanced planning to tell the desired story in order; aka in-camera effects, such as double-exposures, split- screen shots, rear-screen and front-projection process shots, etc.

Insert A brief shot (a related action, object or person) that interrupts the action of the main shot then cuts back to the main shot/action to continue narrative. The Insert is covered by the master shot but emphasizes different aspect due to different framing. Points out an important detail or foreshadows something to come with the camera’s full attention.

Intercut Shots Refers to a series of shots, consisting of two simultaneous events, that are alternated together to create suspense. They can appear to occur simultaneously (cross-cutting) or at different times (parallel editing).

Interlude A brief, intervening film scene or sequence, not specifically tied to the plot that appears within a film.

Juxtaposition The contiguous positioning of either two images, characters, objects, or two scenes in sequence, to compare & contrast them, or establish a relationship between them.

Kuleshov Effect A montage effect demonstrated by Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in 1918 that demonstrates the guiding of the audience’s perceptions & enhance the emotional impact of a scene through specific editing techniques laying the same image of an actor to various other images.

L-Cut (& J-Cut) A digital film editing term, also known as a split edit, J-cut or delayed edit; it refers to a transitional edit in which the audio and video edit do not start at the same time; the audio starts before (or after) the picture cut.

Leitmotif An intentionally-repeated, recurring element or theme associated with a particular person, idea, milieu, or action. The element presents itself as a repeated sound, shot, bit of dialogue, piece of music, etc., that helps unify a film by reminding the viewer of its earlier appearance. Think Darth Vader’s breathing.

Location Sound Recording background sound on location, to improve the film's realism; also, known as a buzz track.

Logline A short, introductory summary of a film, usually found on the first page of the screenplay, to be read by executives, judges, agents, producers & script- readers; all screenwriters use loglines to sell their scripts; also, known

as premise.

Magic Hour The optimum time for filming romantic or magical scenes due to 'warm' & 'soft' lighting conditions, characterized by a golden-orange hue color; occurs for about 30 minutes around the time of sunset & sunrise; aka golden hour.

Master Shot A continuous shot or long take that shows the main action or setting of an entire scene (most scenes are shot with one or two master angles & then

broken up into a series of smaller or tighter angles during editing (such as one-shots, two-shots, close-ups & reaction shots)).

Metaphor A filmic device in which a scene, character, object &/or action may be associated, identified, or interpreted as an implied representation of something else (that is unrelated).

Mise-en-scene Literally, everything that is “put in the scene”, or put in the frame to be photographed (appropriate to the time and era portrayed). This usually includes production design, set, location, actors, costumes, make-up, gesture, proxemics and blocking, extras, props, use of color, contrast and filter.

Lighting is often included within mise-en-scène. Camera shot composition; framing, angle and movement are also sometimes referred to as mise-en-shot.

Montage The term is taken from the French “to assemble”. It has several meanings in the context of film and is not exclusively used to refer to “Soviet Montage”. (1) It is used as a synonym for editing. (2) In Hollywood cinema, it means to edit a concentrated sequence using a series of brief transitions creating the effect of the passage of time or movement over large distances or for expressionistic moods. (3) Thematic or “Soviet” montage was developed by Sergei Eisenstein by arranging striking juxtapositions of individual shots to suggest an idea that goes beyond meanings within an individual shot. He called this “collision montage”. (4) Any sequence that creates a particularly significant effect mainly through its editing.

The shower scene in Psycho would be such an example.

Motif A recurrent thematic element in a film that is repeated in a significant way or pattern; examples of motifs - a symbol, stylistic device, image, object, word, spoken phrase, line, or sentence within a film that points to a theme.

Narrative The way in which a plot or story is told, by whom and in what order.

Flashbacks, flash forwards, parallelism and ellipsis may be used as narrative devices. Tsvetan Todorov, Bordwell and Thompson and Robert McKee have all presented interesting ideas about narrative development.

Negative Space Parts of the frame or an area within frame that are/is left blank intentionally bringing strong emphasis to another subject in the composition allowing importance & weight to prevail.

Pre-Production The entire range of preparations that takes place before a film or television program can begin shooting.

Production Either the product itself or the actual process of filming.

Post-Production The period and the processes that come between the completion of principal photography and the completed film or program. This includes the editing of a film or program, along with titles, graphics, special effects and so on.

Primary Research Research information or data that you collect yourself. Sources for this may

include interviews, questionnaires, analysis of films or television programs that you undertake yourself. (See also secondary research.)

Qualitative Research Research undertaken through observation, analyzing texts and documents,

interviews, open-ended questionnaires and case studies. It is reasoned argument that is not based upon simple statistical information. Overall, qualitative research enables researchers to study psychological, cultural and social phenomena. (See also quantitative research.)

Quantitative Research Primarily, this is statistical data most frequently obtained from closed questions

in questionnaires or structured interviews. Quantitative research may

calculate how many males in the 15 to 25 years’ age range watch a particular television soap opera, for example, but qualitative research is necessary to determine why they watch it.

Representation The process of making meaning in still or moving images and in words and sounds. In its simplest form, it means to present or show someone or something. However, as a concept for debate, it is used to describe the process by which an image can be used to represent or stand in for someone or something, for example, a person, place or idea. Inherent in this second definition is the notion that there may be a responsibility on the part of the producer of any representation, with regard to accuracy, “truth” and the viewpoints and opinions that such a representation may perpetuate.

Representation is used to describe the way segments or individuals in society (for example, women, and the elderly, ethnic minorities) are portrayed in the media.

Secondary Research Research information taken from sources other than your own work, such as

academic studies, reviews or essays, whether in printed format or from other film texts such as documentaries or interviews.

Stereotype An oversimplified representation of people, places or issues, giving a narrow and/or exaggerated set of attributes. Stereotypes are frequently thought to be entirely negative but this is not necessarily the case.

Style The “look” of a media text; its surface appearance. It can be recognized using color, mise-en-scène, lighting, music, camera angle, movement, framing, dialogue, editing and so on.

Synchronous / Asynchronous Sound Synchronous sound is where the sound matches the action or speech in film

or television. Asynchronous sound is when there is a mismatch— the most obvious example occurs when lip-synch is out, that is, when the words spoken and the lip movement of the actor on screen do not match.

Teaser Trailer Short film or television trailers shown before a full-length trailer.

Tone The overall impression that is given by a media text—serious, comic, romantic, sensationalist and so on.

Proxemics The special relationships among characters within the mise-en-scene & the apparent distance of the camera from the subject photographed.

Framing/Shot Length/Type: When describing camera angles, or creating them yourself, you must think about three important factors

• The FRAMING or the LENGTH of shot
• The ANGLE of the shot
• If there is any MOVEMENT involved

Extreme Close-Up (ECU) Singles out a portion of the body or isolates a detail. Often used for symbolic

purposes to reinforce the significance of an object. May also be used to intensify an emotion – an ECU of an actor generally only includes eyes or mouth. Often used as a Cut-In, an instantaneous shift from a distance framing to a closer view of some portion of the same space.

Close-Up (CU) A detailed shot usually showing a head or a small significant object used largely to isolate a character from the setting & from all other characters so the audiences pay attention to that detail. Films utilizing many close-ups tend to feature lonely characters, cut off from each other & society.

Medium Close-Up (MCU) The figure is framed from the chest up. Though the principal subject is

emphasized, it can & often includes other objects that are nearby.

Medium Shot (MS)

Full Shot (FS)

Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Variations on this include the TWO SHOT (containing two figures from the waist up) and the THREE SHOT (contains 3 figures...). NB. Any more than three figures and the shot tend to become a long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already knows where they are and now wants to focus on dialogue and character interaction.

Another variation in this category is the OVER-THE-SHOULDER-SHOT, which positions the camera behind one figure, revealing the other figure, and part of the first figure's back, head and shoulder.

This generally shows the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame & the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background details still emerge.

Long Shot (WS) (can also be used as est. shot)

This is the most difficult to categorize precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall).

Extreme Long Shot (ELS) also Establishing Shot (ES)

This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.

Camera Angles: The relationship between the camera and the object being photographed (ie the ANGLE) gives emotional information to an audience, and guides their judgment about the character or object in shot. Within each of these shots, you may also have angles from the perpendicular axis to the subject: 1/4, 3/4, profile, etc.

Bird’s Eye Shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognizable at first (umbrellas in a crowd, dancers' legs). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things.

Hitchcock (and his admirers, like Brian de Palma) is fond of this style of shot.

High Angle Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the

object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

Eye Level A neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. The camera will be placed approximately five to six feet from the ground.

Low Angle These increase height (useful for short actors like Tom Cruise or James McAvoy) and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

Oblique/Cant/Dutch Angle Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie is not placed horizontal to floor level), to

suggest imbalance, transition and instability (very popular in horror movies). This technique is used to suggest POINT-OF-View shots (ie when the camera becomes the 'eyes' of one particular character, seeing what they see

— a hand held camera is often used for this.

shot to another, or they may decide to move the camera with the action. Moving the camera often takes a great deal of time, and makes the action seem slower, as it takes several second for a moving camera shot to be effective, when the same information may be placed on screen in a series of fast cuts. Not only must the style of movement be chosen, but the method of moving the camera must be selected too. There are seven basic methods & within that there are creative offshoots.

Pan A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

Tilt A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.

Dolly Sometimes called TRUCKING or TRACKING shots. The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object. Complicated dolly shots will involve a track being laid on set for the camera to follow, hence the name. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a shopping cart (good method for independent film-makers looking to save a few dollars). A dolly shot may be a good way of portraying movement, the journey of a character for instance, or for moving from a long shot to a close-up, gradually focusing the audience on an object or character.

Crane Basically, dolly-shots-in-the-air. A crane (or jib), is a large, heavy piece of equipment, but is a useful way of moving a camera - it can move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it. The camera operator and camera are counter-balanced by a heavy weight & trust their safety to a skilled crane/jib operator.

Hand-held The camera is carried, approximating jerky movement of bipedal progression. Hand held cameras denote a certain kind of gritty realism, and they can make the audience feel as though they are part of a scene, rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position.

Arial An exciting variation of a crane shot, usually taken from a helicopter or drone. This is often used at the beginning of a film, to establish setting and movement. A helicopter / drone is like a particularly flexible sort of crane - it can go anywhere, keep up with anything, move in and out of a scene, and convey real drama and exhilaration — so long as you don't need to get too close to your actors or use location sound with the shots.

Zoom (Mechanical through Lenses) A zoom lens contains a mechanism that changes the magnification of an image.

On a still camera, this means that the photographer can get a 'close up' shot while still being some distance from the subject. A video zoom lens can change the position of the audience, either very quickly (a smash zoom) or slowly, without moving the camera an inch, thus saving a lot of time and trouble. The drawbacks to zoom use include the fact that while a dolly shot involves a steady movement similar to the focusing change in the human eye, the zoom lens tends to be jerky (unless used very slowly) and to distort an image, making objects appear closer together than they really are. Zoom lenses are also drastically over- used by many directors (including those holding camcorders), who try to give the impression of movement and excitement in a scene where it does not exist. Use with caution - and a tripod!

Spiral or 360 degree The camera circles around an individual or group of people. It may be a quick

spiraling motion to suggest disorientation or panic, or a slow circular motion to suggest languidity or encourage a closeness or intimacy.

Production Jargon

Crew.

Abby Singer ( production term ) – Abner E. "Abby" Singer (December 8, 1917 – March 13, 2014) was an American production manager and assistant director in film between the 1950s and the 1980s. His name has become famous in Hollywood as a phrase describing the second-to-last shot of the day as the "Abby Singer".

The second to last shot is good to know for the efficiency of the crew.

A Beat

(directing / acting term) – When an actor takes a beat, they take a pause in their action, and / or change their tone.

A Button (writing / directing / acting term) - A TV writing term referring to a witty line that "tops off" a scene. Can also be created by the Director while working with the actor on set. You can get creative. A button can be an action orientated punch line.

Action Verb (directing term) – A verb used to motivate an actor to do something; a playable action. Instead of telling an actor of how you want them to feel, you give them an action verb. When you give them an action verb, they play the feeling & emotion by acting upon it.

Breakthrough (directing term) A realization, an epiphany

Color (directing term) – When you ask an actor to show you another color, that means try something different.

Happy Accident (directing term) - When something happens to your liking that wasn’t planned.

Just by creating, these things happen! Allow them to…

Intent (writing / acting term) – The actor’s / character’s purpose

Line Reading (directing term) – Looked down upon, it’s when a director reads the line a specific way and asks the actor to reiterate their dialogue like them. A way around this is to talk about the motivation or intent of the actor / character and try to use some action verbs to give them something playable.

Martini (production term) - This is the last shot of the day, and the 1st AD calls it out so the crew can prepare for wrap.

Shoe Leather (directing term) - Redundant footage / shot / that doesn’t move story forward.

Subtext (writing / acting term) – The underlining meaning of an actor’s action.

Tail Lights (production term) – The ABSOLUTE “out time” the crew needs to be off set; this includes wrapping the set. Ex: The production needs to be taillights by (x time)

Tech Check List (production term) - A list used to make sure you have checked off everything you need for the shoot. Usually gone over at the Tech Check Meeting.

Wrap (production term) -The end of the shooting day or the whole shoot. Only the director or first A.D. calls this out.

From throughout the history of cinema, there have been many genres / names for the styles it created. By knowing these terms and understanding their movements in film, you will be able to know the whole spectrum of cinema and allow it to influence you as a filmmaker.

Avant-Garde Individual artists, movements, or ideas that are ahead of the mainstream.

Cinema Du Look (1980’s) France / influenced by advertising and new American imagery, supported by philosophers who distinguished between traditional culture of logic and meaning on one hand and new “postmodern” culture of stylistic surface rootlessness on the other hand, has a certain sheen to it.

Cinema Novo (1960’s) A new, politically informed stylistically ambitious trend in Brazilian cinema of the 1960’s in which Glauber Rocha was the most significant figure.

Cinema Verite French for Truthful Cinema is typically documentary style filmmaking combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing & cinematography. Difference to the US Direct Cinema, Verite puts subjects in crisis situations where Direct is more of fly-on-wall observation.

Classicism A period of, or tendency to, balance and order in an art-form. Work that is neither highly decorated no stylistically spare, neither emotionally excessive nor minimalist.

Close Romantic Realism The dominant style of mainstream cinema in Hollywood and elsewhere. The

films are “closed” in that the actors seem to inhabit a parallel universe and don’t look at the camera, and the stories are seldom open-ended. “Romantic” because emotions in such films tend to be heightened and the protagonists are in some way heroic. “Realism” because, despite these artifices, the people in such movies are recognizably human and the societies depicted have problems similar to our own.

Direct Cinema (1960’s) A documentary style filmmaking combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing & cinematography developed in the US in the 60’s. Use of lightweight equipment for on-location filming. Difference to the US Direct Cinema & Cinema Verite puts subjects in crisis situations where Direct is more of a fly-on-wall observation.

Dogme 95 (1990’s) A Danish film movement started in 1995 led by Lars von Trier, with a distinctive democratizing philosophy & set of rules (termed "the vow of chastity") that rejected special effects & contrived lighting/staging and camera work & espoused returning to more "truthful" & honest, "non-Hollywood" forms of cinema. The ten rules included shooting on location, use of hand-held cameras, natural lighting only, no props, use of digital-video (DV), lack of credits for the director, etc.

Experimental (1960’s) While "experimental" covers a wide range of practice, an experimental film is often characterized by the absence of linear narrative, the use of various abstracting techniques—out-of-focus, painting or scratching on film, rapid editing—the use of asynchronous (non-diegetic) sound or even the absence of any sound track. The goal is often to place the viewer in a more active and more thoughtful relationship to the film. At least through the 1960s, and to some extent after, many experimental films took an oppositional stance toward mainstream culture.

Esperpento (1950’s 1960’s) A genre of filmmaking with an unusual combination of realism and Irony / in Spanish culture derived from theater 1959.

Expressionism (1920’s / 1930’s) Refers to the distortion of reality through lighting, editing & costumes, to reflect the inner feelings & emotions of the characters &/or the filmmaker; a cinematic style of fantasy film common in post-WWI Germany in the 1920s & 30s. Characterized by dramatic lighting, dark visual images &

shadows, grotesque & fantastic shots, distorted sets & angles, heavy makeup, highly stylized acting, and symbolic mime-like action & characters; opposed to realism.

Film Noir (1940’s) A French phrase literally meaning "black film" that developed in the early 40s; refers to a genre of mostly black/white films that blossomed in the post-war era in American cinema. With bleak subject matter & a somber, downbeat tone; the plot (often a quest), low-key lighting (harsh shadows & chiaroscuro) often in night scenes, camera angles (often canted or high angle shots), the setting (the gloomy underworld of crime and corruption), iconography (guns, urban settings), characters (disillusioned, jaded), & other elements (voice-overs & flashbacks) combined to present a dark atmosphere of pessimism, tension, cynicism, or oppression. Film noirs, often crime films, were usually set in grim and seedy cities, with characters including criminals, anti- heroes, private detectives, & femme fatales

French Poetic Realists (1930’s) Poetic Realism was a trend followed and utilized by many French

filmmakers in the 1930s, and it possesses a certain style. Poetic Realist films generally exhibit a pessimistic view of society, as they focus on downtrodden characters who experience a brief chance at love late in life but are disappointed again and end life in squalor or premature death. The major themes of Poetic Realism are bitterness, disappointment, disillusionment, and nostalgia. They can be seen as a social critique of lower-class conditions and a general part of the ominous atmosphere in France before World War II.

The “poetic” in Poetic Realism refers to the exaggeration and aestheticism of romance, doomed romance, and lower-class squalor that draws attention to uncomfortable truths about society. Rather than displaying realism in the form of a documentary, Poetic Realist filmmakers often filmed in studios and developed their own expressive forms of representation to “create new forms of visibility and new ways of thinking about the world.”

An important aspect of Poetic Realism is its rejection of the happy ending, which was so common in Hollywood movies at the time

French Impressionists (1920’s) French impressionist cinema, also referred to as the first avant-garde or

narrative avant-garde, is a term applied to a group of French films and filmmakers of the 1920s.

Film scholars have had much difficulty in defining this movement or for that matter deciding whether it should be considered a movement at all.

Grindhouse (60’s / 70’s) It first referred to a cheap, low-budget, non-mainstream, sleazy, hard-core film that played in an ‘adults-only' venue, scruffy downtown area or drive-in in the 60s or 70s. Early topics included nudist pictures, kung-fu flicks & cheesy/sexy potboilers, but then branched out to refer to any genre of film with little plot, but with lots of action, sex & nudity, violence, taboo drug-use, lewdness, atrocities, Hong Kong martial arts content, or just plain weirdness.

See also B-movies, exploitation or trash films, slasher films, Blaxploitation films.

Gothic Film style characterized by dark and dreary influences, such as ghouls, the supernatural, the grotesque, deathly forces & the mysterious. Settings include old mansions, castles & a threatened heroine. Often used in reference to horror films with these characteristics, to increase the film's prestige.

Guerrilla A low-budget film usually shot without seeking location permits, using non-SAG (Screen Actors Guild) actors, etc.

Impressionism (1920’s) Influenced by impressionist paintings, the use of shots, cuts and photography to capture the fleeting expectations of human of human perception, mostly associated with French filmmakers like Abel Gance and Germaine Dulac but employed sporadically by directors before and since.

Naturalism A general term used to describe a style of cinematography which approximates everyday lighting and storytelling and which does not overdramatize real events. Some writers argue that naturalism is surface quality whereas realism captures a deeper truth about lived experience.

Neo-Realism (1940s / 1950’s) An influential movement of the late 1940s and 1950s that originated in Italy; inaugurated by Jean Renoir, but associated with Italian post- war directors (Rossellini, Visconti, and De Sica). Refers to films made outside the studio, with shooting on real locations, sometimes the absence of a script and/or non-professional casts & actors - all designed simultaneously to cut costs and increase the impression of spontaneity; neo-realistic films often deal with contemporary social and political issues; see also naturalism.

New American Cinema (1970’s) Films of Marin Scorsese, Francis Coppola, and others which were more

personal stylistically ambitious than mainstream.

New Queer Cinema (1990’s) Introduced by Andy Warhol in 1960’s, is a term first coined by the

academic B. Ruby Rich in Sight & Sound magazine in 1992 to define and describe a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in the early 1990s. The term developed from use of the word queer in academic writing in the 1980s and 1990s as an inclusive way of describing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender identity and experience, and defining a form of sexuality that was fluid and subversive of traditional understandings of sexuality.

New Wave (1950’s – 1960’s) Also known as Nouvelle Vague; originally referred to a group of individualistic, innovative, & non-traditional French filmmakers, directors & producers in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Truffaut, Godard, Chabrol, Rohmer, & Resnais, who began as critics on Cahiers du Cinema & espoused the principles of auteur theory. The New Wave film style was characterized by a cinema verite style with the use of the jump cut, the hand- held camera, non-linear storytelling & loose, improvised direction. Now used to generally refer to any new movement in a national cinema. Can also be found in: Italy, Great Brittan, Japan, Spain, Eastern Europe & Soviet Countries, Central and South America, China, Russia, Iran, Senegal, India, USA.

Post Modernism (1990’s) The term Postmodern is quite an oxymoron. It talks about a period, which transcends the present. Notions of time, space, reality and existence are all skewed. This ideology became a part of various art forms. We all live in a world where the concept of time and space has become extremely complicated and disorienting because the way technology has affected all of us. Cinema that represents this alienation in its form as well as content becomes a post- modernist film.

Realism The dominant mode of representation in television, mainstream films and print. The term usually implies that the media text attempts to represent an external reality: a film or television program is “realistic” because it gives the impression that it accurately reproduces that part of the real world to which it is referring. However, the concept is much more complex than this brief definition. One suggestion is to think of “realisms” rather than realism.

Spaghetti Westerns (1960’s) Also known as Italian Western or Macaroni Western (primarily in

Japan) a broad subgenre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success.

The term was used by American critics and other countries because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians

Surrealism Ideas in, and styles of cinema, which portray the irrational aspects of life.

Particularly associated with the work of Luis Bunuel, David Lynch