Pre-Cinema and Early Cinema

Form – a film has an overall organization, a pattern.  Filmic conventions are established patterns. 

Persistence of vision – a characteristic of human vision (first described scientifically by Peter Mark Roget in 1824) whereby the brain retains images cast upon the retina of the eye for approximately 1/20 to 1/5 of a second beyond their actual removal from the field of vision.

Emulsion – layers of gelatin containing light sensitive chemical, supported by an acetate base, that reacts to exposure to light to form tiny specks (grain) that corresponds to the light and dark areas in the scene filmed.

Shot – one uninterrupted image taken by a static or mobile camera.  The shot, as opposed to the scene in early films such as Méliès’, became the basic building block of  modern continuity editing.

Reflexivity – reference, commentary, or analysis of a system that points back to, or lead to changes within the same system. In cinematic terms, films that point back themselves as films.

Hollywood Studio Films - Continuity Editing

Diegesis (Greek word for recounted story) – the “world” of the film’s story, or the “total world of the story action”.  The diegesis includes events that are presumed to have occurred and actions and spaces not shown on screen.

Close up – a shot in which the scale of the object shown is relatively large; most commonly a person’s head seen from the neck up, or an object of a comparable size that fills most of the screen.

Medium close up – a shot in which the scale of the object shown is fairly large; a human figure seen from the chest up would fill most of the screen.

Medium shot – a shot in which the scale of the object shown is of moderate size; a human figure seen from the waist up would fill most of the screen.

Three quarter shot – a shot of a person or persons from the shins up.  Also called plan américain.

Full shot – a shot of the full figure of a standing person or persons and about ¾ view of the set.  Also called medium long shot.

Long shot – a shot of landscape or setting.

Single shot – a shot containing one person.

Two shot – a shot containing two people.

Inter-title – printed titles that appear within the main body of a film to convey dialogue or other narrative information.  Inter-titles are common in silent films.

Parallel action – two scenes occurring in different places showing one after another or crosscut together to create the illusion of simultaneity.

Crosscutting – editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously.

Narrative film – a film whose structure follows a story line.

Editing – the selection, splicing or cutting together of the shots in a film to create a meaningful relationship between them. 

Point-of-view shot – a shot taken in the position from which a character is looking, showing what the character would see.  It is usually preceded or followed by a shot of the character.

Reaction shot – a shot that shows a character’s reaction to the events within a previous shot they have been witness to.

Off-screen space – the areas which are not visible on screen but may be a part of the space of a scene; spaces behind the set, behind the camera, outside the frame.

Continuity editing – smooth seamless editing that link shots so that the cuts appear invisible to the viewers.

180-degree system (180-degree rule) – method of filming action that ensured continuity in the spatial relations between objects on screen.  The camera must stay on one side of an imaginary 180-degree line, or axis of action, that runs through the center of the set, from one side of the frame to the other.  i.e. the camera does not cross the imaginary line, usually located behind the actors in the scene.

Establishing shot – a shot that establishes the whole space of a scene, usually shown at the beginning of a scene.  The establishing shot presents a more-or-less complete view of the scene (usually a long shot).

Shot/reverse shot – the alternating shots of two characters in conversation, in conformity to the 180-degree rule.  In continuity editing, characters in one shot usually look left, in the other shot, right.

Over-the-shoulder two shot – a shot containing two people viewed over the shoulder of one of them.  A major component of Classical Hollywood style.

Eyeline match – the alternation of a shot showing a character looking off screen with a shot of what they are looking at.

Match on action – a continuity cut that splices two shots of the same action together at the same moment of the movement, making the action appear to be continuous.

Sequence - a unit of film structure made up of one or more scenes or shots that combine to form a larger unit.

Soviet Montage

Framing- the organization of the contents of the shot with respect to the edges of the screen, designates the boundaries of the image as an anchor for composition.

Centered framing – the arrangement of the person (or persons) in the image equidistant from the edges of the image.

Open framing – the arrangement of the person (or persons) in the image such that a wide area of space is visible between the figure and the edges of the frame.

Tight or closed framing – the arrangement of the person (or persons) in the image such that little space is visible between the figure and the edges of the image.

Canted framing – a slanting of the axis of the camera relative to the horizontal axis of the image, which causes the image itself to appear slanted.

High angle – a shot in which the camera looks down on a person (or persons) within the image from above a viewpoint relative to their eyeline.

Low angle – a shot in which the camera looks up at a person (or persons) within the image from below a viewpoint relative to their eyeline.

Overhead shot – a shot taken from immediately above the scene.

Full face shot – the framing of a person in frontal view

Side view – the framing of a person from the side.

Three-quarter view - the framing of a person at angle to the plane of the image.

Compilation film – films made by editing footage from other films together.

Montage – a form of editing developed by Soviet filmmakers in the 1920s, often discontinuous, which emphasizes the graphic, rhythmic, and conceptual relationship between shots.  Developed in opposition to the continuity editing style of Classical Hollywood cinema.

Abstract Editing

Associative editing – the cutting together of shots to establish their metaphorical or symbolic (as opposed to their narrative) relationship.

Abstract form – a type of filmic organization in which the parts relate to one another through repetition and variation of such visual qualities as shape, color, rhythm, and direction of movement.

Surrealism – a movement in painting, film, and literature that aims to depict the workings of the subconscious by combining incongruous imagery or presenting a situation in dream-like, irrational terms; more generally, surrealism may suggest any fantastic style of representation.

Formalism – the elevation of form over content.  Formalism posits that meaning is a function of the strictly formal features of a discourse and not the content or its referent.

Ellipsis – editing or shortening of the plot by omitting parts of an event or story duration.

Jump cut – a cut which produces an ellipsis between shots in one of two ways: 1) the background of the shot stays constant and the position of the figures or objects change; 2) the position of the figure or objects stay constant but the background changes.

Non-diegetic insert shot – A shot or series of shots cut into a sequence, showing objects that are represented as being outside the world of the narrative.

Match on action - a continuity cut that splices two shots of the same action together at the same moment of the movement, making the action appear to be continuous.

Cheat cut – a cut that sustains continuity between shots but mismatches the positions of figures and objects.

Fade in/out – a shot transition in which the image gradually brightens into view / a shot transition in which the image gradually disappears from view (usually to black).

Dissolve – a shot transition in which a fade out of an image is superimposed on the fade in of an image

Wipe – a shot transition in which one image takes the place of another through a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal movement across the screen, and both image remain discreet (i.e. they do not overlap)

Graphic match – a cut that maintains a similarity between one or several of the compositional elements of a shot – line, color, shapes, contrast, etc.

Flashback – an alteration of story order in which the plot moves back to show past events and then returns to the present.

Flash forward - an alteration of story order in which the plot moves forward to future events and then returns to the present.

Neo-realism – a post WWII movement in filmmaking associated with the films of Roberto Rosselini, Luchino Visconti, and Vittorio De Sica in Italy.  It was characterized by leftist political sympathies, location shooting, and the use of non-professional actors.

Nouvelle vague – (“new wave” in French) originally a group of French filmmakers who, in the 1950s, started their careers as critics for Cahiers du Cinéma.  The year 1959 can be said to mark the beginning of this movement.  It was the year when Truaffaut’s LES QUATRE CENTS COUPS (400 BLOWS), Goddard’s A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (BREATHLESS), and Resnais’ HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR were all released.  The phrase is also used to describe any new group of directors in any country whose approach to filmmaking is radically different from that of the established tradition, such as the Hong Kong New Wave.

Expressionist Mise-en-scène

Tone – the degree of lightness of a hue

Saturation – the degree of purity of a hue

Warm colors – colors to the left of the visible spectrum: red, orange, yellow

Cool colors - colors to the right of the visible spectrum: blues, indigo and violet

Mise-en-scène – literally “put in the scene”, the way space is organized and composed in a film, including the way the figure and background are composed, lighting, movement, costume, set, even the choice of film – everything that happens within a frame, including the frame itself, as opposed to effects generated by cutting. Some critics consider camera movement and framing aspects of mise-en-scène—which is disputed by other critics in favor of a narrower definition.

Expressionism – this terms originally refers to a visual style in painting, theater and film developed in post WWI Germany, where the mise-en-scene evokes of the exaggerated, neurotic, psychological state of a character (or characters).

Film noir – “dark film” in French, a term applied by French critics to a type of American film, developed in the 1940s, usually in the detective or thriller genres, with low-key/high contrast lighting and a somber mood.

Cinematographer – also called Director of Photography, working with the film’s director, the cinematographer lights the scene, chooses the appropriate lenses and film stock, and therefore carries a large responsibility for determining the look of a film.

Key lighting – the main source of lighting in a scene

Fill light – lighting used to soften the keylighting in a scene

Back lighting – lighting cast from behind a figure or figures to highlight their outline in the image.  Also called rim lighting or edge lighting.

Three point lighting – an arrangement of key, fill, and backlighting which serves to model the figure while maintaining an even illumination in the shot.

High contrast lighting (low-key lighting) – lighting that creates a sharp difference between the lighted and shadowed areas of a scene

Low contrast lighting (high-key lighting) – lighting that diffuses the boundaries between light and shadow

Chiaroscuro – the arrangement of light and shadow in a composition (of a shot).

Long Take / Deep Focus

Long take – a shot that continues for an unusually lengthy time before the transition to the next shot.

Deep space – an arrangement of the mise-en-scene which establishes a considerable distance between the foreground plane and the background plane of a shot.

Deep focus – the use of camera lens and lighting to keep both the foreground plane and background plane of a shot in sharp focus.

Depth of field – the distance between the foreground and background of a shot which is in sharp focus.

Tracking shot – a mobile framing in which the camera glides horizontally on a moving support guided by rails, forward or back, left or right.

Dolly shot – a camera movement in which the camera attached to a moving support (on wheels) moves smoothly but in an irregular direction.

Tilt – camera movement in which the camera swivels vertically on its axis, up or down.

Pan - camera movement in which the camera swivels horizontally on its axis, from left to right or right to left.

Crane shot – camera movement in which the camera appears to move freely above the ground.

Focal length – the distance from the center of the lens to the point at which the light rays meet in sharp focus.  The focal length determines the perspective relations of the space represented on flat screen.

Focus – the degree to which light rays coming from the same part of an object through different part of the lens re-converge at the same point on the film frame, creating sharp outlines and distinct textures.

Focus plane –  the plane at which the lens forms an image when focused on a given scene, measured as the distance from the film plane (the front surface of the film in a camera or projector).

Racking focus – shifting the area of sharp focus from one plane to another during a shot; the effect on screen is called rack-focus.

Shallow focus – a restricted depth of field, which keeps only one plane in focus, the opposite of deep focus.

Anamorphic lens – a lens for making wide screen films using regular Academy ratio frame size.  The camera lens takes in a wide field of view and squeezes it onto the frame, and a similar projector lens un-squeezes the image onto a wide theater screen.

Academy ratio – standardized shape of film frame established by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  In the original ratio, the frame was 1 1/3 times as wide as it was high (1.33:1); later the width was normalized at 1.85 times the height (1.85:1).

Aspect ratio – the relationship of the frame’s width to its height.

Widescreen – aspect ratio wider than (1.33:1), standard widescreen ratio US (1.85:1), GB (1.66:1), Cinemascope (2.35:1)

The Language of Sound

Diegetic sound – any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented as originating from a source within the film’s world.

Non-diegetic sound – sound originating from a source outside the film’s world, such as mood music or a narrator’s commentary.

Internal diegetic sound – sound originating from inside the mind of a character, sometimes this includes amplified bodily sounds such as breathing, moans and groans.

External diegetic sound – sound originating from inside the mind of a character,

Synchronous sound – sound that is matched temporally with the movements occurring in the images, as when the dialogue corresponds to the lip movements.

Asynchronous sound - sound that is not matched temporally with the movements occurring in the images, as when the dialogue is out of synchronization the lip movements.

Off-screen space – areas not visible onscreen but still part of the space of the scene, e.g. to each side and above and below the frame, behind the set, behind the camera.

Off-screen sound – diegetic sound from a source that is not visible onscreen.

Added value - the expressive and informative value with which a sound enriches a given image so as to create the impression that this comes naturally from what is seen.

Vococentrism - privileging of the human voice in film.

Verbocentrism - privileging of the human voice as a medium of verbal expression in film.

Synchresis - the forging of an immediate and necessary relationship between something one hears (sound) and something one sees (image)

Three modes of listening:

• Causal listening - listening to a sound in order to gether information about its cause or source.
• Semantic listening - listening to a code or language to interpret a message.
• Reduced listening - listening mode thaty focuses on the traits of the sound itself, independent of its cause and of its meaning.
  

Documentary

Documentary – any film that is not entirely fictional.  A film that records actual events, often creating dramatic impact through editing, camera work, and sometimes-performative interventions (e.g. Michael Moore’s films).

Location shooting – shooting in a place outside the studio, e.g. city street, the desert, an actual house or apartment, etc.

Realism – In cinematic terms, realism describes a type of filmmaking in which fidelity to the nature of the subject itself is more important than the director’s attitude towards it.  It also refers to a series of conventions that facilitate our perception of an unmediated (unembellished, true-to-life) representation.

Real time – in a film or video, the amount of time it would take for an event to occur in actuality, when the events depicted occur in a linear and concurrent fashion as opposed to cutting to other times earlier or later than the action depicted, i.e. without the use of ellipsis, and often with long takes.

Sound bridge – sound derived from one scene that briefly carries over to another scene

Voice over – a voice track laid over the other track in a film’s sound mix to comment upon or counterpoints the images on the screen, it can be diegetic or non-diegetic

Contrapuntal sound –sound used in counterpoint, or in contrast to the visual images.

Loudness – the volume of sound

Pitch – the “highness” and “lowness” of sound

Timbre – the coloration or tonal quality of sound

Cinema verite (French translation of Vertov’s “kino-pravda, true cinema) – a version of documentary developed by the French in the late 1950s and 1960s that attempted to capture the on-goingness of everyday life without narration.

Direct cinema - a form of documentary film that emerged in the late 1950s and the 1960s in the United States. Its origin is partially attributed to the advent of lightweight cameras and transportable, synchronized sound recording devices. Associated with cinema verite but more strictly observational, direct cinema relies on an agreement among the filmmaker, subjects, and audience to act as if the presence of the camera does not (substantially) alter the recorded event.

Direct sound – sound recorded simultaneously with the image, at the moment of filming.

Hand held shot – shot made through the use of the camera operator’s body as a camera support, either holding it by hand or using a harness.

Zoom – a gradual change in the size of an image and the relative distance between its foreground and background planes caused by the adjustment of a lens with variable focal length.

<Back to Course Listing

Back to top