Glossary

Words set in boldface within definitions are also defined in the glossary.

A

AC AC

See assistant cameraperson. See assistant cameraperson.

ADR

See automatic dialogue replacement.

ADR

See automatic dialogue replacement.

aerial-view shot

Also known as bird's-eye-view shot. An omniscient-point-of-view shot that is taken from an aircraft or extremely high crane and implies that the observer can see all.

alienation effect

Also known as distancing effect. A psychological distance between audience and stage for which, according to German playwright Bertolt Brecht, every aspect of a theatrical production should strive by limiting the audience's identification with characters and events.

ambient sound

Sound that emanates from the ambience (background) of the setting or environment being filmed, either recorded during production or added during postproduction. Although it may incorporate other types of film sound - dialogue, narration, sound effects, Foley sounds, and music - ambient sound does not include any unintentionally recorded noise made during production.

amplitude

The degree of motion of air (or other medium) within a sound wave. The greater the amplitude of the sound wave, the harder it strikes the eardrum, and thus the louder the sound. Compare loudness.

animated film

Also known as cartoon. Drawings or other graphical images placed in a series photography - like sequence to portray movement. Before computer graphics technology, the basic type of animated film was created through drawing.

antagonist

The major character whose values or behavior are in conflict with those of the protagonist.

aperture

Also known as gate. The camera opening that defines the area of each frame of film exposed.

apparent motion

The movie projector's tricking us into perceiving separate images as one continuous image rather than a series of jerky movements. Apparent motion is the result of such factors as the phi phenomenon and critical flicker fusion.

art director

The person responsible for transforming the production designer's vision into a reality on the screen, assessing the staging requirements for a production, and arranging for and supervising the work of the members of the art department.

aspect ratio

The relationship between the frame's two dimensions: the width of the image related to its height.

assistant cameraperson (AC)

Member of the camera crew who assists the camera operator. The first AC oversees everything having to do with the camera, lenses, supporting equipment, and the material on which the movie is being shot. The second AC prepares the slate that is used to identify each scene as it is being filmed, files camera reports, and feeds film stock into magazines to be loaded into the camera.

associate (or assistant) producer

Person charged with carrying out specific responsibilities assigned by the producer, executive producer, or line producer.

asynchronous sound

Sound that comes from a source apparent in the image but is not precisely matched temporally with the actions occurring in that image.

auteurism

A film theory based on the idea that the director is the sole "author" of a movie. The application of auteurism frequently takes two forms: a judgment of the whole body of a film director's work (not individual films) based on style, and a classification of great directors based on a hierarchy of directorial styles.

automatic dialogue replacement (ADR)

Rerecording done via computer - a faster, less expensive, and more technically sophisticated process than rerecording that is done with actors.

avant-garde film

See experimental film.

axis of action

See 180-degree system.

B

backlight

Lighting, usually positioned behind and in line with the subject and the camera, used to create highlights on the subject as a means of separating it from the background and increasing its appearance of three-dimensionality.

backstory

A fictional history behind the situation extant at the start of the main story.

best boy

First assistant electrician to the gaffer on a movie production set.

bird's-eye-view shot

See aerial-view shot.

bit player

An actor who holds a small speaking part.

Black Maria

The first movie studio - a crude, hot, cramped shack in which Thomas Edison and his staff began making movies.

blimp

A soundproofed enclosure somewhat larger than a camera, in which the camera may be mounted to prevent its sounds from reaching the microphone.

blocking

Actual physical relationships among figures and settings.

boom

A polelike mechanical device for holding the microphone in the air, out of camera range, that can be moved in almost any direction.

C

cameo

A small but significant role often played by a famous actor.

camera crew

Technicians that make up two separate groups - one concerned with the camera, the other concerned with electricity and lighting.

camera obscura

Literally, "dark chamber." A box (or a room in which a viewer stands); light entering (originally through a tiny hole, later through a lens) on one side of the box (or room) projects an image from the outside onto the opposite side or wall.

camera operator

The member of the camera crew who does the actual shooting.

cartoon

See animated film.

casting

The process of choosing and hiring actors for a movie.

cel

A transparent sheet of celluloid or similar plastic on which drawings or lettering may be made for use in animation or titles.

celluloid roll film

Also known as motion picture film or raw film stock. A material for filming that consists of long strips of perforated cellulose acetate on which a rapid succession of frames can be recorded. One side of the strip is layered with an emulsion consisting of light-sensitive crystals and dyes; the other side is covered with a backing that reduces reflections. Each side of the strip is perforated with sprocket holes that facilitate the movement of the stock through the sprocket wheels of the camera, the processor, and the projector.

CGI

Computer-generated imagery. Compare in-camera effect and laboratory effect.

character

An essential element of film narrative; any of the beings who play functional roles within the plot, either acting or being acted on. Characters can be flat or round; major, minor, or marginal; protagonists or antagonists.

characterization

The process of the actor's interpreting a character in a movie. Characterization differs according to the actor, the character, the screenplay, and the director.

character role

An actor's part that represents a distinctive character type (sometimes a stereotype): society leader, judge, doctor, diplomat, and so on.

chiaroscuro

The use of deep gradations and subtle variations of lights and darks within an image.

chrono-photographic gun

See revolver photo graphique.

cinematic conventions

Accepted systems, methods, or customs by which movies communicate. Cinematic conventions are flexible; they are not "rules."

cinematic language

The accepted systems, methods, or conventions by which the movies communicate with the viewer.

cinematic time

The imaginary time in which a movie's images appear or its narrative occurs; time that has been manipulated through editing. Compare real time.

cinematography

The process of capturing moving images on film or some other medium.

climax

The narrative's turning point, marking the transition between rising action and falling action.

closed frame

A frame of a motion picture image that, theoretically, neither characters nor objects enter or leave. Compare open frame.

close-up (CU)

A shot that often shows a part of the body filling the frame - traditionally a face, but possibly a hand, eye, or mouth.

color

As related to sound, see quality.

colorization

The use of digital technology, in a process similar to hand-tinting, to "paint" colors on movies meant to be seen in black and white.

composition

The process of visualizing and putting visualization plans into practice; more precisely, the organization, distribution, balance, and general relationship of stationary objects and figures, as well as of light, shade, line, and color, within the frame.

content

The subject of an artwork. Compare form.

content curve

In terms of cinematic duration, an arc that measures information in a shot; at the curve's peak, the viewer has absorbed the information from a shot and is ready to move on to the next shot.

continuity editing

A style of editing (now dominant throughout the world) that seeks to achieve logic, smoothness, sequential flow, and the temporal and spatial orientation of viewers to what they see on the screen. Continuity editing ensures the flow from shot to shot; creates a rhythm based on the relationship between cinematic space and cinematic time; creates filmic unity (beginning, middle, and end); and establishes and resolves a problem. In short, continuity editing tells a story as clearly and coherently as possible. Compare discontinuity editing.

costumes

The clothing worn by an actor in a movie (sometimes called wardrobe, a term that also designates the department in a studio in which clothing is made and stored).

cover shot

See master shot.

crane shot

A shot that is created by movement of a camera mounted on an elevating arm (crane) that, in turn, is mounted on a vehicle that, if shooting requires it, can move on its own power or be pushed along tracks.

critical flicker fusion

A phenomenon that occurs when a single light flickers on and off with such speed that the individual pulses of light fuse together to give the illusion of continuous light. See also apparent motion.

crosscutting

Editing that cuts between two or more actions occurring at the same time, and usually in the same place. Compare intercutting and parallel editing.

CU

See close-up.

cut

A direct change from one shot to another; that is, the precise point at which shot A ends and shot B begins; one result of cutting.

cutting

Also known as splicing. The actual joining together of two shots. The editor must first cut (or splice) each shot from its respective roll of film before gluing or taping all the shots together.

D

dailies

Also known as rushes. Usually, synchronized picture/sound work prints of a day's shooting that can be studied by the director, editor, and other crew members before the next day's shooting begins.

décor

The color and textures of the interior decoration, furniture, draperies, and curtains of a set.

deep-focus cinematography

Using the short-focal-length lens to capture deep-space composition and its illusion of depth.

deep-space composition

A total visual composition that occupies all three planes of the frame, thus creating an illusion of depth, and that is usually reproduced on the screen by deep-focus cinematography.

denouement

The resolution or conclusion of the narrative.

depth of field

The distance in front of a camera and its lens in which objects are in apparent sharp focus.

design

The process by which the look of the settings, props, lighting, and actors is determined. Set design, décor, prop selection, lighting setup, costuming, makeup, and hairstyle design all play a role in shaping the overall design.

dialogue

The lip-synchronous speech of characters who are either visible onscreen or speaking offscreen, say from another part of the room that is not visible or from an adjacent room.

diegesis (adj.diegetic)

The total world of a story - the events, characters, objects, settings, and sounds that form the world in which the story occurs.

diegetic element

An element - event, character, object, setting, sound - that helps form the world in which the story occurs. Compare nondiegetic element.

diegetic sound

Sound that originates from a source within a film's world. Compare nondiegetic sound.

digital format

A means of storing recorded sound, made possible by computer technology, in which each sound wave is represented by combinations of the numbers 0 and 1.

director

The person who (a) determines and realizes on the screen an artistic vision of the screenplay; (b) casts the actors and directs their performances; (c) works closely with the production design in creating the look of the film, including the choice of locations; (d) oversees the work of the cinematographer and other key production personnel; and, (e) in most cases, supervises all postproduction activity, especially the editing.

discontinuity editing

A style of editing - less widely used than continuity editing, often but not exclusively in experimental films - that joins shots A and B to produce an effect or meaning not even hinted at by either shot alone.

dissolve

Also known as lap dissolve. A transitional device in which shot B, superimposed, gradually appears over shot A and begins to replace it at midpoint in the transition. Dissolves usually indicate the passing of time. Compare fade-in/fade-out.

distancing effect

See alienation effect.

documentary film

A nonfiction film originally created to address social injustice. When they are produced by governments and carry government messages, documentary films overlap with propaganda films. The term is also used more generally to refer to the entire category of nonfiction films. Compare factual film and instructional film.

dolly

A wheeled support for a camera that permits the cinematographer to make noiseless moving shots.

dolly-in

Slow movement of the camera toward a subject, making the subject appear larger and more significant. Such gradual intensification is commonly used at moments of a character's realization and/or decision, or as a point-of-view shot to indicate the reason for the character's realization. See also zoom-in. Compare dolly-out.

dolly-out

Movement of the camera away from the subject that is often used for slow disclosure, which occurs when an edited succession of images leads from A to B to C as they gradually reveal the elements of a scene. Each image expands on the one before, thereby changing its significance with new information. Compare dolly-in.

dolly shot

Also known as traveling shot. A shot taken by a camera fixed to a wheeled support called a dolly. When the dolly runs on tracks (or when the camera is mounted to a crane or an aerial device such as an airplane, a helicopter, or a balloon) the shot is called a tracking shot.

double-system recording

The standard technique of recording film sound on a medium separate from the picture; this technique allows both for maximum quality control of the medium and for the many aspects of manipulating sound during postproduction editing, mixing, and synchronization.

down shot

See high-angle shot.

dubbing

See rerecording.

duration

The time a movie takes to unfold onscreen. For any movie, we can identify three specific kinds of duration: story duration, plot duration, and screen duration. Duration has two related components: real time and cinematic time.

Dutch-angle shot

Also known as Dutch shot or oblique-angle shot. A shot in which the camera is tilted from its normal horizontal and vertical positions so that it is no longer straight, giving the viewer the impression that the world in the frame is out of balance.

Dutch shot

See Dutch-angle shot.

E

ECU

See extreme close-up.

editing

The process by which the editor combines and coordinates individual shots into a cinematic whole; the basic creative force of cinema.

ellipsis

In filmmaking, generally an omission of time - the time that separates one shot from another - to create dramatic or comedic impact.

ELS

See extreme long shot.

ensemble acting

An approach to acting thatemphasizes the interaction of actors, not the individual actor. In ensemble acting, a group of actors work together continuously in a single shot. Typically experienced in the theater, ensemble acting is used less in the movies because it requires the provision of rehearsal time that is usually denied to screen actors.

establishing shot

See master shot and extreme long shot.

executive producer

Person responsible for supervising one or more producers, who in turn are responsible for individual movies.

experimental film

Also known as avant-garde film, a term implying a position in the vanguard, out in front of traditional films. Experimental films are usually about unfamiliar, unorthodox, or obscure subject matter and are ordinarily made by independent (even underground) filmmakers, not studios, often with innovative techniques that call attention to, question, and even challenge their own artifice.

explicit meaning

Everything that a movie presents on its surface. Compare implicit meaning.

exposition

The images, action, and dialogue necessary to give the audience the background of the characters and the nature of their situation, laying the foundation for the rest of the narrative.

exposure index

See film stock speed.

external sound

A form of diegetic sound that comes from a place within the world of the story, which we and the characters in the scene hear but do not see. Compare internal sound.

extra

An actor who, usually, appears in a nonspeaking or crowd role and receives no screen credit.

extreme close-up (ECU, XCU)

A very close shot of a particular detail, such as a person's eye, a ring on a finger, or a watch face.

extreme long shot (ELS, XLS)

A shot that is typically photographed far enough away from the subject that the subject is too small to be recognized, except through the context we see, which usually includes a wide view of the location, as well as general background information. When it is used to provide such informative context, the extreme long shot is also referred to as an establishing shot.

eye-level shot

A shot that is made from the observer's eye level and usually implies that the observer's attitude is neutral toward the subject being photographed.

eyeline match cut

A match cut that joins shot A (often a point-of-view shot of a character looking offscreen in one direction) and shot B (the person or object that the character is seeing). Compare graphic match cut and match-on-action cut.

F

factual film

A nonfiction film that, usually, presents people, places, or processes in a straight forward way meant to entertain and instruct without unduly influencing audiences. Compare documentary film, instructional film, and propaganda film.

fade-in/fade-out

Transitional devices in which a shot fades in from a black field on black-and-white film or from a color field on color film, or fades out to a black field (or a color field). Compare dissolve.

falling action

The events that follow the climax and bring the narrative to conclusion (denouement). Compare rising action.

familiar image

Any image that a director periodically repeats in a movie (with or without variations) to help stabilize the narrative.

fast motion

Photography that accelerates action by photographing it at a filming rate less than the normal 24 frames per second so that, in cinematic time, it takes place at a more rapid rate than the real action took place before the camera. Compare slow motion.

featured role

See major role.

feed spool

The storage area for unexposed film in the movie camera.

fiction film

See narrative film.

fidelity

The faithfulness or unfaithfulness of a sound to its source.

figure

Any significant thing that moves on the screen - person, animal, object.

fill light

Lighting, positioned at the opposite side of the camera from the key light, that can fill in the shadows created by the brighter key light. Fill light may also come from a reflector board.

film criticism

Evaluating a film's artistic merit and appeal to the public. Film criticism takes two basic forms: reviews written for a general audience and appearing in the popular media, and essays published in academic journals for a scholarly audience. Compare film theory.

film speed

See film stock speed.

film stock

Celluloid used to record movies. There are two types: one for black-and-white films, the other for color. Each type is manufactured in several standard formats.

film stock length

The number of feet (or meters) of film stock or the number of reels being used in a particular film.

film stock speed

Also known as film speed or exposure index. The rate at which film must move through the camera to correctly capture an image; very fast film requires little light to capture and fix the image; very slow film requires a lot of light.

film theory

Evaluating movies from a particular intellectual or ideological perspective. Compare film criticism.

first AC

See assistant cameraperson.

first-person narration

Narration by an actual character in the movie. Compare voice-over narration.

flashback

A device for presenting or reawakening the memory of the camera, a character, the audience - or all three - in which the action cuts from the narrative present to a past event, which may or may not have already appeared in the movie either directly or through inference. Compare flashforward.

flashforward

A device for presenting the anticipation of the camera, a character, the audience - or all three - in which the action cuts from the narrative present to a future time, one in which, for example, the omni scient camera reveals directly or a character imagines, from his or her point of view, what is going to happen. Compare flashback.

flat character

A character that is one-dimensional and easily remembered because his or her motivations and actions are predictable. Flat characters may be major, minor, ormarginal characters. Compare round character.

floodlight

A lamp that produces soft (diffuse) light. Compare focusable spotlight.

focal length

The distance from the optical center of a lens to the focal point (the film plane that the camera person wants to keep in focus) when the lens is focused at infinity.

focusable spotlight

A lamp that produces hard, mirrorlike light. Compare floodlight.

Foley sound

A sound belonging to a special category of sound effects, invented in the 1930s by Jack Foley, a sound technician at Universal Studios. Technicians known as Foley artists create these sounds in specially equipped studios, where they use a variety of props and other equipment to simulate sounds such as footsteps in the mud, jingling car keys, or cutlery hitting a plate.

form

The means by which a subject is expressed. The form for poetry is words; for drama, it is speech and action; for movies, it is pictures and sound; and so on. Compare content.

format

Also called gauge. The dimensions of a film stock and its perforations, and the size and shape of the image frame as seen on the screen. Formats extend from Super 8mm through 70mm (and beyond into such specialized formats as IMAX), but they are generally limited to three standard gauges: Super 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm.

frame

A still photograph that, recorded in rapid succession with other still photographs, creates a motion picture.

framing

The process by which the cinematographer determines what will appear within the borders of the moving image (the frame) during a shot.

freeze-frame

Also known as stop-frame or hold-frame. A still image within a movie, created by repetitive printing in the laboratory of the same frame so that it can be seen without movement for whatever length of time the filmmaker desires.

frequency

The speed with which a sound is produced (the number of sound waves produced per second). The speed of sound remains fairly constant when it passes through air, but it varies in different media and in the same medium at different temperatures). Compare pitch.

full-body shot

See long shot.

fusil photographique

A form of the chrono-photographic gun (see revolver photographique) - a single, portable camera capable of taking twelve continuous images.

FX

See special effects.

G

gaffer

The chief electrician on a movie production set.

gate

See aperture.

gauge

See format.

generic transformation

The process by which a particular genre is adapted to meet the expectations of a changing society.

genre

The categorization of narrative films by form, content, or both. Examples of genres are musical, comedy, biography, western, and so on.

graphic match cut

A match cut in which the similarity between shots A and B is in the shape and form of what we see. The shape, color, or texture of objects matches across the edit, providing continuity. Compare eyeline match cut and match-on-action cut.

grip

All-around handyperson on a movie production set, most often working with the camera crews and electrical crews.

group point of view

A point of view captured by a shot that shows what a group of characters would see, but at the group's level, not from the much higher omni scient point of view. Compare single character's point of view.

H

harmonic content

The wavelengths that make up a sound. Compare quality.

high-angle shot

Also known as high shot or down shot. A shot that is made with the camera above the action and that typically implies the observer's sense of superiority to the subject being photographed. Compare low-angle shot.

high-key lighting

Lighting that produces an image with very little contrast between darks and lights. Its even, flat illumination expresses virtually no opinions about the subject being photographed. Compare low-key lighting.

high shot

See high-angle shot.

hold-frame

See freeze-frame.

hub

A major event in a plot; a branching point in the plot structure that forces a character to choose between or among alternate paths. Compare satellite.

I

ideological meaning

Meaning expressed by a film that reflects beliefs on the part of filmmakers, characters, or the time and place of the movie's setting. Ideological meaning is the product of social, political, economic, religious, philosophical, psychological, and sexual forces that shape the filmmakers' perspectives.

imaginary line

See 180-degree system.

implicit meaning

An association, connection, or inference that a viewer makes on the basis of the given (explicit) story and form of a film. Lying below the surface of explicit meaning, implicit meaning is closest to our everyday sense of the word meaning.

improvisation

1. Actors' extemporization - that is, delivering lines based only loosely on the written script or without the preparation that comes with studying a script before rehearsing it. 2. "Playing through" a moment - that is, making up lines to keep scenes going when actors forget their written lines, stumble on lines, or have some other mishap.

in-camera effect

A special effect that is created in the production camera (the regular camera used for shooting the rest of the film) on the original negative. Examples of in-camera effects include montage and split screen. Compare laboratory effect and CGI.

inciting moment

The event or situation during the exposition stage of the narrative that sets the rest of the narrative in motion.

instructional film

A nonfiction film that seeks to educate viewers about common interests rather than persuading them with particular ideas. Compare documentary film, factual film, and propaganda film.

intercutting

Editing of two or more actions taking place at the same time that creates the effect of a single scene rather than of two distinct actions. Compare crosscutting and parallel editing.

interior monologue

One variation on the mental, subjective point of view of an individual character that allows us to see a character and hear that character's thoughts (in his or her own voice, even though the character's lips don't move).

internal sound

A form of diegetic sound in which we hear the thoughts of a character we see onscreen and assume that other characters cannot hear them. Compare external sound.

iris

A circular cutout made with a mask that creates a frame within a frame. 2. An adjustable diaphragm that limits the amount of light passing through the lens of a camera.

iris-in/iris-out

See iris shot.

iris shot

Optical wipe effect in which the wipe line is a circle; named after the iris of a camera. The iris-in begins with a small circle, which expands to a partial or full image; the iris-out begins with a large circle, which contracts to a smaller circle or total blackness.

J

jump cut

The removal of a portion of a film, resulting in an instantaneous advance in the action - a sudden, perhaps illogical, often disorienting ellipsis between two shots.

K

key light

Also known as main light or source light. The brightest light falling on a subject.

kinesis

The aspect of composition that takes into account everything that moves on the screen.

kinetograph

The first motion picture camera.

kinetoscope

A peephole viewer, an early motion picture device.

L

laboratory effect

A special effect that is created in the laboratory through processing and printing. Compare in-camera effect and CGI.

lap dissolve

See dissolve.

leading role

See major role.

lens

The piece of transparent material in a camera that focuses the image on the film being exposed. The four major types of lenses are the short-focal-length lens, the middle-focal-length lens, the long-focal-length-lens, and the zoom lens.

lighting ratio

The relationship and balance between illumination and shadow - the balance between key light and fill light.

line of action

See 180-degree system.

line producer

The person, usually involved from preproduction through postproduction, who is responsible for the day-to-day management of the production operation.

long-focal-length lens

Also known as telephoto lens. A lens that flattens the space and depth of an image and thus distorts perspectival relations. Compare middle-focal-length lens, short-focal-length lens, and zoom lens.

long shot (LS)

Also known as full-body shot. A shot that shows the full human body, usually filling the frame, and some of its surroundings.

long take

Also known as sequence shot. A shot that can last anywhere from one minute to ten minutes. (Be tween 1930 and 1960, the average length of a shot was 8-11 seconds; today it's 6-7 seconds, signifying that directors are telling their stories with a tighter pace.)

looping

See rerecording.

loudness

The volume or intensity of a sound, which is defined by its amplitude. Loudness is described as either loud or soft.

low-angle shot

Also known as low shot. A shot that is made with the camera below the action and that typically places the observer in a position of inferiority. Compare high-angle shot.

low-key lighting

Lighting that creates strong contrasts; sharp, dark shadows; and an overall gloomy atmo sphere. Its contrasts between light and dark often imply ethical judgments. Compare high-key lighting.

low shot

See low-angle shot.

LS

See long shot.

M

magic lantern

An early movie projector.

main light

See key light.

main role

See major role.

major character

One of the main characters in a movie. Major characters make the most things happen or have the most things happen to them. Compare minor character and marginal character.

major role

Also known as main role, featured role, or leading role. A role that is a principal agent in helping move the plot forward. Whether movie stars or newcomers, actors playing major roles appear in many scenes and - ordinarily, but not always - receive screen credit preceding the title. Compare minor role.

marginal character

A minor character that lacks both definition and screen time.

mask

An opaque sheet of metal, paper, or plastic (with, for example, a circular cutout, known as an iris) that is placed in front of the camera and admits light through that circle to a specific area of the frame - to create a frame within a frame.

master shot

Also known as establishing shot or cover shot. A shot that ordinarily serves as a foundation for (and usually begins) a sequence by showing the location of ensuing action. Although usually a long shot or extreme long shot, a master shot may also be a medium shot or close-up that includes a sign or other cue to identify the location. Master shots are also called cover shots because the editor can repeat them later in the film to remind the audience of the location, thus "covering" the director by avoiding the need to reshoot.

match cut

A cut that preserves con tinuity between two shots. Several kinds of match cuts exist, including the eyeline match cut, the graphic match cut, and the match-on-action cut.

match-on-action cut

A match cut in which the action continues seamlessly from one shot to the next or from one camera angle to the next. Compare eyeline match cut and graphic match cut.

MCU

See medium close-up.

mechanical effect

A special effect created by an object or event mechanically on the set and in front of the camera.

mediation

An agent, structure, or other formal element, whether human or technological, that transfers something, such as information in the case of movies, from one place to another.

medium close-up (MCU)

A shot that shows a character from the middle of the chest to the top of the head. A medium close-up provides a view of the face that catches minor changes in expression, as well as some detail about the character's posture.

medium long shot (MLS)

Also known as plan américain or American shot. A shot that shows a character from the knees up and includes most of a person's body.

medium shot (MS)

A shot showing the human body, usually from the waist up.

method acting

Also known assimply the method. A naturalistic acting style, loosely adapted from the ideas of Russian director Konstantin Stanislavsky by American directors Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg, that encourages actors to speak, move, and gesture not in a traditional stage manner, but in the same way they would in their own lives. An ideal technique for representing convincing human behavior, method acting is used more frequently on the stage than on the screen.

middle-focal-length lens

Also known as normal lens. A lens that does not distort perspectival relations. Compare long-focal-length lens, short-focal-length lens, and zoom lens.

minor character

A supporting character in a movie. Minor characters have fewer traits than major characters, so we know less about them. They may also be so lacking in definition and screen time that we can consider them marginal characters.

minor role

Also known as supporting role. A role that helps move the plot forward (and thus may be as important as a major role), but that is played by an actor who does not appear in as many scenes as the featured players do.

mise-en-scène

Also known as staging. The overall look and feel of a movie - the sum of everything the audience sees, hears, and experiences while viewing it.

mixing

The process of combining different sound tracks onto one composite sound track that is synchronous with the picture.

MLS

See medium long shot.

montage

1. In France, the word for editing, from the verb monter, "to assemble or put together." 2. In the former Soviet Union in the 1920s, the various forms of editing that expressed ideas developed by theorists and filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein. 3. In Hollywood, beginning in the 1930s, a sequence of shots, often with superimpositions and optical effects, showing a condensed series of events.

motion picture film

See celluloid roll film.

movie star

A phenomenon, generally associated with Hollywood, comprising the actor and the characters played by that actor, an image created by the studio to coincide with the kind of roles associated with the actor, and a reflection of the social and cultural history of the period in which that image was created.

moving frame

The result of the dynamic functions of the frame around a motion picture image, which can contain moving action but can also move and thus change its viewpoint.

MS

See medium shot.

narration

The commentary spoken by either offscreen or onscreen voices, frequently used in narrative films, where it may emanate from an omniscient voice (and thus not one of the characters) or from a character in the movie. There are two main types of narration: first-person narration and voice-over narration.

narrative

The overall connection of events within the world of a movie, consisting of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. Compare story and plot.

narrative film

Also known as fiction film. A movie that tells a story - with characters, places, and events - that is conceived in the mind of the film's creator. Stories in narrative films may be wholly imaginary or based on true occurrences, and they may be realistic, unrealistic, or both. Compare nonfiction film.

narrator

A voice that helps tell the story. The narrator may be either a character in the movie or a person who is not a character.

negative

A negative photographic image on transparent material that makes possible the reproduction of the image.

nondiegetic element

Something that we see and hear on the screen that comes from outside the world of the story (including background music, titles and credits, and voice-over narration). Compare diegetic element.

nondiegetic sound

Sound that originates from a source outside a film's world. Compare diegetic sound.

nonfiction film

Factual, instructional, documentary, orpropaganda film traditionally produced by a government, foundation, charity organization, or independent filmmaker. The terms nonfiction film and documentary film are often used synonymously, but although all documentaries are nonfiction films, not all nonfiction films are documentaries. Compare narrative film.

nonsimultaneous sound

Sound that has previously been established in the movie and occurs when a character has a mental flashback to an earlier voice that recalls a conversation or a sound that identifies a place. Compare simultaneous sound.

normal lens

See middle-focal-length lens.

oblique-angle shot

See Dutch-angle shot.

offscreen sound

A form of sound, either diegetic ornondiegetic, that derives from a source we do not see. When diegetic, it consists of sound effects, music, or vocals that emanate from the world of the story. When nondiegetic, it takes the form of a musical score or narration by someone who is not a character in the story. Compare onscreen sound.

offscreen space

Cinematic space that exists outside the frame. Compare onscreen space.

omniscient

Providing a third-person view of all aspects of a movie's action or characters. Compare restricted.

omniscient point of view

The most basic and most common point of view. Omniscient means that the camera has complete or unlimited perception of what the cinematographer chooses for it to see and hear; this point of view shows what that camera sees, typically from a high angle. Compare single character's point of view and group point of view.

on location

Shooting in an actual interior or exterior location away from the studio. Compare set.

180-degree rule

See 180-degree system.

180-degree system

Also known as axis of action, imaginary line, line of action, or 180-degree rule. The fundamental means by which filmmakers maintain consistent screen direction, orienting the viewer and ensuring a sense of the cinematic space in which the action occurs. The system assumes three things: (a) the action within a scene will always advance along a straight line, either from left to right or from right to left of the frame; (b) the camera will remain consistently on one side of that action; and (c) everyone on the production set will understand and adhere to this system.

onscreen sound

A form of diegetic sound that emanates from a source that we both see and hear. Onscreen sound may be internal sound orexternal sound. Compare offscreen sound.

onscreen space

Cinematic space that exists inside the frame. Compare offscreen space.

open frame

A frame around a motion picture image that, theoretically, characters and objects can enter and leave. Compare closed frame.

option contract

During the classical Hollywood era, an actor's standard seven-year contract, reviewed every six months: if the actor had made progress in being assigned roles and demonstrating box-office appeal, the studio picked up the option to employ that actor for the next six months and gave the actor a raise; if not, the studio dropped the option and the actor was out of a job.

order

The arrangement of plot events into a logical sequence or hierarchy. Across an entire narrative or in a brief section of it, any film can use one or more methods to arrange its plot: chronological order, cause-and-effect order, logical order, and so on.

outtake

Material that is not used in either the rough cut or the final cut, but is cataloged and saved.

overlapping sound

Sound that carries over from one shot to the next before the sound of the second shot begins.

P

pan shot

The horizontal movement of a camera mounted on the gyroscopic head of a stationary tripod; like the tilt shot, the pan shot is a simple movement with dynamic possibilities for creating meaning.

parallel editing

Also called crosscutting and intercutting, although the three terms have slightly different meanings. The intercutting of two or more lines of action that occur simultaneously, a very familiar convention in chase or rescue sequences. See also crosscutting and intercutting. Compare split screen.

persistence of vision

The process by which the human brain retains an image for a fraction of a second longer than the eye records it.

phi phenomenon

The illusion of movement created by events that succeed each other rapidly, as when two adjacent lights flash on and off alternately and we seem to see a single light shifting back and forth. See also apparent motion.

photography

Literally, "writing with light"; technically, the recording of static images through a chemical interaction caused by light rays striking a sensitized surface.

pitch

The level of a sound, which is defined by its frequency. Pitch is described as either high or low.

plan américain

See medium long shot.

plane

Any of three theoretical areas - foreground, middle ground, and background - within the frame. See also rule of thirds.

plot

A structure for presenting everything that we see and hear in a film, with an emphasis on causality, consisting of two factors: (a) the arrangement of the diegetic events in a certain order or structure and (b) added nondiegetic material. See diegesis and nondiegetic elements. Compare narrative and story.

plot duration

The elapsed time of the events within a story that a film chooses to tell. Compare screen duration and story duration.

point of view (POV)

The position from which a film presents the actions of the story; not only the relation of the narrator(s) to the story but also the camera's act of seeing and hearing. The two fundamental types of cinematic point of view are omniscient and restricted.

point-of-view editing

The joining together of a point-of-view shot with a match cut (specifically, a match-on-action cut) to show, in the first shot, a character looking and, in the second, what that character is looking at.

postproduction

The third stage of the production process, consisting of editing, preparing the final print, and bringing the film to the public (marketing and distribution). Postproduction is preceded by preproduction and production.

POV

See point of view.

preproduction

The initial, planning-and-preparation stage of the production process. Preproduction is followed by production and postproduction.

prime lens

A lens that has a fixed focal length. The short-focal-length, middle-focal-length, and long-focal-length lenses are all prime lenses; the zoom lens is in its own category.

processing

The second stage of creating motion pictures, in which a laboratory technician washes exposed film (which contains a negative image) with processing chemicals. Processing is preceded by shooting and followed by projecting.

process shot

Live shooting against a background that is front-or rear-projected on a translucent screen.

producer

The person who guides the entire process of making the movie from its initial planning to its release and is chiefly responsible for the organizational and financial aspects of the production, from arranging the financing to deciding how the money is spent.

production

The second stage of the production process, the actual shooting. Production is preceded by preproduction and followed by postproduction.

production designer

A person who works closely with the director, art director, and director of photography, in visualizing the movie that will appear on the screen. The production designer is both an artist and an executive, responsible for the overall design concept, the look of the movie - as well as individual sets, locations, furnishings, props, and costumes - and for supervising the heads of the many departments (art, costume design and construction, hairstyling, makeup, wardrobe, location, etc.) that create that look.

production value

The amount of human and physical resources devoted to the image, including the style of its lighting. Production value helps determine the overall style of a film.

projecting

The third stage of creating motion pictures, in which edited film is run through a projector, which shoots through the film a beam of light intense enough to project a large image on the movie theater screen. Projecting is preceded by shooting and processing.

propaganda film

A nonfiction film that systematically disseminates deceptive or distorted information. Compare documentary film, factual film, and instructional film.

properties

Also known as simply props. Objects such as paintings, vases, flowers, silver tea sets, guns, or fishing rods that help us understand the characters by showing us their preferences in such things.

props

See properties.

protagonist

The major character who serves as the "hero" and who "wins" the conflict. Compare antagonist.

pull-down claw

Within the movie camera and projector, the mechanism that controls the intermittent cycle of shooting and projecting individual frames and advances the film frame by frame.

pull focus

See rack focus.

Q

quality

Also known as timbre, texture, or color. The complexity of a sound, which is defined by its harmonic content. Described as simple or complex, quality is the characteristic that distinguishes a sound from others of the same pitch and loudness.

R

rack focus

Also known as select focus, shift focus, or pull focus. A change of the point of focus from one subject to another within the same shot. Rack focus guides our attention to a new clearly focused point of interest while blurring the previous subject in the shot.

raw film stock

See celluloid roll film.

realism

An interest in or concern for the actual or real; a tendency to view or represent things as they really are. Compare antirealism.

real time

he actual time during which something takes place. In real time, screen duration and plot duration are exactly the same. Many directors use real time within films to create uninterrupted "reality" on the screen, but they rarely use it for entire films. Compare cinematic time, stretch relationship, and summary relationship.

reflector board

A piece of lighting equipment, but not really a lighting instrument, because it does not rely on bulbs to produce illumination. Essentially, a reflector board is a double-sided board that pivots in a U-shaped holder. One side is a hard, smooth surface that reflects hard light; the other is a soft, textured surface that reflects softer fill light.

reframing

A movement of the camera that adjusts or alters the composition or point of view of a shot.

repetition

The number of times that a story element recurs in a plot. Repetition signals that a particular event has noteworthy meaning or significance.

rerecording

Also known as looping or dubbing. The replacing of dialogue, which can be done manually (that is, with the actors watching the footage, synchronizing their lips with it, and rereading the lines) or, more likely today, through computerized automatic dialogue replacement (ADR). (Dubbing also refers to the process of replacing dialogue in a foreign language with En glish, or the reverse, throughout a film.)

reshoot

To make additional takes of a shot in order to meet the director's standards or as supplemental material for production photography.

restricted

Providing a view from the perspective of a single character. For example, restricted narration reveals information to the audience only as a specific character learns of it. Compare omniscient.

reverse-angle shot

A shot in which the angle of shooting is opposite to that of the preceding shot.

revolver photographique

Also known as chrono-photographic gun. A cylinder-shaped camera that creates exposures automatically, at short intervals, on different segments of a revolving plate.

rising action

The development of the action of the narrative toward a climax. Compare falling action.

rough-draft screenplay

Also known as scenario. The next step after a treatment, the rough-draft screenplay results from discussions, development, and transformation of an outline in sessions known as story conferences.

round character

A character that is three-dimensional, unpredictable, complex, and capable of surprising us in a convincing way. Round characters may be major or minor characters. Compare flat character.

rule of thirds

A principle of composition that enables filmmakers to maximize the potential of the image, balance its elements, and create the illusion of depth. A grid pattern, when superimposed on the image, divides the image into ho rizontal thirds representing the foreground, middle ground, and background planes and into vertical thirds that break up those planes into additional elements.

rushes

See dailies.

S

satellite

A minor plot event in the diegesis, or world, of the narrative but detachable from it (although removing a satellite may affect the overall texture of the narrative). Compare hub.

scale

The size and placement of a particular object or a part of a scene in relation to the rest - a relationship determined by the type of shot used and the placement of the camera.

scenario

See rough-draft screenplay.

scene

A complete unit of plot action incorporating one or more shots; the setting of that action.

scope

The overall range of a story.

screen direction

The direction of a figure's or object's movement on the screen.

screen duration

A film's running time. Compare plot duration and story duration.

screen test

A filming undertaken by an actor to audition for a particular role.

script supervisor

The member of the crew who is responsible for ensuring continuity throughout the filming of a movie. Although script supervisors once had to maintain detailed logs to accomplish this task, today they generally rely on the video assist camera for this purpose.

second AC

See assistant cameraperson.

select focus

See rack focus.

sequence

A series of edited shots characterized by inherent unity of theme and purpose.

sequence shot

See long take.

series photography

The use of a series of still photographs to record the phases of an action, although the actions within the images do not move.

set

Not reality, but a fragment of reality created as the setting for a particular shot in a movie. Sets must be constructed both to look authentic and to photograph well. Compare on location.

setting

The time and space in which a story takes place.

setup

One camera position and everything associated with it. Whereas the shot is the basic building block of the film, the setup is the basic component of the film's production.

shift focus

See rack focus.

shooting

The first stage of creating motion pictures, in which images are recorded on previously unexposed film as it moves through the camera. Shooting is followed by processing and projecting.

shooting angle

The level and height of the camera in relation to the subject being photographed. The five basic camera angles produce eye-level shots, high-angle shots, low-angle shots, Dutch-angle shots, and aerial-view shots.

shooting script

A guide and reference point for all members of the production unit, in which the details of each shot are listed and can thus be followed during filming.

short-focal-length lens

Also known as wide-angle lens. A lens that creates the illusion of depth within a frame, albeit with some distortion at the edges of the frame. Compare long-focal-length lens, middle-focal-length lens, and zoom lens.

shot

One uninterrupted run of the camera. A shot can be as short or as long as the director wants, but it cannot exceed the length of the film stock in the camera. Compare setup.

shot/reverse shot

One of the most prevalent and familiar of all editing patterns, consisting of parallel editing (crosscutting) between shots of different characters, usually in a conversation or confrontation. When used in continuity editing, the shots are typically framed over each character's shoulder to preserve screen direction.

shutter

A camera device that shields the film from light at the aperture during the film-movement portion of the intermittent cycle of shooting.

simultaneous sound

Sound that is diegetic and occurs onscreen. Compare nonsimultaneous sound.

single character's point of viewA point of view

A point of view that is captured by a shot made with the camera close to the line of sight of one character (or animal or surveillance camera), showing what that person would be seeing of the action. Compare omniscient point of view and group point of view.

slate

The board or other device that is used to identify each scene during shooting.

slow motion

Photography that decelerates action by photographing it at a filming rate greater than the normal 24 frames per second so that, in cinematic time, it takes place at a slower rate than the real action took place before the camera. Compare fast motion.

sound crew

The group that generates and controls a movie's sound physically, manipulating its properties to produce the effects that the director desires.

sound design

A state-of-the-art concept, pioneered by director Francis Ford Coppola and film editor Walter Murch, combining the crafts of editing and mixing and, like them, involving both theoretical and practical issues. In essence, sound design represents advocacy for movie sound (to counter some people's tendency to favor the movie image).

sound effect

A sound artificially created for the sound track that has a definite function in telling the story.

soundstage

A windowless, soundproofed, professional shooting environment that is usually several stories high and can cover an acre or more of floor space.

sound track

A separate recording tape occupied by one specific type of sound recorded for a movie (one track for vocals, one for sound effects, one for music, etc.).

source light

See key light.

special effects (SPFX, FX)

Technology for creating images that would be too dangerous, too expensive, or, in some cases, simply impossible to achieve with traditional cinematographic materials. The goal of special-effects cinematography is generally to create verisimilitude within the imaginative world of even the most fanciful movie.

SPFX

See special effects.

splicing

See cutting.

split screen

A method, created either in the camera or during the editing process, of telling two stories at the same time by dividing the screen into different parts. Unlike parallel editing, which cuts back and forth between shots for contrast, the split screen can tell multiple stories within the same frame.

sprocketed rollers

Devices that control the speed of unexposed film as it moves through the camera, printer, or projector.

staging

See mise-en-scène.

stand-in

An actor who looks reasonably like a particular movie star (or at least an actor playing a major role) in height, weight, coloring, and so on, and who substitutes for that actor during the tedious process of preparing setups or taking light readings.

Stanislavsky system

A system of acting, developed by Russian theater director Konstantin Stanislavsky in the late nineteenth century, that encourages students to strive for realism, both social and psychological, and to bring their past experiences and emotions to their roles. This system influenced the development of method acting in the United States.

Steadicam

camera suspended from an articulated arm that is attached to a vest strapped to the camera person's body, permitting the operator to remain steady during "handheld" shots. The Steadicam removes jumpiness and is now often used for smooth, fast, and intimate camera movement.

stock

See film stock.

stop-frame

See freeze-frame.

story

In a movie, all the events we see or hear on the screen, and all the events that are implicit or that we infer to have happened but that are not explicitly presented. Compare diegesis, narrative, and plot.

storyboard

A scene-by-scene (sometimes shot-by-shot) breakdown that combines sketches or photographs of how each shot is to look and written descriptions of the other elements that are to go with each shot, including dialogue, sound, and music.

story conference

One of any number of sessions during which the treatment is discussed, developed, and transformed from an outline into a rough-draft screenplay.

story duration

The amount of time that the implied story takes to occur. Compare plot duration and screen duration.

stream of consciousness

A literary style that gained prominence in the 1920s in the hands of such writers as Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Dorothy Richardson and that attempted to capture the unedited flow of experience through the mind.

stretch relationship

A time relationship in which screen duration is longer than plot duration. Comparereal time and summary relationship.

stuntperson

A performer who doubles for another actor in scenes requiring special skills or involving hazardous actions, such as crashing cars, jumping from high places, swimming, or riding (or falling off of) horses.

summary relationship

A time relationship in which screen duration is shorter than plot duration. Compare real time and stretch relationship.

supporting role

See minor role.

surprise

A taking unawares that is potentially shocking. Compare suspense.

suspense

The anxiety brought on by partial uncertainty: the end is certain, but the means are not. Compare surprise.

synopsis

See treatment.

T

take

An indication of the number of times a particular shot is taken (e.g., shot 14, take 7).

take-up spool

A device that winds the film inside the movie camera after it has been exposed.

telephoto lens

See long-focal-length lens.

texture

As related to sound, see quality.

theme

A shared, public idea, such as a metaphor, an adage, a myth, or a familiar conflict or personality type.

three-point system

Perhaps the best-known lighting convention in feature filmmaking, a system that employs three sources of light - key light, fill light, and backlight - each aimed from a different direction and position in relation to the subject.

tilt shot

The vertical movement of a camera mounted on the gyroscopic head of a stationary tripod. Like the pan shot, the tilt shot is a simple movement with dynamic possibilities for creating meaning.

timbre

See quality.

tracking shot

See dolly shot.

traveling shot

See dolly shot.

treatment

Also known as synopsis. An outline of the action that briefly describes the essential ideas and structure for a film.

two-shot

A shot in which two characters appear; ordinarily a medium shot or medium long shot.

typecasting

The casting of actors because of their looks or "type" rather than for their acting talent or experience.

V

variable-focal-length lens

See zoom lens.

verisimilitude

A convincing appearance of truth; movies are verisimilar when they convince you that the things on the screen - people, places, and so on, no matter how fantastic or antirealistic - are  really there. 

video assist camera

A tiny device, mounted in the viewing system of the film camera, that enables a script supervisor to view a scene on a video monitor (and thus compare its details with those of surrounding scenes, to ensure visual continuity) before the film is sent to the laboratory for processing.

viewfinder

On a camera, the little window that the cameraperson looks through when taking a picture; the viewfinder's frame indicates the boundaries of the camera's point of view.

voice-over narration

Narration heard concurrently and over a scene but not synchronized to any character who may be talking on the screen. It can come from many sources, including an objective narrator (who is not a character) bringing us up-to-date, a first-person narrator commenting on the action, or, in a nonfiction film, a commentator. Compare first-person narration.

W

walk-on

A role even smaller than a cameo, reserved for a highly recognizable actor or personality.

wardrobe

See costumes.

wide-angle lens

See short-focal-length lens.

wipe

A transitional device between shots in which shot B wipes across shot A, either vertically or horizontally, to replace it. Although (or because) the device reminds us of early eras in filmmaking, directors continue to use it.

X

XCU

See extreme close-up.

XLS

See extreme long shot.

Z

zoom-in

A shot in which the image is magnified by movement of the camera's lens only, without the camera itself moving. This magnification is the essential difference between the zoom-in and the dolly-in.

zoom lens

Also known as variable-focal-length lens. A lens that is moved toward and away from the subject being photographed, has a continuously variable focal length, and helps reframe a shot within the take. A zoom lens permits the camera operator during shooting to shift between wide-angle and telephoto lenses without changing the focus or aperture settings. Compare long-focal-length lens, middle-focal-length lens, and short-focal-length lens. See also prime lens.

zoopraxiscope

An early device for exhibiting moving pictures - a revolving disk with photographs arranged around the center.