Film Terms

Adapted from Reading in the Dark by John Golden

Framing/Shots

Ø      Long Shot: a shot taken from a distance. Shows full subject and perhaps the surrounding scene.

Ø      Establishing Shot: sets the scene or shows the space of a scene. (long shot or series of shots.)

Ø      Close-up: the image takes up at least 80% of the frame. An extreme close up shows a part of the body or part of an object.

Ø      Medium Shot: people are seen from the waist up.

Focus

Ø      Soft focus: putting the object slightly out of focus to make it look softer or unclear.

Ø      Rack focus: shifting focus from one object to the other within the same shot in order to direct the audience’s attention.

Ø      Deep focus: foreground and background are equally in focus.

Camera Angles

Ø      Low angle: camera shoots the subject from below. This angle has the effect of making the object or person look larger than normal and therefore strong, powerful, threatening.

Ø      High angle: camera shoots from above the subject. This angle has the effect of making the object or person look smaller than normal and therefore weak, powerless, trapped.

Ø      Eye level: The camera is even with the key character’s eyes. This is the most natural shot and accounts for 90 to 95 percent of the shots seen.

Ø      Dutch angles: shot that is tilted sideways on the horizontal line. It is used to add tension to a static frame and creates a sinister or distorted view of the character.

Sound

Ø      Diegetic: sound that could be heard logically by the characters within the film. Internal diegetic means the sound can be heard in the mind of one character.

Ø      Nondiegetic: sound that could not be heard by characters: sound given directly to the audience by the director.

Lighting

Ø      Low-key: scene is flooded with shadows and darkness. This creates suspense/suspicion

Ø      High-key: scene is flooded with light. This creates a bright, open-looking scene.

Ø      Neutral: neither bright nor dark—even  lighting throughout the scene

Ø      Bottom/side: lighting from below or from one side; this lighting is often evil-looking and may convey split personality or moral ambiguity

Ø      Front/rear: soft, direct lighting on face or back of subject- may suggest innocence and create a halo effect.

Camera Movement

Ø      Pan:  stationary camera moves left or right

Ø      Tilt: stationary camera moves up or down

Ø      Zoom: the camera is stationary but the lens moves, making the objects appear to grow larger or smaller.

Ø      Dolly: the camera itself is moving with the action-on a track, on wheels, or held by hand.

Editing Techniques

The most common is a “cut” to another image. Others are:

Ø      Fade: scenes fade to black or white; often implies time has passed.

Ø      Dissolve: an image fades into another; can create connection between images.

Ø      Crosscutting: cut to action that is happening simultaneously; also called parallel editing.

Ø      Flashback: movement into action that has happened previously. It is often indicated by a change in music, voice-over narration, or a dissolve; a flash-forward leads us ahead in time.

Ø      Eye-line match: a shot of a person looking, then cut to what he or she saw, followed by a cut back for a reaction.

Mise-en-Scene

This term refers to what appears within the frame of the shot, including the costumes, props, acting, lighting, and makeup.