Non-highlighted
portions are definitions;
highlighted sections are commentary on the terms.
Screenwriter – person who writes the script for a movie;
not necessarily the person who created the
story.
·
Story – A series of events carried out by characters; an outline of the basic
action of the movie
·
Screenplay – the script, which lays out the exact words spoken by characters
and the action of the story
Director – person who decides how the movie will look and is in charge of
making that vision come to life on the screen;
the director chooses what the audience will
see and how they will see it by deciding where the cameras are placed and what
they're focused on.
Camera Work
·
High angle – looking down from a high place –
makes the focus of the shot look small, weak.
·
Low angle – looking up from a low level –
adds to feeling of suspense; makes the focus of the shot look large, powerful
·
Tilt angle – when the camera is tilted to one side;
used to make the viewer feel off-balance,
adding to psychological tension
·
Static shot - when the camera stays focused on one particular area
·
Establishing shot – a several-seconds-long shot of the location where a story
takes place; lets the audience know where the
scene is supposed to happen
·
Tracking shot - when the camera follows a particular actor as he or she moves
from one point to another; often involves the use of a trolley or crane, but
might also be a pan
·
Pan – when the camera stays still but stays focused on moving action;
makes the audience focus on a specific
section of the screen and ignore other parts.
·
Handheld shot – a tracking shot where the camera bounces around as it follows
the action to make the view seem more realistic;
often makes audiences nauseated
·
Steady-Cam shot – a tracking shot using a special rig that keeps the camera
moving very smoothly so it does not jostle around and make the audience
nauseated.
·
POV shot – “Point of View” shot; the camera is placed where the character’s
eyes would be so the audience sees things just like the character would;
most scenes are filmed from the “outside”, as
though someone was looking in at the scene – the POV shot puts the audience
right in the scene
·
Wide angle – a shot from far away that takes in lots of setting;
used to show the audience how small or large
the subject of the scene is, as compared with the background.
·
One shot – a shot that reveals only one person;
used to focus attention on the subject of the shot; allows for very subtle
acting.
·
Two shot – a shot that reveals only two people;
used to capture interactions between
characters, often dialogue-related.
·
Close-up – a shot that focuses on a small detail of a person, object, or
setting; forces the audience to notice things
they or the characters might otherwise miss in a wider-angle shot.
·
Montage – a series of pictures or scenes, usually without audible dialogue but
with music overlaid, that depict passing time.
Sound
·
Scoring – music that helps to set the mood in a film; scoring is usually
instrumental; music makes all the difference
in a scene – it’s lack, or the type used, can completely change the feelings
of the audience as they watch a particular scene.
·
Music - usually refers to songs that have been selected and inserted as
background music for a scene; songs
are often chosen for their lyrics as symbolism or to highlight a character's
thoughts or feelings
·
Sound effects – Any audio parts that are not originally recorded as part of
the scene; sometimes sound effects are
included to make the scene more realistic; other times, sound effects are used
by the director as part of the symbolism of the movie, such as having heavy
bells tolling during a death scene, or the train noises in the background of
The Outsiders.
·
Foley artist – Someone whose job is to create and record specific sound
effects for inclusion in a film; Foley
artists may need to capture the sound of running feet on pavement, the squeal
of a car as it spins out, or the sound of laser blasters that don’t really
exist.
Lighting - refers to not only the intensity of the
light, but also the angle of the lights, the use of shadow, and sometimes the
color of the light
·
General lighting – when the scene is lit to look very natural; usually
involves having lights placed high and low all around the set to reduce or
eliminate shadows
·
Down lighting – lights are placed directly overhead to produce harsh downward
shadows
·
Up lighting – lights are placed very low to produce hard upward shadows;
often used on faces in horror movies
·
Backlighting – lights are placed behind the focus of the scene to make the
actor or object difficult to see; adds a
degree of mystery to the shot
·
Spot light - As a verb, refers to focusing a bright light on a specific
person, item, or section of the stage to focus attention there
·
Strobe – a quickly pulsing light that illuminates a very dark area in brief
flashes; the speed of the strobe can be varied; a very fast strobe can change
how the image looks, making it seem to be happening in slow motion.
Palette – the colors used in a film, either in costumes,
sets, or lighting;
some directors use specific colors to
symbolize particular ideas or indicate important information. Easily-spotted
examples can be found in The Matrix series, in which all of the scenes
that take place within the Matrix are green-tinged, those that take place in
the military portions of the “real world” are blue-and-gray tinged, and those
that take place in the civilian portions of the “real world” feature light
earth tones.
Editing – refers to which parts of the film have been
trimmed out or re-arranged to create the final product;
how the film is cut together literally, and
often figuratively, changes how we view the movie
·
Jump cut - an instantaneous transition from one shot to another
·
Dissolve - when the image on the screen slowly fades in to a different image;
generally used to show a strong connection
between one scene and another
·
Fade - Fading in is going from a black screen and slowly dissolving into the
scene; fading out is going from a scene and slowly dissolving to a black
screen; generally used to show the beginning
or ending of a movie; sometimes used symbolically to represent death or
rebirth
Visuals - Items that are seen by the audience - may
or may not be symbolic; as an example, a character
looking into a broken mirror may show how the character's life has
shattered, or that the character's self-image has been broken and is
different than he/she thought it was.
Actor – a person who pretends to be someone in the story;
actors are often chosen for both their acting
skill and for how closely they resemble the images of the characters in the
director’s head.
·
Casting - the choice of actors made by the director; appropriate casting
matches an actor's skill and appearance to a role well
·
Type casting - when an actor is chosen for a role based solely on physical
appearance, or when an actor repeatedly plays the same type of character in a
variety of movies; such actors are often called "character actors"
·
Acting – the skills that allow the audience to believe that the actor is
actually someone else
·
Choices - actors must choose how they will portray a character or deliver a
line; inappropriate choices by actors
can ruin a scene or a movie
·
Broad – Refers to how over-the-top acting is;
often used in comedy & children’s movies because it is very easy to understand
what the actor is trying to get across to the audience; actors who aren’t very
good tend to act broadly.
·
Subtle – refers to how realistic (and sometimes difficult to detect) acting
is; the best actors can use subtle acting to
get the audience to believe things that aren’t real.
More film terms:
http://www.springhurst.org/cinemagic/glossary_terms.htm
Even more film terms:
http://www.psu.edu/dept/inart10_110/inart10/film.html
Yet more film terms:
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~amclamor/324Film/glossary.pdf