Film terms

By Hannah Wright

Film terms

Establishing shot• Establishes positions of elements, it identifies settings.

Low angled shot• Angle below the object, so looking up at a person from a smaller

child.

High angled shot• Angle above the object, so a smaller child looking up at another

person.

Close up• A close up of a person for example. So just their face.

Medium Close up• Shows half of object, for example head to waist.

Extreme Close up• Extremely close up to the object, so just their eye.

Long shot• The whole object, so a whole person from head to foot.

Medium Long shot

Two/three shot

• Human figure from lower leg up, fits easy within frame.

• Any shot with two people or three.

Aerial Shot• Vertically down at subject- birds eye view.

Point of view

Panning

• To see what the characters seeing, their point of view.

• Pivoting camera to show the scene.

Tilting

• A trolley on which is pulled along ground holding a camera.

Tracking

Dollying

• Pivoting up or down.

• Towards itself or away from the subject.

Zoom in/out• Moving closer to object or zooming out.

Framing• What’s included/excluded in individual shot.

Composition • Camera angles, lighting and properties of characters.

Hand held shot• Used to convey a sense of intimacy.

Rule of thirds

• Refocusing of a lens during a shot change attention.

Depth of field

Focus pull

• Grid over middle, main object should be in the middle.

• This means how much of the shot seems to be in focus, in front of and behind the subject. Deep focus: everything in the shot appears to be in focus, which means that we can be looking at action taking place in the foreground, middle ground and background. Shallow focus: Isolates the subject from the background

Editing- Cut• Replaced by another image/film without transition.

Fade

Wipe

• Fades in or out.

• One image replaces another without dissolving.

Editing • Shots put together.

Long take

Dissolve

• A certain clip without any editing.

• Image into another.

Slow motion

• Overlaying another image on top of a shot or image, changing opacity.

Superimpose

180˚ Rule

• Slow down the clip.

• An imaginary line when film don’t cross this as it changes the effect on the character.

Reaction shot

• In montage, different images are assembled to build up an impression. This is often used in sequences.

Montage editing

Continuity editing

• Expression through reaction.

• The majority of the film sequences are edited so that the time seems to flow, uninterrupted, from shot to shot. Within a ‘continuity editing’ sequences, only will be used. Continuity editing can also involve ‘cross-cutting’, where a sequence cuts between two different settings where action is taking place at the same time.

Shot reverse shot

• Human to wall, then wall to human.

Eyeline match

Graphic match

• Conversation scene reversing back and forth between who’s talking.

Switching between two shapes that are the same shape for example, bone to satellite.

Action match

• two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit causes the subject of the shots to appear to "jump" position in a discontinuous way

Jump cut

Cross cutting

• The continuous shot of a different angle.

• Back and forth two or more lines of action.

Parallel editing

• Cut away from the primary subject.

Cutaway

Ellipsis

• Back and forth between two or more scenes taking place simultaneously, compared or contrasted.

• Leave out part of it, like a cliff-hanger.

Sound-Diegetic

• Not part of the screen, a voice over.

Non-diegetic

Sound effect

• Sound that we think is part of what's going on, on the screen horse hooves, thunder.

• Bang/crash, onamatopia.

Sound Bridge

• Speaking over film.

Voice over

Sound track

• Carried on over a scene.

• A piece of music that accompanying the film.

Score

• the background noise present in a scene. This is very important in video and film work

Ambient sound

• Music accompanying film.

Mis-en-scene – Production design

• Any piece of film being shot, within a place or set.

Location

Studio

• Overall look of the film.

• Constructed set on a studio

Set Design

• The costumes and make up used in scenes.

Costume and make up

Lighting

• The creation of the set.

• High or low contrast and can vary in colour and direction.

Colour design

• The lighting is bright and relatively low in contrast often used for Hollywood musical comedies.

High key lighting

Low key lighting

• Distinctive colour of design.

Icon• Iconography associated with the genre.

Much more pronounced shadows and dramatic contrasts.