Film Terminology
The Image
The smallest unit is a frame showing a single picture: a still image that is part of the composition of
many frames, or a shot.
A shot is a sequence of frames filmed in a continuous take of a camera. A sequence of shots
composes a scene, or a sequence of action segments which take place continuously, at the same time
and in the same place. When you jump from place to place, or from time to time, it is a new scene.
Cinematography: “how you see what you see”; how the cinematographer and director utilize the
camera and lighting to create a film’s visual aesthetic.
Mise-en-scène translates to “the action of putting onto the stage” or “setting the stage.” This is
what you see, or the arrangement of everything in the frame–or, all the elements placed in front of
the camera to be shot: including settings and props, lighting, costumes and makeup, and figure
behavior.
Shot types are based on two features: 1) the camera’s distance from the object and 2) the size of the
object. The four central categories are close up, medium shot, full shot, and long shot. There are
also extreme close ups (a small object or a part of an object being shown, such as a speaking
mouth or a telephone receiver) and extreme long shots (a view from a distance, of skylines or
scenery, often used as an establishing shot).
Camera Movement & Angles
Typically, the camera is assumed to be shooting from a stationary position. If the camera changes its
position or moves while filming, we get the following types of dynamic shots:
Pan: the camera surveys a scene by rotating its horizontal axis
Tilt: the camera rotates up or down on its vertical axis
Tracking shot: the camera tracks an in-motion object
Zoom: the camera remains stationary, but the camera’s lens moves towards or away from an object
Low-angle framing: the camera is looking up, and the object is seen from a low-level position
High-angle framing: the camera is looking down, and the object is seen from a high position
Top shot: birds-eye view or aerial shot
Whip pan: back and forth camera rotation that creates a disorientating effect
Point-of-view shot: shoots from the view of a specific character
Gaze shot: a shot showing a character gazing at something not currently seen within the frame
Reaction shot: a shot showing a character reacting to what they have just seen
Sound
Diegetic sound: noise, speech, or music coming from an identifiable source in the current scene.
For example, we hear a weather report and we see that it comes from a car radio which someone has
just turned on.
Nondiegetic sound: noise, speech, or music which does not come from a source located in the
current scene.
Ambient sound: a diegetic background sound such as the clatter of typewriters or the hubbub of
voices in a cafe.
Sound bridge: when audio is carried over from one scene to the next to tie two scenes together
Editing
Also known as “cutting.” A cut marks the shit from one shot to another. It is identified by the type
of transition which is produced. The two major kinds of cuts aredirect, which is an instantaneous
shift without any transition, and transitional, which are based on optical effect and signal a change
of scene.
Direct Cuts
Jump cut: Leaving a gap in an otherwise continuous shot. The gap will make you picture “jump,”
and they are used to disrupt the normal models of continuity editing.
Shot/reverse shot: Two or more shots edited together that alternate characters.
Transitional Cuts
Fade out/fade in: the end of a shot is marked by the fading out to a black screen, there is a brief
pause, and a fade introduces the next shot
Dissolve: a gradual transition created by fading out the current shot and at the same time fading in
the new shot, which creates a brief moment of superimposition.
Swish pan: a brief, fast pan from object A in the current shot to object B in the next
Wipe: a smoothly continuous left-right (or up-down) replacement of the current shot by the next.
Parallel editing: the process of alternating between two or more scenes that happen simultaneously
in different locations within the world of the film; usually leads to connecting action
Match cut: uses elements of one scene in the transition to the next, creating a kind of mirroring
Narrative
Flashback: an alternation of story order in which the plot moves back to show events that have
taken place earlier
Flashforward: an alternation of story order in which the plot moves forward to show future events
and then returns to the present
Off-screen narrator: also known as a voice-over narrator; usually an unseen narrator’s voice
uttering the narrative statements
On-screen narrator: a narrator who is bodily present on screen, acting and talking to the audience