ANALYTICAL TERMS

Motif: An element in a film that is repeated in a significant way, such as close-ups of hands, frequent shots of circular props, etc.

Cinematic Codes (examples): fade in/fade out = passage of time; blurred focus = altered mental state, e.g., flashback or dream sequence

Film noir:  Literally, “dark film;” a term applied by French critics to a type of American film, usually in the detective or thriller genres, with low-key lighting and a somber mood. Especially popular in the 1940s-50s, these films are characterized by use of deep shadows, a detective plot, hidden motives, etc.

Jorgen’s 3 modes: 
1) Theatrical Mode—Film used as a transcription of theater performance, retaining both the feel of the stage and of a live audience.  Advantage:  text may not need to be altered.
2) Realistic Mode—Filming which emphasizes visual detail and texture, generally including extensive landscapes, costuming, etc.; strives to conceal the artifice of film techniques.  Classical Hollywood style aims at making cinematic technique invisible so that the audience thinks it is witnessing reality. Weakness: the poetry of the original text may be sacrificed.  If spoken, it may sound artificial or be ignored.  The mass of detail may drown out the text.
3) Filmic Mode—Filming which attempts to transform poetic texture into visual poetry; emphasizes cinematic apparatus rather than striving for realism. Uses film techniques in overtly artful ways, inviting the viewer to be aware of (and take pleasure in) the meaning-making mechanism.

FRAMING/SHOTS

Long Shot (LS): a shot taken from some distance; shows the full subject and perhaps the surrounding scene as well

Establishing Shot: (ES) sets the scene or shows the space of a scene; often a long shot or series of shots

Medium Shot: (MS) in-between LS and CS; people are seen from the waist up

Close-Up: (CS) the image being shot takes up at least 80% of the frame. There is also the extreme close-up that would show one part of the body or a portion of an object

Point-of-view shot: (POV) a shot taken with the camera placed approximately where the character’s eyes would be, showing what the character would see; usually cut in before or after a shot of the character looking.

FOCUS

Soft Focus: when a director intentionally puts his or her object slightly out of focus to make the image look softer or unclear

Rack Focus: when a director intentionally shifts the focus from one object to another in the same shot in order to direct the audience’s attention

Deep Focus: when the foreground and background are equally in focus

CAMERA ANGLES

Low Angle: (LA) camera shoots subject from below; has the effect of making the subject look larger than normal—strong, powerful, threatening

High Angle: (HA) camera is above the subject; usually has the effect of making the subject smaller than normal—weak, powerless, trapped

Eye Level: (EL) accounts for 90 to 95 percent of the shots seen because it is the most natural; camera is even with the character’s eyes

Dutch Angle: (DA) A view in which the frame is not level: either the right or left side is lower than the other, causing objects in the scene to appear slanted out of an upright position. The shot is tilted sideways on the horizontal line (also called “canted angle”); is used to add tension to a static frame, it creates a distorted or sinister view of a character

Crane Shot: Camera is above the ground and moving through the air in any direction.

SOUND

Voiceover: Voice is recorded over scene to indicate interior thought, narration, etc.

Diegetic: The total physical world of the film, i.e. all sound that can be heard logically by the characters within the film; sound can also be “internal diegetic,” meaning that the sound can be heard only within the mind of one character.

Non-Diegetic: Any visual or audible elements outside the character’s world, such as film credits, music heard only by the audience, etc., i.e. sound that cannot be heard by the characters, but that is given directly to the audience by the director

LIGHTING

Low-Key: scene is flooded with shadows and darkness; creates suspense/suspicion

High-Key: scene is flooded with light; creates bright and open-looking scene

Neutral: neither bright nor dark—even lighting throughout the shot

Bottom/Side: direct lighting from below or from the side; often dangerous or evil-looking, may convey split personality, moral ambiguity, or duplicity

Front/Rear: soft, direct lighting on face or back of the subject—may suggest innocence by creating a “halo” effect

CAMERA MOVEMENT

Pan: stationary camera moves left or right

Tilt: stationary camera moves up or down

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

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

EDITING TECHNIQUES

Cut: The most common type of editing is a “cut” to another image.

Cut-in:  An instantaneous shift from a distant framing to a closer view of some portion of the same space.

Jump-cut:  An elliptical cut that appears to be an interruption of a single shot. Either the figures seem to change instantly against a constant background, or the background changes instantly while the figures remain constant.

Fade: scene fades to black or white, often implies that time has passed Dissolve: an image fades into another; can create a connection between images

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

Flashback: movement into action that has happened previously, often signified by a change in music, voice-over narration, or a dissolve; a “flashforward” leads the audience ahead in time

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

Mise-en-Scene: All of the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed: the settings and props, costumes, make-up, lighting, and action, etc. (literally, “having been put into the scene”)

Montage:  Editing which juxtaposes shots so that they affect one another through contrast, common motif, etc.

Axis of Action or 180° Line:  In the continuity editing system, the imaginary line that passes from side to side through the main actors, define the spatial relations of all the elements of the scene as being to the right or left. The camera is not supposed to cross the axis at a cut and thus reverse those spatial relations.

Frame: A single image on the strip of film.

Sequence:  Term commonly used for a moderately large segment of film, involving one complete stretch of action. In a narrative film, often equivalent to a scene.

SOURCES: Golden, John. Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English Classroom. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2001;
Dr. Rosalind B. Reilly, University of Richmond, https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~rreilly/shakes_ii/film_vocab.htm;

For further REFERENCE: The Film Lexikon at http://shea.mit.edu/ramparts/commentaryguides/glossary/index2.htm; Seventh Art’s Glossary of Film Terms at http://www.geocities.com/the7thart/film-terms.html; and Film-North at http://members.tripod.com/~afronord/glossary.html