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Definition
The ratio of the width to
the height of the film or television image. The
formerly standard Academy ratio is 1.33:1.
Widescreen ratios vary. In Europe, 1.66:1 is most
common; in the U.S., 1.85:1. CinemaScope is an
anamorphic process and is the widest at 2.35:1. |
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| A view in which the camera is tilted and the frame is not level; objects in the frame appear slanted. |
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| A close shot where the scale of the object shown is relatively large; often a shot of the subject’s face only. |
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| A shot with a change in framing accomplished by having the camera above the ground and moving through the air. |
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| A technique favored by realists, where objects very near the camera as well as those far away are in focus simultaneously. |
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| A technique favored by realists, where objects very near the camera as well as those far away are in focus simultaneously. |
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Definition
| The range of distances from the camera at which the subject is acceptably sharp. The measurements of the closest and farthest planes in front of the lens in which everything will be in sharp focus. |
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| A shot taken from a moving, wheeled platform. Almost synonymous with a tracking shot. |
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| Usually a long shot that shows the general location of the scene that follows, often providing essential information and orienting the viewer. |
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| A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very large; most commonly, a small object or a part of the body. |
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| A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very small; a building, landscape, or crowd of people will fill the screen. |
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| The film is shot at less than 24 frames per second so that what is projected at the normal speed appears to move much faster. |
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| The raw material of film—a clear base coated on one side with light-sensitive emulsion. |
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| The length of the lens, a measurement (usually in millimeters) of the distance from the center of the outside surface of the lens to the film plane. Long lenses are telephoto lenses; short lenses are wide-angle. |
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| Using the edges of the frame to select and compose what will be seen on-screen. |
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| Process shot where footage meant to appear as the background is projected from the front onto a screen; figures in the foreground are filmed in front of the screen as well. The opposite of rear projection. |
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Definition
| A shot where the camera is placed above the subject, looking down. |
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| A shot that includes at least the full figures of the subjects, usually more; a standing human figure would be almost the height of the frame. |
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| A shot where the camera is placed below the subject, looking up. |
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| A type of process shot. A matte is a piece of film that is opaque in part of the frame area. When printed together with a normal shot it masks part of the image of that shot and allows another scene, reversely matted, to be printed in the masked-off area. If the matte changes from frame to frame, the process is called traveling matte or blue screen. |
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| A framing in which the scale of the object is fairly large; a human figure from the chest up would fill the frame. |
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| A shot between a close-up and a long shot; a human figure from the waist up would fill most of the frame. |
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Definition
| The areas blocked from being visible on the screen but still part of the space of the scene. |
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| Movement of the camera from left to right or right to left; a mobile framing that scans the space horizontally. |
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| A framing in which the scale of the object is fairly small. The human figure from the shins to the head would fill most of the screen. When human figures are not shown, this is often referred to as a Medium Long Shot. |
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| Any shot involving rephotography to combine two or more images that create a special effect; also called composite shot. |
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Definition
| A technique that uses shallow focus to direct the attention of the viewer forcibly from one subject to another. Focus is pulled, or changed, to shift the plane that is in focus, often rapidly, within a shot. |
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Definition
| A process in which a background scene is projected onto a translucent screen behind the actors so it appears that the actors are in that location. |
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Definition
| A technique that restricts depth of field to create only one plane in focus, usually in order to direct the attention of the viewer to the subject or action in that plane. |
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Definition
| The film is shot at a speed faster than the normal 24 frames/second. When it is later projected at the normal speed, the action will take up more time than in reality. |
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Definition
| A system that permits hand-held filming with an image steadiness comparable to tracking shots. A vest redistributes the weight of the camera to the hips of the camera operator; a spring-loaded arm damps the motion of the camera; a video monitor frees the camera operator from the eyepiece. Instead of using an expensive and time-consuming dolly, the camera operator merely has to walk. |
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| A lens with a long focal length that acts like a telescope to magnify distant objects. It has a narrow angle of view and flattens depth perception. |
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| A camera movement with the camera body swiveling upward or downward on a stationary support. It produces a mobile framing that scans the space vertically. |
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| A mobile framing where the camera physically moves through space forward, backward, or sideways. |
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| A shot of two people. Likewise, three-shot. |
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| A very fast horizontal camera movement, which briefly causes the image to appear as a set of horizontal streaks. |
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Definition
| A lens with a very short focal length and broad angle of view. It increases the illusion of depth by exaggerating the distance between foreground and background, and exaggerates linear distortion by distorting straight lines near the edge of the frame. |
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Definition
| A shot using a lens whose focal length is adjusted during the shot. Shifting to telephoto enlarges the image and flattens its planes; shifting to wide angle does the opposite. |
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Term
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Definition
| A convention in continuity-style editing which holds that the camera must move at least 30 degrees between shots so as avoid the effect of a jump cut. |
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Definition
| A convention in continuity-style editing that dictates that a camera must remain on one side of the axis of action while the action remains on the other. When the camera stays on only one side of this line, the shot will have consistent spatial relations and screen directions. This helps eliminate the possibility of disorienting the audience during cuts within a scene. |
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Definition
| In continuity editing, a cut that presents continuous time from shot to shot but mismatches the positions of figures or objects. |
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Definition
| A system of editing that maintains continuous and clear narrative action. Continuity editing relies on matching screen direction, position, and temporal relations from shot to shot. For specific techniques of continuity editing, see axis of action, crosscutting, cut-in, establishing shot, eyeline match, match on action, reestablishing shot, screen direction, shot/reverse shot. |
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Definition
| Cutting back and forth quickly between two or more lines of action, indicating they are happening simultaneously. |
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Definition
| An instantaneous transition from one shot to another. (1. In filmmaking, the joining of two strips of film together with a splice. 2. In the finished film, an instantaneous change from one framing to another. See also jump cut.) |
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Definition
| A gradual scene transition, where a fade out overlaps a fade in. |
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Definition
| A cut where the first shot shows a character looking in one direction and the second shows a space containing what he sees. For example, if Bob looks to the right in shot A, shot B presumably shows what Bob is looking at. This establishes a relationship of proximity and continuity. |
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Definition
| 1. Fade-in: A dark screen that gradually brightens as a shot appears. 2. Fade-out: A shot gradually disappears as the screen darkens. Occasionally, fade-outs brighten to pure white or to a color. |
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Definition
| Two successive shots joined so as to create a strong similarity of compositional elements (e.g., color, shape). |
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Definition
| The juxtaposition of a series of images to create an abstract idea not present in any one image. |
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Term
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Definition
| 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. |
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Term
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Definition
| A cut from one shot of an action to a different shot of the action, edited such that the second shot picks up at precisely the moment that the first shot left off, making the action appear to continue uninterrupted, with no ellipsis. |
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Term
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Definition
| 1) Simply, editing. 2) Eisenstein’s idea that adjacent shots should relate to each other in such a way that A and B combine to produce another meaning, C, which is not actually recorded on film. |
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Definition
| A segment of a film that summarizes a topic or compresses a passage of time into brief symbolic or typical images. Frequently dissolves, fades, superimpositions, and wipes are used to link the images in a montage sequence. |
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Definition
| A shot or series of shots cut into a sequence, showing objects that are represented as being outside the space of the narrative. |
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Definition
| Cuts that repeat part or all of an action, thus expanding its viewing time and plot duration. |
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Definition
| The perceived rate and regularity of sounds, series of shots, and movements within the shots. Rhythmic factors include beat (or pulse), accent (or stress), and tempo (or pace). |
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Definition
| A complete unit of film narration. A series of shots (or a single shot) that take place in a single location and that deal with a single action, or use crosscutting to show simultaneous actions. |
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Definition
| A basic unit of film construction consisting of one or more scenes that form a natural narrative unit. |
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Definition
| A single piece of film, however long or short, without cuts. A film may be composed of more than a thousand shots or it may seem to be a single shot. Also known as a take. |
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Definition
| Usually used for conversation scenes, this technique alternates between over-the-shoulder shots showing each character speaking. |
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Definition
| An optical effect in which an image appears to “wipe off” the preceding image. Very common in the thirties; not so much today. |
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Definition
| Sound that is not matched temporally with the movements occurring in the image, as when dialogue is out of synchronization with lip movements. |
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Definition
| A pole upon which a microphone can be suspended above the scene being filmed, used to change the microphone’s position as the action shifts. |
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Definition
| In editing a scene, arranging the cut so that a bit of dialogue coming from shot A is heard under a shot that shows another character or another element in the scene. |
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Definition
| Any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented as originating from a source within the film’s world. See also nondiegetic sound. |
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Definition
| Music, noise, and speech recorded from the event at the moment of filming. Opposite of postsynchronization. |
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Definition
| The process of replacing part or all of the voices on the soundtrack in order to correct mistakes or rerecord dialogue. See also postsynchronization. |
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Definition
| Sound represented as coming from a physical source within the story space that we assume characters in the scene also hear. See also internal diegetic sound. |
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Definition
| Sound represented as coming from the mind of a character within the story space. Although the character and we can hear it, we assume that the other characters cannot. See also external diegetic sound. |
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Definition
| A prototype of close coordination between screen movement and sound comes in the animated films of Walt Disney in the 1930s. Mickey Mouse and the other Disney characters often move in exact synchronization with music, even when they are not dancing. Such matching of nondance movement with music came to be known as “Mickey Mousing.” |
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Definition
| An element in a film that is repeated in a significant way. |
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Definition
| Sound, such as mood music or a narrator’s commentary, represented as coming from a source outside the space of the narrative. |
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Definition
| Diegetic sound that comes from a source in time either earlier or later than the images it accompanies. |
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Term
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Definition
| Simultaneous sound from a source assumed to be in the space of the scene but outside what is visible onscreen. |
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Term
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Definition
| The process of adding sound to images after they process of adding sound to images after they have been shot and assembled. This can include dubbing of voices, as well as inserting diegetic music or sound effects. It is the opposite of direct sound. |
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Term
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Definition
| Diegetic sound that is represented as occurring at the same time in the story as the image it accompanies. |
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Term
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Definition
| 1) At the beginning of one scene, the sound from the previous scene carries over briefly before the sound from the new scene begins. 2) At the end of one scene, the sound from the next scene is heard, leading into that scene. |
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Definition
| Any sound that is not represented as coming from the space and time of the images on the screen. This includes both nonsimultaneous diegetic sound and nondiegetic sound. |
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Definition
| The sense of a sound’s position in space, yielded by volume, timbre, pitch, and in stereophonic reproduction systems, binaural information. |
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Term
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Definition
| Sound that is matched temporally with movements occurring in the images, as when dialogue corresponds to lip movements. |
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Term
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Definition
| The sound we hear results from vibration in the air. The amplitude, or breadth, of vibrations produces our sense of loudness, or volume. Film sound constantly manipulates sound volume. For example, in many films a long shot of a busy street is accompanied by loud traffic noises, but when two people meet and start to speak, the loudness of the noise is characterized as much by the difference in volume as by the substance of the talk. Loudness is also related to perceived distance; often the louder the sound, the closer we take it to be. The couple’s dialogue, being louder, is sensed as being in the acoustic “foreground,” while the traffic noise sinks to the background. |
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Definition
| The frequency of sound vibrations governs pitch, or the perceived “highness” or “lowness” of the sound. Certain instruments, such as the tuning fork, can produce pure tones, but most sounds, in life and on film, are “complex tones,” batches of different frequencies. Nevertheless, pitch plays a useful role in picking out distinct sounds in a film sound track. It helps us to distinguish music and speech from other sounds. Pitch also serves to distinguish among objects. Low-pitched sounds, such as thumps, can evoke hollow objects, while higher pitched sounds (like fingernails on a blackboard) suggest smoother or harder surfaces and more dense objects. Pitch can also serve more specific purposes in a film. When a young boy tries to speak in a man’s deep voice and fails (as in How Green Was My Valley), the joke is based primarily on pitch. When Bernard Hermann obtained the effects of shrill, birdlike screeching in Hitchcock’s Psycho, even many musicians could not recognize the source: violins played at extraordinarily high pitch. |
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Term
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Definition
| The harmonic components of sound give it a certain “color” or tone quality— what musicians call timbre. Timbre is actually a less fundamental acoustic parameter than amplitude or frequency, but it is indispensable in describing the texture or “feel” of a sound. When we call someone’s voice nasal or certain musical tones mellow, we are referring to timbre. In everyday life, recognition of familiar sound is largely a matter of various aspects of timbre. Filmmakers manipulate timbre continually. Timbre can help articulate portions of the sound track, as when it differentiates musical instruments from one another. Timbre also “comes forward” on certain occasions, such as in the clichéd use of oleaginous saxophone tones behind seduction scenes. |
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Term
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Definition
| Rhythm is one of the most complex features of sound. Rhythm involves a beat or pulse, a pace or tempo, and a pattern of accents or stronger or weaker beats. • Music has rhythm. Rhythm is most recognizable in film music, since the beat, tempo, and accent are basic compositional features. • Speech has rhythm. People can be identified by “voice prints” which show not only characteristic frequencies and amplitudes but also distinct patterns of pacing and syllabic stress. In fictional films, speech rhythm is under the performer’s control, but the sound editor can also manipulate it at the dubbing phase. • Sound effects have rhythm (e.g. rhythmic qualities). The plodding hooves of farm horses differ from a cavalry company riding at full speed. The vibrating tone of a gong may offer a slowly decaying accent, while a sudden sneeze provides a brief one. In a gangster film, a machine gun’s fire creates a regular rapid beat, while the sporadic reports of pistols may come at irregular intervals. • Images have rhythm. Any consideration of rhythmic uses of sound is complicated by the fact that movements in the images themselves have a rhythm as well, distinguished by the same principles of beat, speed, and accent. In addition, the editing has a rhythm. Short shots help create a rapid tempo, whereas shots held longer tend to slow down the rhythm. In most cases, the rhythms of editing, movement within the image, and sound all cooperate. The most common tendency is for the filmmaker to match visual and sonic rhythms to each other. |
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Definition
| By fidelity, Bordwell and Thompson do not mean quality of recording. Fidelity refers to the extent to which the sound is faithful to the source as we, the audience, conceive it. If a film shows us a barking dog and we hear a barking noise, that sound is faithful to its source; the sound maintains fidelity. But if the image of the barking dog is accompanied by the sound of a cat meowing, there enters a disparity between sound and image—a lack of fidelity. Fidelity has nothing to do with what originally made the sound in production. A filmmaker may manipulate sound independently of image. Accompanying the image of a dog with the meow is no more difficult than accompanying the image with a bark. If the viewer takes the sound to be coming from its source in the diegetic world of the film, then it is faithful, regardless of its actual source of production. Fidelity is purely a matter of expectation. Even if our dog emits a bark onscreen, perhaps in production the bark came from a different dog or was electronically synthesized. We do not know what light sabers “really” sound like, but we accept the noise they make in Star Wars. When we do become aware that sound is unfaithful to its source, that awareness is usually used for comic effect. In Jacques Tati’s Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, much humor arises from the opening and closing of a dining room door. Instead of simply recording a real door, Tati inserts a twanging sound like a plucked cello string each time the door swings. Because many of the jokes in this and other Tati films are based on quirkily unfaithful noises, his films are good specimens for the study of sound. Unfaithful sound may have dramatic functions, such as the accompanying sound to a kick or punch. |
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Definition
| Sound has spatial dimension because it comes from a source, our beliefs about that source have a powerful effect on how we understand the sound. If the source of the sound is a character or object in the story space of the film, we call the sound diegetic. If the sound is represented as coming from a source outside story space, we call the sound nondiegetic. At the beginning of Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles, we hear what we think is nondiegetic musical accompaniment for a cowboy’s ride across the prairie—until he rides past Count Basie and his orchestra. This joke depends on a reversal of our expectations about the convention of nondiegetic music. One characteristic of sound is the possibility of suggesting the sound perspective. This is a sense of spatial distance and location analogous to the cues for visual depth and volume we get with visual perspective. |
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Definition
| A type of filmic organization in which the parts relate to one another through repetition and variation of such visual qualities as shape, color, rhyhm, and direction of movement. |
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Term
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Definition
| A cue for suggesting depth in the image by presenting objects in the distance less distinctly than those in the foreground |
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Term
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Definition
| A lens for making widescreen films using regular Academy ration frame size. The camera lens takes in a wide field of view and squeezes it onto the frame and a similar projector lens unsqueezes the image onto a wide theater screen. |
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Term
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Definition
| A type of organization in which the film's parts are juxtaposed to suggest similarities, contrasts, concepts, emotions, and expressive qualities |
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Term
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Definition
| Any process whereby artificial movement is created by photographing a series of drawings (see also cel animation), objects, or computer images one by one. Small changes in position, recorded frame by frame, create teh illusion of movement. |
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Definition
| The presumed or actual author of a film, usually identified as the director. Also sometimes used in an evaluative sense to distinguish good filmmakers (auteurs) from bad ones. |
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Definition
| In the continuity editing system, the imaginary line that passes fro side to side through the main actors, defining the spatial relations of all the elements of the scene as being to the right or let. The camera is not supposed to cross the axis at a cut and thus reverse those spatial relations. Also called the 180 degree line. (See also 180 degree system). |
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Term
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Definition
| Illumination cast onto the figures in the scene from the side opposite the camera, usually creating a thin outline of high-lighting on those figures |
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Definition
| The position of the frame in relation to the subject it shows: above it, looking down (a high angle); horizontal, on the same level (a straight-on angle); looking up (a low angle). Also called camera angle. |
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Term
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Definition
| A type of filmic organization in which the parts treat distinct subsets of a topic. For example, a film about the united states may be organized into 50 parts, each devoted to a state. |
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Definition
| Animation that uses a series of drawings on pieces of celluloid, called cels for short. Slight changes between the drawings combine to create an illusion of movement. |
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Definition
| computer-generated imagery: using digital software systems to create figures, settings, or other material in the frame. |
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Definition
| A general term for all the manipulations of the film strip by the camera in the shooting phase and by the laboratory in the developing phase. |
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Definition
| The degree to which the ending of a narrative film reveals the effects of all the causal events and resolves (or "closes off") all lines of action. |
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Definition
| In cinematography, the difference between the brightest and darkest areas within the frame |
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Definition
| An instantaneous shift from a distant framing to a closer view of some portion of the same space. |
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Term
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Definition
| An arrangement of mise-en-scene elements so that there is a considerable distance between the plane closest to the camera and the one farthest away. Any of all of these planes may be in focus. (see shallow space.) |
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Term
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Definition
| The measurements of the closest and farthest planes in front of the camera lens between which everything will be in sharp focus. A depth of field from 5-16 feet, for example, would mean everything closer than 5 feet and farther than 16 feet would be out of focus. |
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Definition
| In a narrative film, the world of the film's story. The diegesis includes events that are presumed to have occurred and actions and spaces not shown onscreen. See also diegetic sound, nondiegetic insert, nondiegetic sound. |
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Term
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Definition
| Any alternative system of joining shots together using techniques unacceptable within continuity editing principles. Possibilities would include mismatching of temporal and spatial relations, violations of the axis of action, and concentration on graphic relationships. See also elliptical editing, graphic match, intellectual montage, jump cut, nondiegetic insert, overlapping editing. |
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Term
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Definition
| The apparent distance of teh frame from the mise-en scene elements. Also called camera distance and shot scale. See also close-up, extreme close-up, extreme long shot, medium close-up, medium shot, plan americain. |
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Definition
| ONe of the three branches of the film industry; the process of marketing the film and supplying copies to exhibition venues. See also exhibition, production. |
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Definition
| IN a narrative film, the aspect of temporal manipulation that involves the time span presented in the plot and assumed to operate in the story. See also frequency, order. |
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Term
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Definition
| 1. IN filmmaking, the task of selecting and joining camera takes. 2. in the finished film, the set of techniques that governs the relations among shots. |
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Definition
| In a narrative film, the shortening of plot duratino achieved by omitting some story duration. See also elliptical editing, viewing time. |
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Term
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Definition
| Shot transitions that omit parts of an event, causing an ellipsis in plot duration. |
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Term
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Definition
| ONe of the three branches of the film industry; the process of showing the finished film to audiences. See also distribution, production. |
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Definition
| The adjustment of the camera mechanism in order to control how much light strikes each frame of film passing through the aperture |
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Definition
| Illumination from a source less bright than the key light, used to soften deep shadows in a scene. See also three-point lighting. |
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Term
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Definition
| "DARK film," a term applie by French critics to a type of American film, usually in the detective or thriller genres, with low-key lighting and a somber mood. |
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Term
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Definition
| A piece of glass or gelatin placed in front the camera or printer lens to alter the quality or quantity of light striking the aperture. |
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Definition
| An alteration of story order in which the plot moves back to show events that have taken place earlier than ones already shown. |
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Term
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Definition
| An alteration of story order in which the plot presentation moves forward to future events and then returns to the present. |
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Term
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Definition
| The degree to which light rays coming from the same part of an object through different parts of the lens reconverge at the same point on the film frame, creating sharp outlines and distinct textures. |
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Definition
| A shot with framing that shifts to keep a moving figure onscreen |
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Definition
| The relationships among the parts of film. |
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Term
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Definition
| A single image on the strip of film. When a series of frames is projected onto a screen in quick succession, an illusion of movement created. |
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Term
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Definition
| The use of the edges of the film frame to select and to compose what will be visible onscreen. |
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Term
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Definition
| IN a narrative film, the aspect of temporal manipulation that involves the number of times any story event is shown in the plot. See also duratinon, order. |
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Term
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Definition
| Illumination directed into the scene from a position near the camera. |
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Definition
| In staging, the positioning of figures so that they face the viewer. |
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Term
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Definition
| The width of the film strip, measured in milimeters |
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Term
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Definition
| The use of the camera operator's body as a camera support, either holding it by hand or using a harness. |
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Definition
| Illumination that creates sharp-edged shadows. |
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Term
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Definition
| The distance of the camera above the ground, regardless of the angle of framing. |
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Term
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Definition
| Illumination that creates comparatively little contrast between the light and dark areas of the shot. Shadows are fairly transparent and brightened by fill light. |
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Term
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Definition
| The juxtaposition of a series of images to create an abstract idea not present in any one image |
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Term
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Definition
| A round, moving mask that can close down to end a scene (iris-out) or emphasize a detail, or that can open to begin a scent (iris-in) or to reveal more space around a detail |
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Term
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Definition
| IN the three-point lighting system, the brightest illumination coming into the scene. See also backlighting, fill light, three-point lighting. |
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Definition
| In a narrative, the clear motivation of a series of causes and effects that progress without significant digressions, delays, or irrelevant actions. |
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| A shot that continues for an unusually lengthy time before the transition to the next shot. |
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| Illumination that creates strong contrast between light and dark areas of the shot, with deep shadows and little fill light. |
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| An opaque screen placed in the camera or printer that blocks part of the frame off and changes the shape of the photographed image, leaving part of the frame a solid color. As seen on the screen, most masks are black, although they can be white or colored. |
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| IN exhibition, stretches of black fabric that frame the theater scene. Masking can be adjusted according to the aspect ratio of the film to be projected. |
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| 1. Referential meaning: allusion to particular items of knowledge outside the film that the viewer is expected to recognize. 2. Explicit meaning: significance presented overtly, usually in language and often near the film's beginning or end. 3. Implicit meaning: Significance left tacit, for the viewer to discover upon analysis or reflection. 4. Symptomatic meaning: Significance that the film divulges, often against its will, by virtue of its historical or social context. |
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| A framing at a distance that makes an object about four or five feet high appear to fill most of the screen vertically. See also plan americain, the special term for a medium long shot depicting human figures |
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| combining two or more sound tracks by recording them onto a single one. |
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| The effect on the screen of the moving camera, a zoom lens, or certain special effects; the framing shifts in relation to the scene being photographed. Se also crane shot, pan, tilt, tracking shot. |
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| monochromatic color design |
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| Color design that emphasizes a narrow set of shades of a single color. |
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| A computerized method of planning and repeating camera movements on miniatures, models, and process work. |
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| A type of filmic organization in which the parts relate to one another through a series of causually related events taking place in time and space. |
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| A type of filmic organization in which the parts relate to one another through a series of casually related events taking place in time and space. |
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| a lens that shows objects without severely exaggerating or reducing the depth of the scene's planes. In 35mm filming, a normal lens is 35-50 mm. See also telephoto lens, wide-angle lens. |
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| The continuity approach to editing dictates that the camera should stay on one side of the action to ensure consistent left-right spatial relations between elements from shot to shot. The 180 degree line is the same as the axis of action. See also continuity editing, screen direction. |
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| In a narrative film, the aspect of temporal manipulation that involves the sequence in which the chronological events of the story are arranged in the plot. See also duration, frequency. |
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| A cue for suggesting represented depth in the film image by placing objects partly in front of more distant ones. |
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| a form of single-frame animation in which three-dimensional objects, often people, are made to move in staccato bursts through the use of stop-action cinematography. |
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| French term for a scene handled in a single shot, usually a long take. |
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| point-of-view shot (POV shot) |
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| 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. |
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| shifting the area of sharp focus from one plane to another during a shot; the effect on the screen is called rack-focus |
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| IN shooting, the number of frames exposed per second; in projection, the number of frames thrown on the screen per second. If the two are the same, the speed of the action will appear normal, whereas a disparity will create slow or fast motion. The standard rate in sound cinema is 24 frames per second for both shooting and projection. |
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| A return to a view of an entire space after a series of closer shots following the establishing shot. |
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| Short panning or tilting movements to adjust for the figures' movements, keeping them onscreen or centered. |
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| A type of filmic organization in which the parts create and support an argument. |
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| A machine that projects live-action motion picture frames one by one onto a drawing pad so that an animator can trace the figures in each frame. The aim is to achieve more realistic movement in an animated film. |
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| The right-left relationships in a scene, set up in an establishing shot and determined by the position of characters and objects in the frame, by the directions of movement, and by the characters' eye-lines. Continuity editing will attempt to keep screen direction consistent between shots. See also axis of action, eyeline match, 180 degree system. |
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| The process of dividing a film into parts for analysis. |
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| 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. |
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| lighting coming from one side of a person or an object, usually in order to create a sense of volume, to bring out surface tensions, or to fill in areas left shadowed by light from another source. |
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| A cue for suggesting represented depth in he image by showing objects that are farther away as smaller than foreground objects. |
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| Illumination that avoids harsh bright and dark areas, creating a gradual transition from highlights to shadows. |
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| A general term for various photographic manipulations that create fictitious spatial relations in the shot, such as superimposition, matte shots, and rear projection. |
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| In a narrative film, all the events that we see and hear, plus all those that we infer or assume to have occurred, arranged in their presumed causal relations, chronological order, duration, frequency, and spatial locations. Opposed to plot, which is the film's actual presentation of events in the story. See also duration, ellipsis, frequency, order, space, viewing time. |
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| A tool used in planning film production, consisting of comic-strip-like drawings of individual shots or phases of shots with descriptions written below each drawing. |
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| The repeated and salient uses of film techniques characteristic of a single film or a group of films (for example, a filmmaker's work or a national movement.) |
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| The exposure of more than one image on the same film strip or in the same shot. |
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| IN filmmaking, the shot produced by one uninterrupted run of the camera. ONe shot in the final film may be chosen among several takes of the same action |
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| Any aspect of the film medium that can be chosen and manipulated in making a film |
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| A common arrangement using three directions of light on a scene; from behind the subjects (backlighting), from one bright source (key light), and from a less bright source balancing the key light (fill light) |
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| LIghting coming from above a person or an object, usually in order to outline the upper areas of the figure or to separate it more clearly from the background |
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| A performance technique of Soviet Montage cinema. The actor's appearance and behavior are presented as typical of a social class or other group. |
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| Illumination from a point below the figures in the scene |
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| The degree to which a film's parts relate systematically to each other and provide motivations fro all the elements included. |
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| In film form, the return of an element with notable changes. |
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| The length of time it takes to watch a film when it is projected at the appropriate speed. |
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| A lens of short focal length that affects a scene's perspective by distorting straight lines near the edges of the frame and by exaggerating the distance between foreground and background planes. IN 35mm filming, a wide-angle lens is 35mm or less. See also normal lens, telephoto lens. |
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Definition
| a lens with a focal length that can be changed during a shot. A shift toward the telephoto range enlarges the image and flattens its planes together, giving an impression of magnifying the scene's space, while a shift toward the wide-angle range does the opposite. |
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