Useful Film and Literary Terms

FILM:

Angle of Framing:

High angle: Camera looks down on the scene, generally diminishing the apparent power of the character being viewed.

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

Low angle: Camera looks up on the scene, generally increasing the apparent power of the character being viewed.

Canted Framing: 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.

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.

Cinematic Codes (examples): fade in/fade out = passage of time

blurred focus = altered mental state, e.g., flashback or dream sequence

Crosscutting: Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously.

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

Deep Focus: Close-up and distance seem equally clear. Used to direct viewer’s attention to what is happening in foreground and middle or background.

Diegesis: The total physical world of the film. Nondiegetic: Any visual or audible elements outside the character’s world, such as film credits, music heard only by the audience, etc.

Dissolve: A transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disappears while the second image gradually appears; for a moment the two images blend in superimposition.

Dolly: A camera support with sheels, used in making tracking shots.

Establishing shot: View, usually at the beginning of a sequence, which uses distant framing to set the context in which characters will move.

Fade: 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.

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.

Frame: A single image on the strip of film.

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.

Jorgen’s 3 modes:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pan: Horizontal movement of camera across a scene.

Point-of-view shot (POV shot): 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.

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.

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

DRAMA:

Aside: Words spoken by a character in a play, usually in an undertone, not intended to be heard by other characters on stage.

Iambic pentameter: The meter in which the poetry of Shakespeare’s plays is written. Each line contains 5 (penta) feet consisting of an unstressed and a stressed syllable. A horse, a horse, my king-dom for a horse.

Blank Verse: Verse written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Soliloquy: A speech, usually lengthy, in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts aloud. The soliloquy is a very useful dramatic device, as it allows the dramatist to convey a character’s most intimate thoughts and feelings directly to the audience.

Tableau: Composition of characters briefly held without motion in order to emphasize, as in a painting, theme through visual relationships.