Film Study Chapter 1

A single, constant take made by a motion picture camera without being edited

Shots that together create one action

Scenes edited together and comprise a single event, setting, or story

Usually a long shot at the beginning of a scene to inform the audience with an overview to show the setting

Stationary camera angled upward – strengthens the image, emphasizes importance

Stationary camera angled downward – weakens the image, makes it appear vulnerable

An abrupt or sudden change or jump in camera angle, location, placement, or time, from one shot to another

A transitional editing technique between two sequences, shots or scenes, in which the visible image of one shot or scene is gradually replaced by fading in or out with the image from another shot or scene

A transitional device consisting of a gradual change in the intensity of an image or sound, such as from a normally-lit scene to darkness

A round, moving mask that can close down to end a scene (iris-out) or emphasize a detail

A transitional technique or optical effect/device in which one shot appears to be "pushed off" or "wiped off" the screen by another shot replacing it and moving across the existing image

With everything evenly and brightly lit, with a minimum of shadows

With less illumination, more shadows, and many grayish, dark areas

Helps create mood and/or highlights a certain area of the frame (comes from the side)

This phenomenon occurs when the lighting for the shot is directed at the camera from behind the subject(s), causing the figure(s) in the foreground to appear in semi-darkness

Dramatic use of lighting to create deep shadows or silhouettes

A transparent, tinted colored sheet of plastic used as a filter for a movie light to create a colored glow over a scene

A technique for compositing two images or frames together in which a color (or a small color range) from one image is removed (or made transparent), revealing another image behind it

A term referring to the use of 3D computer graphics and technology (digital computers and specialized software) in film-making to create filmed images, special effects and the illusion of motion

An elliptical cut that appears to be an interruption of a single shot.

An optical printing process that places or 'exposes' one or more images on top of another on the same piece of film stock / used in dissolves

the arrangement and importance of different elements (i.e., colors, shapes, figures, lines, movement, and lighting) within a frame and in a scene

Develop in the viewer a sense of awe or excitement

Often create a serenity, peace, calm

Can create a sense of chaos, an offbalance feel

Refers to the area, depth of range (foreground, middle ground, background)

When the camera’s focus is split or is shifted to something different within the frame

elements within the frame help tell the story

Subject(s) are framed again within the film frame by objects or shadows creating a sense of entrapment or doom

Dominant characters given the most space / objects in the foreground tell the story

Objects, images, music or sounds that occur over and over during a movie usually serving to they tell us more about the characters or themes or to hold the film together by reminding the audience of key places or sounds

Symbolism that may occur in the same frame, separate shots or scenes but contains opposites which combine to create an overall whole

Selecting, assembling, arranging, collating, trimming, structuring, and splicing-joining together many separate camera takes

The act of putting a new soundtrack on a film or adding a soundtrack after production, to match the action of already-filmed shots

Sounds that originate within the frame

background music, voice-over, anything outside the frame

€“ music played in the background – usually instrumental

Music meant to produce emotions

First shot shows a person off in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he or she sees.

A cut which splices two different views of the same action together at the same moment in the movement, making it seem to continue uninterrupted.

The editing technique of alternating, interweaving, or interspersing one narrative action (scene, sequence, or event) with another.

A shot that continues for an unusually lengthy time before the transition to the next shot.

Technique in which the director or cinematographer avoids the actual, graphic depiction of violence or sex.