FILM LANGUAGE

Here is a glossary of film terms:

a. Costume

The clothes that characters wear. Costume in narrative cinema is used to signify character, or
advertise particular fashions, or to make clear distinctions between characters.

b. Biopic

A biographical film normally about the life of a famous person.

c. Cinematographer, director of photography

The artist responsible for the lighting of a shot and the quality of photography in a film.

d. Diegesis

The narrative elements that are shown or inferred from the narrative content of a film. The diagesis
includes objects, events, spaces and the characters that inhabit them, including things, actions, and
attitudes not explicitly presented in the film but inferred by the audience. The audience constructs a
diegetic world from the material presented in a narrative film.

e. Dolly shot, tracking shot, trucking shot

A shot taken from a moving vehicle. In the past, tracks were laid on the set to permit a smoother
movement of the camera.

f. Editing

The joining together of clips of film into a single filmstrip. The cut is a simple edit, but there are many
other possible ways to transition from one shot to another.

g. Flashback / Flash forward

A jump backwards or forwards in diegetic time. With the use of flashback / flash forward the order of
events in the plot no longer matches the order of events in the story.

h. Focus

Focus refers to the degree to which light rays coming from any particular part of an object pass
through the lens and reconverge at the same point on a frame of the film negative, creating sharp
outlines and distinct textures that match the original object. “Out of focus” means the images are
blurred and lack acceptable linear definition.

i. Genres

Types of film recognised by audiences and/or producers. These types are distinguished by narrative
or stylistic conventions.

j. Mise-en-scene

All the things that are “put into the scene”: the setting, the décor, the lighting, the costumes, the
performance etc.

k. Scene

A scene is a segment of a narrative film that usually takes place in a single time and place, often with
the same characters.
 l. Script, Screenplay, Scenario

A written description of a film’s dialogue and action, sometimes with basic camera directions.

m. Sequence

A scene, or a series of connected scenes, that present a succession of related events that constitute
and advance a distinct component of the story narrative, plot and/or character development.

n. Shot

A single stream of images, uninterrupted by editing; a unit of film in which the camera does not stop
filming.

TYPES OF SHOTs

1. Aerial shot - A shot taken from a crane, plane or helicopter, restricted to exterior
locations. This is often used at the beginning of a film, in order to establish setting and
movement.

2. Bird’s eye view - A shot in which the camera photographs the scene from directly
overhead. This shot does puts the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the
action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things.

3. Eye Level - A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually
observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus.

4. Crane shot - A shot taken from a mechanical device called a crane which can carry the
camera in any direction.
o. ANGLES

1. High angle shot - A shot taken from above the subject. High angles make the object
photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets
swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

2. Low angle shot - A shot taken from below the subject. These increase height (useful for short
actors like Tom Cruise or James McAvoy) and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles
help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The
background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the
setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make
it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on
the screen.

p. SHOT SIZES
1. Extreme long shot - A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very small; a
building, landscape, or crowd of people will fill the screen. This can be taken from as much as
a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot.

2. Establishing shot - An establishing shot introduces a new location – a church, a city street, a
rooftop, a hospital room – from a vantage point that allows the audience to see all the
relevant characters in the filmic space.

3. Long or full shot - A type of long shot that includes the human body in full, with the head
near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. It makes for a relatively stable shot
that can accommodate movement without reframing.

4. Medium long shot - Framing such an object four or five feet high would fill most of the scene
vertically. Also calledplain ame*ricain given its recurrence in the Western genre, where it
was important to keep a cowboy’s weapon in the image.

5. Medium close-up - A relatively close shot, revealing the human figure from the waist up.

6. Over-the-shoulder-shot - Positions the camera behind one figure, revealing the other figure,
and part of the first figure's back, head and shoulder.

7. Close-up - A detailed view of a person or object. A framing in which the scale of the object
shown is relatively large. A close-up of a person’s head, or some other similarly sized object,
would fill the frame. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let
people that we really trust get THAT close to our face - mothers, children and lovers, usually -
so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra
comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and usually uses a zoom lens in
order to get the required framing.

8. Extreme close-up - A shot in which the scale of an object shown is very large, a minutely
detailed view of an object or person. Faces are the most recurrent images in extreme close-
ups. An extreme close-up of an actor usually includes only his or her eyes or mouth.

9. Point of view 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. Horror films and thrillers often use POV shots to suggest
a menacing and unseen presence in the scene. In Force of Evil we see Frank’s face in a point
of view shot from the killer above. Then we cut to the killer’s face from Frank’s point of view
below.

10. Reaction shot - A shot to show an emotional response to the immediately preceding action
or words of another character in the scene, or to an event in the immediately preceding
scene which may or may not involve another actor (e.g. an explosion, monster, empty room
etc.)

11. Two shot - A medium featuring two actors in the same frame.

12. Three shot - A medium featuring three actors in the same frame.
 13. Dutch tilt - A shot in which the camera angle is deliberately slanted to one side. This can be
used for dramatic effect and helps portray unease, disorientation, frantic or desperate action,
intoxication or madness.

q. SOUND

Types of Sound

Sound can be divided into two essential areas:

1. Diegetic Sound - Diegetic sound begins –but doesn't end– with what you record on location
at the same time as you capture images. Location sound is often enhanced with sound
effects (used to add or heighten individual sounds for narrative effect e.g. a phone ringing, or
an explosion off camera. Ambient Sound (outdoors) or Room Tone(indoors) is layered in for
realism (and to hide the moment when a plane zoomed overhead or car doors slammed
nearby. Dialogue is an important part of diegetic sound, and depends on vocal delivery. A
good actor can vary pitch, tone, volume and accent according to what the director wants on
set, but an interviewee will only speak in their natural voice. Dialogue can be enhanced in
post production, or even replaced as ADR. Sound motifs (e.g. birdsong) can be added as part
of post-production sound design, but may seem to come from within the frame.

2. Non-Diegetic Sound - Raw footage is usually enhanced through the addition of non-diegetic
sound, usually in the form of music or voice over.

r. Soundtrack

Diegetic Generated by things we can see in the picture ('from within the world of the narrative')

Non- Generated outside the picture ('from outside the world of the narrative') e.g. voice over
Diegetic or music
Adding music to images is an art form. Music creates mood and atmosphere, often by manipulating
the emotions experienced while viewing. Music can be classified as either soundtrack or score.

Previously-recorded music chosen because of its fit to the rhythm, content and mood of
Soundtrack
a sequence. If a song, the lyrics may add meaning to the images.

Music specifically composed to accompany images. As well as enhancing mood and

atmosphere, it can be used thematically - e.g. a character can be represented by a
Score musical theme every time they appear, or the audience can be reminded of a situation
every time a musical theme recurs (e.g. the 'shark theme' in JAWS). Music can
be discordant or melodic, depending on the desired emotional effect in the viewer.

s. Stills

Still pictures taken from a film.

t. Synopsis

A short description of the main parts of a story.

u. Teaser

An opening sequence designed to catch the interest of the audience.

v. Thriller

A film with lots of action and suspense.

w. Trailer

A short filmed advertisement for a film using highlights from the film with graphics and voice-over
commentary to publicise the film.