film terminology Flashcards
Action Cutting
segments of film are “cut” and pieced together shot-by-shot for the purpose of depicting continuity. The audience member is supposed to be unaware of the cutting procedures in a properly exercised editing process; hence, the “cuts” for the sale of action provide smooth and
unimpeded viewing.
Aerial Shot
: A camera shot that is filmed from an airplane, helicopter, blimp, balloon or kite. Devices have also been invented to hold a camera from a specialized boom at the top of a building, stadium or guided by wires or aero-devices within certain settings. These shots are often used for dramatic pans and in situations
Angle-reverse-Angle:
Procedurally the camera will shoot one of the conversants and then the other alternating back and forth between the two. Individual shots will be taken of each person and the image portrayed will change between each performer facing in the reverse direction from the preceding framing; hence the term, angle-reverse-angle.
Arc Shot
A simple photographic procedure in which the subject being photographed is circled by the camera.
Back Lighting:
Illumination that shines on an actress, actor or subject from behind them. It provides effects of contrasts and often heightens awareness of the subject with a false sense of three dimensionality. This is effectual because it seems to make the subject stand-out from the background.
Bird’s-eye-View:
Usually this shot is achieved from a helicopter or elevated location. It is an overhead shot taken at a distance to give the audience an extended view of the setting. It grants them the privilege of taking in more information than provided by the characters contained in the scene.
boom shot
In the editing process films are constructed through a series of units in a montage-like assemblage. With the use of boom shots, cameras are able to achieve diversity in a flowing manner by moving the camera on a boom through a number of possible positions-levels and angles. The cameras, accordingly, are in a continuous filming mode.
Bridging Shot:
The connection of one scene to another through the use of a shot that shows a change in time or location. A bridging shot can also be used to connect two shots from the same scene by using a close-up, distant pan or different camera angle thus relating the shots via content.
Camera Movement
: Conventional uses of the camera to obtain camera angles and various perspectives while filming include panning, tilting, tracking or zooming of the camera.
Cross-Cutting:
A pseudo-relationship between two different sequences of events that
are nevertheless occurring at the same. Two sequences of action are photographed then spliced together in such a manner as to allow the viewer to go back and forth between the series of events so that the viewer is impressed with the simultaneity of these two disparate actions.
Crowd Shot:
A shot, image, scene or depiction of a large group of people. Extras often constitute the corpus of the “crowd shot”.
Detail Shot
A camera shot that is actually closer than a close-up. It can be used to show minute portions of grosser elements that would ordinarily be missed under normal examination or observation. A camera shot of great scrutiny.
dissolve
A transition between two scenes in which the former image fades out while the latter image is fading in. There is an intentional overlap between the first and second image. This provides a smooth and effective change from one scene into anothe
Distance:
Distance refers to the amount of relational space between the audience and the character on the screen. Though the characters are two-dimensional and the audience is distinctly separate from the screen by dead space (virtual reality in the theatre has not yet been developed) the camera’s perspective,
Fade in and out (go-to-black
The fade-in is accomplished when a scene emerges out of complete blackness. The fade-out occurs when a scene gradually immerges into complete blackness.
