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Film > Film Theory > Flashcards

Film Theory Flashcards

0
Q

Archetype

A

A typical, definitive, iconic example of someone or something, such as a type of personality.

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1
Q

Arc

A

The rising and falling path of action, conflict and drama in a story.

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2
Q

Auteur Theory

A

A French Theory from the 1950s describing film directors who are the “authors,” or primary creative agents in their films.

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3
Q

Artistic License

A

Taking liberties with the truth or believability in order to simplify a subject or make it more dramatic or artistic.

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4
Q

Bit of Business

A

An action involving props and other physical objects, used by actors for dramatic and expressive purposes.

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5
Q

Bookend

A

A situation or motif that appears at the beginning of a film, and then reappears at the end.

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6
Q

Framing Device

A

A situation or motif that appears at the beginning of a film, and then reappears at the end.

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7
Q

Blocking

A

Planning the placement and movement of actors within a scene.

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8
Q

Catharsis

A

The process by which films and other art forms cleanse or refresh our spirits by causing us to feel, and then be released from, strong emotions.

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9
Q

Cinéma Vérité

A

A documentary film style that strives for realism and honesty, often characterized by low production value, hand-held camera work and sometimes breaking the artificiality of the fourth wall by having the filmmakers interact with their subjects.

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10
Q

Cinematic

A

Describes works that fully embrace or emphasize what is unique about the artistic possibilities of motion pictures, and tell stories in ways that cannot be done in a theater or novel.

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11
Q

Climax

A

The point of a story at which the action or tension of the story reaches it’s peak, the protagonist and antagonist have there ultimate clash and the situation must be resolved one way or another.

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12
Q

Continuity

A

A shooting and editing style that creates an illusion of smooth, unbroken action from one shot to the next.

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13
Q

Cross-Cutting

A

Cutting back and forth between two different sequences or locations that are taking place at the same moment in time.

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14
Q

Deep Focus

A

Photography in which objects in the foreground, middle ground, and background are all in relatively sharp focus.

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15
Q

Denouement

A

The conclusion of a story, following the climax and the falling action, in which conflicts are resolved and questions answered, complexities of the story are unravelled, situations return to normal and the audience experiences catharsis.

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16
Q

Dues ex Machina

A

God from the Machine, it refers to a convention in Ancient Greek theater in which a god character was lowered onto the stage to miraculously solve plot problems.

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17
Q

Diegetic

A

Describes elements of a film that happen within the make-believe world of its story, and can be heard and seen by the characters in that world.

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18
Q

Distancing Effect

A

Techniques used to emotionally distance the audience from the characters or situations in a play or film.

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19
Q

Dystopia

A

An imaginary world in which everything is dark and bad.

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20
Q

Epiphany

A

A moment of sudden realization or insight about life.

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21
Q

Episodic Plot

A

A story consisting of loosely connected incidents that do not cause one action or event to lead into another.

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22
Q

Eisensteinian

A

Film editing in the manner of Sergei Eisenstein, emphasizing montage over continuity editing.

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23
Q

Existential

A

Describes philosophical or introspective works of art that examine free will, fate, death, and the meaning of life.

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24
Q

Exposition

A

Background information to help the audience understand what is going on.

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25
Q

Expressionism

A

An exaggerated, distorted, or stylized approach to art or film that emphasizes personal expression, visual metaphors, and a unique point of view, instead of objectivity.

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26
Q

Falling Action

A

Events that happen in a story after the climax, leading to the denouement.

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27
Q

Farce

A

Comedy involving absurd, extravagant and improbable situations.

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28
Q

Foreshadowing

A

An incident that happens or a character trait that is revealed early in a story, which hints at something more significant that will happen later on, often in an ominous manner.

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29
Q

Film Noir

A

An American film genre of the 1940s and ’50s, which tough characters, gritty dialogue, a cynical world view, realistic locations and expressionistic, high-contrast lighting.

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30
Q

Five Act Structure

A

Gustav Freytag in the 1860s.

  1. Exposition & Point of Attack
  2. Rising Action
  3. Climax
  4. Falling Action
  5. Denouement or Resolution
31
Q

Fourth Wall

A

An imaginary wall between the actors and the audience.

32
Q

Gag

A

A special stunt or bit of film trickery, sometimes humorous, but not necessarily.

33
Q

Genre

A

A recognizable group of films or art works, unified by similarities of style or content, such as Westerns, Sci-Fi, Romantic Comedies, Horror or Buddy films.

34
Q

Greek Chorus

A

A character, group of people, music or even objects that periodically comment (either actually or symbolically) on situations in a story.

35
Q

Hero’s Journey

A

A story formula from ancient mythology, in which a character is called to adventure, travels through a gateway from his normal world into a strange land, is guided by supernatural assistance, struggles with an antagonist to attain something precious, returns to his normal world and uses the precious thing to benefit himself or others.

36
Q

Homage

A

French term for a film or section of a film that pays tribute to another film by imitating it.

37
Q

Iconic

A

Describes a person or thing that represents an idea or archetype in a very strong, clear manner.

38
Q

Iconoclastic

A

Describes a person or work that belittles or attacks established institutions or beliefs.

39
Q

Invisible Editing

A

Continuity techniques in editing, intended to make an audience unaware of the fact that a film has been edited.

40
Q

Irony

A

A poignant or humorous conflict or opposition between:

  1. What someone says and what they actually mean
  2. How something is presented and how we actually perceive it
  3. How things should turn out and how they actually turn out
41
Q

Jump Cut

A

A cut between two shots from the same or nearly identical camera angle, in which the position of the subject varies slightly from the first shot to the second.

42
Q

Linear Cinematograghy

A

A visual style that emphasizes lines, angles and geometric shapes rather than colors and textures.

43
Q

Linear Storytelling

A

Telling a story in strict chronological order.

44
Q

Log line

A

A one or two sentence summary of a plot.

45
Q

Lyrical

A

A film or work of art that celebrates the sensuous beauty of the subject or the medium itself.

46
Q

MacGuffin

A

A term coined by Alfred Hitchcock to describe an object that characters in a story struggle to attain.

47
Q

Melodrama

A

A dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions.

48
Q

Minimalism

A

An artistic style in which the barest essentials are used to convey information or mood.

49
Q

Mise en Scene

A

The artistic arrangement and movement of actors, objects, shapes, colors and light and dark areas within the movie frame.

50
Q

Montage

A

A sequence of shots or still images that are thematically related but not chronologically continuous.

51
Q

Motif

A

A technique, object, color, thematic idea or line of dialogue that appears several times throughout a film, usually for symbolic value.

52
Q

Motivation

A

A reason for an actor to do something or for a camera to move.

53
Q

New Wave

A

A French film style of the 1950s that broke traditional rules of continuity shooting and editing to create a more expressionistic and experimental style.

54
Q

Painterly

A

A photographic style that resembles painting, with soft edges, lush colors and rich textures, often used to convey a romantic or lyrical feeling.

55
Q

Payoff

A

The fulfillment of something established earlier in a film via a motif, foreshadowing, a set-up, or the planting of a prop or character.

56
Q

Point of Attack

A

An event that creates the primary conflict in a story.

57
Q

Pornography of Violence

A

Describes art that portrays violence in a way that makes it aesthetically pleasing or fascinating and stimulates the audience in an almost sexual manner.

58
Q

Post-Modernism

A

Art that comments on art and culture in a hip, sardonic, self-conscious and often self-mocking manner.

59
Q

Production Value

A

Describes something that gives a film a “wow factor “ and attracts an audience.

60
Q

Realism

A

A film style that attempts to duplicate reality with a minimum of distortion or stylization.

61
Q

Rising Action

A

A series of events that escalate the conflict of a story and lead it to its climax.

62
Q

Rite of Passage

A

A story about a phase in a person’s life when they pass from one stage to another, such as passing from innocence to experience.

63
Q

Save the Cat Moment

A

A moment in a plot when a character does something that makes him or her likeable to the audience.

64
Q

Selective Focus

A

Use of shallow depth of field to draw the viewer’s eye to a particular object in the frame by having only that object in sharp focus and all others in soft focus.

65
Q

Set-up

A

The introduction of an element, object, or line of dialogue early in a film, that will later lead to that element or dialogue recurring, for a joke or greater meaning, in the payoff.

66
Q

Story Problem

A

The main problem or difficulty that main characters work to solve throughout a story.

67
Q

Subjective Camera

A

Shots in which the camera exactly reproduces what a character sees, and the character himself does not appear in the shot.

68
Q

Subplot

A

A minor story that supports or enhances the main story.

69
Q

Subtext

A

Symbolic or “hidden” meaning behind the words, actions or objects in a film or work of art.

70
Q

Surrealism

A

A mixture of realism and fantasy that emulates the twisted logic of a dream.

71
Q

Suspension of Disbelief

A

Acceptance by an audience of the basic premise of a film or story, while overlooking a certain amount of artificially and even implausibility.

72
Q

Theatrical

A

An unabashedly artificial and dramatic style of filmmaking, often using non-realistic sets and exaggerated acting.

73
Q

Three Act Structure

A

A story arc broke into three parts:
First Act: Exposition and Point of Attack
Second Act: Rising Action
Third Act: Climax & Denouement

74
Q

Trope

A

A conventional plot device or structure that writers can rely on to be familiar and understandable to the audience, without necessarily being trite.

75
Q

Universality

A

Applicable and meaningful everywhere.

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