Final Exam Key Terminology Flashcards
Protagonist
Hero
The primary character whose pursuit of the goal provides the structural foundation of a movies story.
Third person narrator
Narration delivered from outside of the diegesis by a narrator who is not a character in the movie.
Antagonist
Villain
The character, creature, or force that obstructs or resists the protagonist’s pursuit of their goal.
Climax
The highest point of conflict in a conventional narrative, the protagonist’s ultimate attempt to attain the goal.
Diegesis
The total world of a story-the events, characters, objects, settings, and sounds that from the world in which the story occurs.
Nondiegetic elements
Something that we see and hear on the screen that comes from outside the world of the story (including background music, titles and credits, and VoiceOver narration).
Backstory
A fictional history behind the cinematic narrative that is presented onscreen. Elements of the backstory can be hinted at in a movie, presented through narration, or not revealed at all.
Setting
Where the action takes place within a story.
The time and space in which a story takes place.
Cinematographer
The person in charge of the process of capturing moving images on film or some other media.
Shot
One uninterrupted run of the camera.
A shot can be as short or long as the director wants, but it cannot exceed the length of the film stock in the camera.
Take
An indication if the number of times a particular shot is taken.
Colorization
The use of digital technology, in a process similar to hand-tinting, to “paint” colors on movies meant to be seen in black and white.
Widescreen aspect ratio
Any aspect ratio wider than 1.33:1, the standard ratio until the early 1950s.
Three point lighting system
Perhaps the best known lighting convention in feature filmmaking, a system that employs three sources of light-key light, fill light, and backlight-each aimed from a different direction and position in relation to the subject.
Key light
Also known as main light or source light.
The brightest light falling on a subject.
Fill light
Lighting, positioned at the opposite side of the camera from the key light, that can fill in the shadows created by the brighter key light.
Fill light may also come from a reflector board.
Backlight
Lighting, usually positioned behind and in line with the subject and the camera, used to create highlights on the subject as a means of separating it from the background and increasing its appearance of three-dimensionality.
Production values
The amount of human and physical resources devoted to the image, including the style if it’s lighting. Production value helps determine the overall style of the film.
Depth of field
The distance in front of a camera and it’s lense in which objects are in apparent sharp focus.
Framing
The process by which the cinematographer determines what will appear within the borders of the moving image (the frame) during the shot.
Long shot
Also known as full-body shot.
A shot that shows the full human body, usually filling the frame, and some of it’s surroundings.
Medium shot
A shot showing the human body, usually from the waist up.
Close-up
A shot that often shows a part of the body filling the frame-traditionally a face, but possibly a hand, eye, or mouth.
Extreme close-up
A very close shot of a particular detail, such as a persons eye, a ring on a finger, or a watch face.
Rule of thirds
A principle of composition that enables filmmakers to maximize the potential of the image, balance it’s elements, and create the illusion of depth.
A grid pattern, when superimposed on the image, divides the image into horizontal thirds representing the foreground, middle ground, and background planes and into vertical thirds that break up those planes into additional elements.
Eye level shot
A shot that is made from the observers eye level and usually implies that the observer’s attitude is neutral toward the subject being photographed.
Dutch-angle shot
Also known as Dutch shot or oblique angle shot.
A shot in which the camera is tilted from it’s normal horizontal and vertical positions so that it is no longer straight, giving the viewer the impression that the world in the frame is out of balance.
Scale
The size and placement of a particular object or a part of a scene in relation to the rest-a relationship determined by the type of shot used and the placement of the camera.
CGI
Computer generated imagery.
Blimp
A soundproofed enclosure somewhat larger than a camera, in which the camera may be mounted to prevent it’s sounds from reaching the microphone.
Option contract
During the classical Hollywood era, an actor’s standard seven-year contract, reviewed every six months: if the actor had made progress in being assigned roles and demonstrating box-office appeal, the studio picked up the option to employ that actor for the next six months and gave the actor a raise; if not, the studio dropped the option and the actor was out of a job.
Stanislavsky system
A system of acting, developed by Russian theater director Konstantin Stanislavsky in the late nineteenth century, that encourages students to strive for realism, both social and psychological, and to bring their past experiences and emotions to their roles.
This system influenced the development of Method acting in the United States.
Typecast
The casting of actors because of their looks or “type” rather than for their acting talent or experience.
Casting
The process of choosing and hiring actors for a movie.
Screen tests
A filming undertaken by an actor to audition for a particular role.
Improvisation
1) . Actors’ extemporization-that is, delivering lines based only loosely on the written script or without the preparation that comes with studying a script before rehearsing it.
2) . “Playing through” a moment-that is, making up lines to keep scenes going when actors forget their written lines, stumble in lines, or have some other mishap.
Ensemble acting
An approach to acting that emphasizes the interaction of actors, not the individual actor.
In ensemble acting, a group of actors work together continuously in a single shot.
Typically experienced in the theater, ensemble acting is used less in the movies because it requires the provision of rehearsal time that is usually denied to screen actors.
Pixels
Short for "picture elements," these are the small dots that make up the image on a video screen. The sits (denoted by the binary numbers 0 and 1) are meaningless in themselves; but when they are arranged in order, like the pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, they form a picture.
Postproduction
The third stage if the production process, consisting of editing, preparing the final print, and pro gong the film to the public (marketing and distribution).
Postproduction is preceded by preproduction and production.
Producer
The person who guides the entire process of making the movie from it’s original planning to it’s release and is chiefly responsible for the organizational and financial aspects of the production, from arranging the financing to deciding how the money is spent.
Director
The person who
A). Determines and realizes on the screen an artistic vision of the screenplay
B). Casts the actors and directs their performances
C). Works closely with the production design in creating the look of the film, including the choice if locations
D). Oversees the work of the cinematographer and other key production personnel; and,
E). In most cases, supervises all postproduction activity, especially the editing.
