Midterms Flashcards
Mise-en-scene
All of the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed: settings, props, lightning, costumes, makeup, a figure behavior (meaning actors, their gestures, and their facial expressions); from the French, meaning that which has been put into the scene or onstage. Also includes the camera’s actions and angles and the cinematography. *The totality of expressive content within the image.
Cinematography
The photography of motion pictures.
Location
A real place used by filmmakers as the setting of a given scene, as opposed to a set that is specifically designed and constructed for a film.
Composition
The formal arrangements of shapes within the image, including people, sets, props, and landscape elements. (The relationship of lines, volumes, masses, and shapes at a single instant in a representation.)
Shot
The basic element of filmmaking – a piece of film run through the camera, exposed, and developed; an uninterrupted run of the camera; or an uninterrupted image on film. A unit of length or duration – a minimal unit of dramatic material.
Scene
A unit of dramatic action that takes place in one location during a single time period. Consists of several shots or more.
Close-up
A shot that isolates an object in the image, making it appear relatively large. (Usually of a person’s face).
Extreme close-up
Might be of the person’s eyes – or mouth – or nose – or any element isolated at very close range in the image.
Long shot
A shot in which the camera appears to be fairly far away from the subject being filmed, though special lenses can create the impression of great distance where much less distance exists.
Extreme long shots
Show the object or person at a vast distance surrounded by a great amount of the surrounding space.
Medium shot
A shot taken from a medium distance from a person or object; in terms of the human body, it’s from the waist up.
Three-quarter shot
A shot taken from a distance that reveals the human body from the head to just below the knees.
Full shot
A shot that includes the entire human body from head to toe, with little space above the head and below the feet.
Telephoto lens
A lens that greatly magnifies distant objects, the way a telescope does; a telephoto lens has a shallow depth of field, meaning that only objects in the distance are in focus, with everything in front of them appearing blurry.
Medium close-ups
Close-ups taken from the chest up.
Eye-level shot
A shot taken from the height of an average human being, so the camera appears to be looking straight at the characters and/or objects being filmed.
Low-angle shot
A shot taken from a camera that is positioned much lower than the subject being filmed, so that the effect is that of looking up at the subject.
High-angle shot
A shot taken from a camera that is positioned much higher than the subject being filmed, so that the effect is that of looking down on the subject.
Bird’s-eye view
An extreme overhead shot, taken seemingly form the sky or ceiling and looking straight down on the subject.
Dutch tilt (canted angle)
When the camera tilts horizontally and/or vertically.
Two-shot
A shot in which two people appear, usually in medium distance or closer; two-shots are dominated spatially by two people, making them ideal for conversations.
Three-shot
A shot in which three people dominate the image – not three people surrounded by a crowd, but three people who are framed so as to constitute a distinct group, with little space between them and the frame.
Master shot
A shot taken from a long distance that includes as much of the set or location as possible and all the character in the scene.
24 frames per second
the standard speed of a film.
Undercranking
A special effect created by slowing down the film as it moves through the camera from its usual 24 frames per second; when undercranked footage is run through a projector – which still operates at the normal 24 frames per second – the effect created is fast motion.
Overcranking
A special effect created by speeding up the film as it moves through the camera from its usual 24 frames per second; when overcranked footage is run through a projector – which still runs at the normal 24 frames per second – the effect created is slow motion.
Synchronized sound film
Dialogue, sound effects and diegetic music that are heard at the same time that the source appears onscreen. (Characters being seen and heard speaking at the same time onscreen.)
Image tracks
That portion of the cinematic medium that contains the picture, as opposed to the soundtrack.
Soundtrack
That portion of the cinematic medium that contains aural information – dialogue, music, and sound effects; on celluloid, it’s the squiggly line on the side of the image frames.
Lexiconning
A process by which films are shortened for broadcasting on television; the standard 24 frames per second speed is increased by a matter of hundredths of a frame per second, the cumulative effect of which may shorten the film by as much as 6 or 7 percent of its total running time.
Frame
(a.) The individual rectangular photographs on a strip of motion picture film which, when run through a projector, yield the impression of movement owing to slight variations in the position of the objects being photographed; (b.) the four borders of the projected image.
Retake
A 2nd, 3rd, 10th, or even 100th attempt to film a given shot; the term retake sometimes implies that the shooting occurs on a day subsequent to the original takes; actors are often brought back to the studio at the end of production to shoot retakes of shots and scenes the director finds to be problematic for one reason or another.
Editing
The process of splicing one shot to another; (synonymous with cutting).
Aspect ratio
The ratio of the film image’s width to its height.
Academy ratio
The standard aspect ratio established in 1932 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; it’s often said to be 1.33:1, but in fact it’s 1.37:1 – a rectangle that is about a third again as wide as it is tall.
Pan
when the camera itself is stationary but pivots on its axis from side to side.
Tilt (vertical pan)
the camera is stationary but tilts up and down
Moving shot
when the camera is placed on a moving object
Tracking shot (dolly)
when the camera moves parallel to the ground
Crane
if the camera moves up and down through space
Hand-held cameras
cameras reduced in size so that the operator could carry it while filming; creates hand-held shots
Steadicam
fits onto camera operator’s body (via vest) in such a way that when he or she walks, the effect is that of very smooth movement
Varifocal lenses
zoom lenses; creates the illusion of the camera moving.
Motivated camera movements
those prompted by the characters and events in the film
Unmotivated camera movements
those that pertain to the filmmaker’s commentary on characters and events
Extra
an actor who has no lines in a crowd scene
Long take
meaning that the shot continues without a cut for an unusually long time
Sequence shot
a single shot may serve as its own sequence or scene
Offscreen space
Offscreen right Offscreen left Offscreen top Offscreen bottom Behind the set Behind the camera
Diegetic
offscreen spaces that pertain to the world of the film’s story
Nondiegetic
the space behind the set; it doesn’t have anything to do with the world of the film’s story
Reframing
reveals and maintains spatial continuity from image to image without cutting
Cinerama
uses three interlocked cameras to record three separate images which, when projected across a specially curved screen, yielded a single continuous widescreen image with an aspect ratio of 2.77:1
Cinemascope
introduced by 20th century Fox, uses anamorphic lens to squeeze a very wide image onto each frame of standard sized film stock and another anamorphic lens on the projector to spread it back out again
Vistavision
developed by Paramount Pictures, was first used in White Christmas (1954). Instead of the film frames running vertically on the celluloid, with the sprocket holes on the side, vistavision frames run horizontally and the sprocket holes are on the top and bottom.
Todd-AO
named for producer Mike Todd and the American Optical Company. Another widescreen process with an aspect ratio of 2.20:1. It was an early 70mm process, whereas the others used 35mm film.
Letterboxing
preserving the original aspect ratio of a widescreen film when transferring the film to DVD or broadcasting it on television
Blocking
a term derived from theater; planning where and when actors move around the stage or film set
composition
the arrangement of people and things within the rectangular frame
key light
aims directly at the subject–most likely the main character or object in the shot–and is the brightest light source for the shot
fill light
a softer lighter, usually placed opposite of the key light; cuts down on shadows created by the bright key light
backlight
shines behind the subject or object, separating the subject from the background, enhancing the sense of depth.
