Technical Film Terms Flashcards
180-Degree rule
Definition: a continuity principle stating that the camera should not change its angle of vision between shots in a single scene more than 180 degrees.
Identify: This is a film technique used to make sure the visual continuity between two characters, especially in the way the characters would look at each other in different shots.
importance: Though it may just be a film rule, it helps keeps continuity throughout the shots.
Establishing shot
Definition: An initial long shot that establishes the location and setting that orients the viewer in space to a clear view of the action
Identify: This is a film technique used to show the audience the setting such as place and time so the viewer understands where the story is taking place.
Importance: This film technique is important because it emerges the viewer into the movie by giving a general image of where the film will take place, and this technique helped filmmakers have an easier job setting up the basic place of the film.
Continuity Editing
Definition: The way of editing that uses cuts and other transitions to construct a coherent time and space. This technique follows a basic principle that each shot and scene has a continuous relationship to the next.
Identify: This technique is a way to make sure all of the shots of characters looking in certain ways match up with the next shot so that it feels like a coherent story.
Importance: This technique is important because it helps filmmakers develop a story that makes sense and flows smoothly to the viewer
montage Editing
Definition: Filmmakers put many shots together in the opposite of continuity editing to make the viewer aware of the editing shot. They would do this to make a sequence or show an important meaning they want to portray to the audience, Russian filmmakers were the ones who made big use of this technique.
Identify: This is a way to put shots and scenes together in a film in a disruptive way, to make the audience aware of the unique shots in the process.
Importance: This technique made its way to big films and influenced many other countries to start doing montage editing in their way, it developed the weary suspense scenes and led the way to jump cuts.
Shrinking and Stretching time through editing
Definition: Shrinking time is a film technique used to make an event or action that would take longer appear shorter than it is by using cut-away shots, such as cutting to a different thing and then coming back to the original shot. Stretching time is a film technique used to make an action take longer than it would, like before using different cut-away shots to make it seem longer, like in modern horror movies.
Identify: The two techniques are both ways to make time seem different from how it would happen in reality, either making it longer or shorter.
Importance: This technique would affect future films and movies and was a good way to show things happening off screen, where as the first films showed all the action on screen.
Shot/Reverse shot:
Definition: An editing pattern that begins with the shot of one character taken from an angle at one end of the axis of action, and follows with a shot of the second character from the reverse angle at the other end of the line.
Identify: This is a film technique to show two characters looking at each other in an interesting way to show both characters.
Importance:
Cross-Cutting
Definition: Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action going on in different places usually simultaneously.
Identify: This is an editing film technique that lets more than one action be shown happening at the same time with cutting and editing.
Importance: This technique is important because it started a way to show many actions at once while in the first films they could not do that and only showed one action, this discovery changed how the film would be edited for the rest of time.
Match on action/ Match cut:
Definition: A film editing technique in which two different scenes will be connected with a similar action by a character, such as closing a door or opening a window.
Identify: A technique that shows a visual action that suggests a parallel between the two moving objects or characters.
Eyeline Match:
Definition: A principle in continuity editing that calls for a follwing shot of a character looking off-screen with a shot of a subject whose screen position matches the gaze of the first character.
Identify: A editing technique that keeps continuity between where a character is looking in directions and the shot next. Such as a character looking up would be paired with the sky.
Importance: This technique is important because it helps the audience make sense of the action or gaze of a character and keeps the continuity, it might take the viewer out of the film
Wipe Transition
Definition: A transition between shots in which a line passes across the screen, eliminating the first shot as it goes and replacing it with the next one.
Shot
Define: a single unedited, uncut strip of film, images are recorded continuously from the time the camera starts.
Identify: This is a film technique to take specific takes from times, and then edit them later together in a way to make it seem continuous.
Importance: This impacted how films were taken forever since many different shots can be taken but in the final edit look like they were all taken during the same time.
Medium shot
Define: A relatively close shot, revealing a moderate amount of detail. A medium shot of a figure generally includes the body’s knees or waist up.
Long Shot
Define a shot in which the subject is diminished in the frame, seen from afar, with a strong sense of surroundings, which tend to dominate.
Close-up
Define: A detailed view of a person or object, usually without much context. An actor’s close-up usually includes only their head.
Two shot
A medium shot with two actors
three shot
A medium shot with three actors
Over the shoulder shot
Define: a shot over a charcaters shoulder looking at a different character
