Film Glossary

Movement

pan - sweeping the camera horizontally to create a sense of vastness, speed, and movement. This is like moving your head from side to side.

tilt: swivelling the camera up and down vertically to show a tall person or to magnify the height.

dolly: tracking is done with a special camera mounted on a dolly. This is a wheeled platform that keeps pace with a car or bike

whip pan: sweeping the camera horizontally so quickly that the picture blurs into indistinct streaks

zoom in or out: suddenly moving closer or farther away for a shot

push in or out: the camera moves (on a dolly) towards or away from a subject. This shot may highlight the moment a character comes to a realization or may allow the audience to become aware the character's dangerous situation.

spiral: the camera circles around a subject

Grade 8's are responsible for all elements of movement except reframing

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Editing or Montage

cut: an instantaneous change from one shot to another

cut away: a shot of something other than the current action

dissolve: the gradual disappearance of one shot while another shot appears gradually to come into clear focus

flash cut: a bright flash of light accompanying the cut

fade in: ending a scene by moving from clear focus to black or white (It usually indicates time has passed or location has changed in the story.)

fade out: beginning a scene moving from black or white to clear focus (It usually indicates time is passing or location is changing in the story.)

jump cut: several cuts in succession creating a sense of discontinuity

juxtaposition: putting images together for a greater effect beyond that of the individual image (Two or more images put together results in a third meaning that has a stronger emotional effect.

match dissolve: Two objects of similar colour, shape and size are linked in a dissolve

montage: comes from the French verb monter, which means to put together.

transitions: how the scene moves to another location, time, or person.

stop motion: a technique where the camera is repeatedly stopped and started, for example to give animated figures the impression of movement

wipe: a line that sweeps across the screen erasing one scene and introducing another

Grade 8's are responsible to know all transitions.

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Types of Shots

point of view shot: this shot is taken from the perspective of a character. The audience sees what the character sees.

establishing shot: creates the scene or the setting (It is usually framed from a distance and it might show a long shot of a bungalow, then cut to the kitchen where someone is talking on the phone.)

panorama: an extreme long and wide shot; a picture from a great distance (A human figure is barely visible or not visible at all in a panorama. The emphasis is on scenery.)

extreme close-up: picture of a portion of the body or isolated detail (Often, this is used for symbolic purposes. It may intensify an emotion.)

high angle: photo taken with camera looking down on the subject [The point of focus (such as a person) is swallowed by the setting. The point of focus (person) may seem insignificant.]

low angle: photo taken with camera looking up at the subject; often used to give the figure a dominant or powerful presence (The audience is made to feel submissive, fearful, or insecure.)

bird's-eye angle: a scene shown from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle (This angle puts the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action.)

Grade 8's do not need to know the following:

• hand-held shot
  
• angle of destiny
  
• canted angle
  
• flat angle
  

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Framing Shots

mise-en-scene: arrangement of scenery in the scene; telling a story by arranging objects on the stage; this may include composition, sets, costumes and props (such as table), insects flying through the frame, facial expressions as well as the following:

• Lighting
  
• Focus
  
• Line
  
• Color
  
• Camera shot and angle
  

internal framing: a frame (within the frame of the visual) such as a window or a doorway or logs; limits the point of focus, symbolically suggesting entrapment, protection, or isolation

negative or open space: empty space, such as beside a person to show something or someone is missing [Most people prefer balance in arrangement in pictures (composition). An imbalance produces anxiety or expectation in the viewer. He or she expects someone or something to move into the picture to fill the space.]

rule of thirds: the arrangement of a scene according to imaginary lines which divide the picture into thirds.

Grade 8's do not need to know the following:

• shallow focus
  
• deep focus 

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Sound

diagetic sound: sounds to which film characters react

non diagetic sound: sounds such as background music which only the audience hears

voice over: can be a narrator describing the events or scene

Grade 8's are responsible for all elements of sound.

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Lighting

high lighting: bright even lighting with few shadows

low lighting: dim uneven lighting with many shadows

Grade 8's do not need to know the following:

• back lighting
  
• top lighting
  
• under lighting
  
• side lighting
  

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Read "Create a Video" on pages 228-231 of ResourceLines 7/8.