Term | Definition |
Film | A form of entertainment that employs a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement to tell a story |
Cinema | An artistic medium that uses the motion picture as a vehicle for story telling and other creative expression. |
Persistence of vision | When the eye and the brain retain an image for a brief moment after the image is gone |
Title cards | Explanatory printed texts on cards inserted into a film. |
Absolute Cinema | Films that are purely artistic expressions of light, color, form, shape and movement, without narrative content or documenting intent. |
Documentary Cinema | Films that attempt to capture actual events in the very moment they occur--events which, in theory, would have occurred even without the presence of the camera |
Narrative Cinema | Films that use the same forms and techniques used by theater and literature to tell a story--exposition, complication, climax, and resolution |
Screenplay | A script with the dialogue, descriptions, and all other elements required to tell the story of a film, television show, or other visual story |
Director | Person in complete charge of making a film |
Cinematography | The art of movie photography, including camera position and lighting, in telling a story |
Panning | Horizontal movement of the camera from a fixed postion |
Tilting | Vertical movement of the camera from a fixed positon |
Master shot | Uninterrupted shot of an entire scene, usually used as a timing and pacing reference during the editing process. |
Snorricam | A steadicam harnessed to the actor's body, pointing directly back at him or her |
Point of View | The position or perspective from which something is viewed or related. |
Continuity Editing | A set of techniques that seek to make the transitions (or cuts) from shot to shot as unobtrusive and continuous as possible. |
Foreshadowing | The deliberate introduction of information (verbally, visually or otherwise) suggesting an event that will take place later in the story. |
Complication | Middle section of a drama where conflicts inherent in the situation are elaborated and developed, and dramatic tension builds until a movement of maximum intensity and interest, called the climax |
Expostion | An opening which introduces the characters and their circumstances, the setting, the mood and the situation, giving the audience information essential for understanding the story |
Denouement | Moment when a drama's action comes to its proper conclusion and a resolution is near |
Fade | Film editing technique where there is a gradual transition from image to darkness, or the reversal |
Low-angle shot | A shot where the camera is placed below the subject, pointing upward toward it, converting an impression of awe and power |
High-angel shot | A shot where the camera is placed above the subject, pointing down at it, conveying an impression of awe and power. |
Cross cut | Film editing technique that switches between two different sequences , suggesting that the sequences are happening simultaneously, or that the events are thematically related. |
Jump cut | film editing technique where there is an immediate transition from one moment in a shot to a later moment in the same shot, causing an abrupt shift in the subject's position |
Dissolve | film editing technique where there is a gradual transition from one image to another, usually signifying the passage of time |