David W. Robinson

Georgia Southern University

28 March 2007

Basic film terms and concepts

shot: continuous, unedited piece of film of any length. The type of shot frames the action.

long shot: Overall view from a distance of whole scene often used as an establishing shot to set the scene. Person - will show whole body.

medium or mid shot: Middle distance shot - can give background information while still focusing on subject. Person - usually shows waist to head.
close up: Focuses on detail / expression / reaction. Person - shows either head or head and shoulders.
tracking shot: single continuous shot made with a camera moving along the ground
reverse shot: shot taken at a 180 degree angle from the preceding shot (reverse-shot editing is commonly used during dialogue, angle is often 120 to 160 degrees)
subjective shot (P.O.V. shot): Framed from a particular character's point of view. Audience sees what character sees.

scene: a series of shots that together form a complete episode or unit of the narrative

montage: The editing together of a large number of shots with no intention of creating a continuous reality. A montage is often used to compress time, and montage shots are linked through a unified sound - either a voiceover or a piece of music.

parallel action: narrative strategy that crosscuts between two or more separate actions to create the illusion that they are occurring simultaneously
editing: the way shots are put together

cut: The ending of a shot. If the cut seems inconsistent with the next shot, it is called a jump cut. To cut back and forth between two different subjects is called crosscutting.
fade in or out: The image appears or disappears gradually. Often used as a division between scenes.
dissolve: One image fades in while another fades out so that for a few seconds, the two are superimposed.
flashback, flash-forward: jumps in time, a technique borrowed from the epic/novel. Often accompanied by dissolves and fades, and by a voice-over (see in sound below).

low angle camera: shoots up at subject. Used to increase size, power, status of subject
eye-level camera: a more neutral angle typically used in dialog.

high angle camera: shoots down at subject. Used to increase vulnerability, powerlessness, decrease size

focus
- soft focus: slightly out of focus, often used in romantic scenes, especially in close-ups.
- sharp focus: used for realistic treatments.
- deep focus: objects in the background and in the forground are both in focus, showing context.
lighting
- low-key lighting: generally dim but with patches of brightness, suggesting mystery or tension.
- high-key lighting: generally no shadows or strong contrasts, implying lack of threat or tension.
- neutral lighting
- bottom/side lighting: scary movie lighting with stark shadows and high-lights.
- front lighting: lighting straight into a character's face, creating an effect of innocence or openness.
sound
- soundtrack: Consists of dialogue, sound effects and music. Should reveal something about the scene that visual images don't.

sound effects: all sounds that are neither dialogue nor music
voice-over: spoken words laid over the other tracks in sound mix to comment upon the narrative or to narrate
diagetic sound: sound that a character might logically be hearing.
non-diagetic sound: sound that only the viewer is hearing, not the character.
internal diagetic sound: thoughts of a character, which are real to one character but not to others.

Basic film analysis categories

Literary Aspects

Dramatic Aspects

Cinematic Aspects

History

Narrative

Characters

Setting

Theme

Signs

Genre

Acting

Costumes

Make-up

Camera angles

Sound

Lighting

Editing

Film history

Social & political history

Sources

John Golden. Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English Classroom. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2001.