Film+terms+glossary

=Film terms glossary=
 * Voiceover** – a voice talks over the top of a scene to give extra information.
 * Narration** – A narrator tells part of the story as a voiceover, written text, or a character who speaks to the camera.
 * Cross cutting** – The camera cuts back and forth between two different scenes, to show action happening simultaneously.
 * Flashback** – The action cuts back to an earlier point in the film’s timeline.
 * Flashforward** – A brief shot or scene of action that takes place later in the film’s timeline.
 * Montage** – Different shots grouped together, often with a musical background. This provides a quick impression, or condenses a series of events.
 * Circular plot** – The film begins and ends in the same place (flashback or flashforward).
 * Chronological order** – The story relates events in the order that they happened.
 * Motifs** – Objects, shapes etc. that are repeated throughout the film to emphasise an idea.
 * Lighting** – Daytime/night time, but also used to highlight characters or place them in shadow. Related techniques are **chiaroscuro** (Italian for light-dark), a strong contrast between light and dark in a shot; **halation**, the type of lighting that gives a halo effect around a character; **silhouette**, when an object is lit from behind and only an outline is seen.
 * Composition** – How objects are arranged in the frame.
 * Shot** – The section of film that is one continuous take, usually lasting only a few seconds.
 * Scene** – A number of shots that take place in a specific setting; like a chapter in a book.
 * Establishing shot** – A long shot or extreme long shot which contains a lot of landscape. It gives important information about the setting, atmosphere or context in which events will take place.
 * Long shot** – Contains a lot of background, although you can recognise people in the scene.
 * Medium shot** / **Mid shot** – A person is seen from the waist up.
 * Close up** – Focuses on a person’s head and shoulders, or the whole of an object.
 * Point of view shot** – the camera becomes the eyes of one of the characters and we see things from that character’s point of view.
 * Over-the-shoulder shot** – the camera looks over the shoulder of a character, often used to show conversations.
 * Point of view shot** – The camera becomes the eyes of the character, and we see the action from their point of view.
 * Bird’s eye view** – The camera looks down on the action from above.
 * High angle shot** – The camera is looking down on a person or object. This makes the person or object look small, insignificant or helpless.
 * Low angle shot** – The camera is looking up at a person or object. This makes the person or object look large, powerful and dominant.
 * Pan** – The camera moves from side to side.
 * Tilt** – The camera moves upwards or downwards.
 * Tracking** – The camera follows the subject.
 * Zoom** – Camera moves closer or further away from a subject.
 * Cut** – A change from one shot to the next.
 * Fade** – The shot fades to a blank black or white screen.
 * Dissolve** – The frame dissolves into the next shot.
 * Special effects** – Includes computer animation, but also use of miniatures, explosions, blue screens, etc.
 * Costume/makeup** – Ranges from subtle effects to make someone seem innocent, tired, etc. to drastic effects such as monsters.
 * Set design/props** – The place where the action takes place, and any objects that are used to help tell the story.
 * Colours** – Can be as simple as the colours used in the set/props or as sophisticated as using a coloured filter on the camera. Colours often carry symbolic significance.
 * Text** – Can be subtitles, headings, or words within the shot e.g. newspaper headlines, signs, etc.
 * Dialogue** – The words that the characters speak.
 * Sound effects** – Sounds used in a scene, from small things such as dogs barking to big things such as explosions. **Diegetic sounds** are sounds that are part of the story, as opposed to the background music or soundtrack of a film.
 * Music** – Can be diegetic (for example, a character playing a piano) or part of the score/soundtrack. Some characters or situations may have their own musical motif or theme.