Film Jargon

• Mise-en-scène - the arrangement or composition of visual elements within a frame
• Leit Motif - theme song playing through movie (tied to a character)
• Long shot (LS) - A wide angle shot that shows the entire scene from far away.
• Low Angle Shot - An extreme low angle shot is when the camera is positioned very close to the ground, looking up at the subject.
• Extreme Close up (ECU)
• Medium Close Up (MCU) - The medium close-up shot is taken from about waist level, showing the upper body and head of the actor.
• Close Up (CU) - This type of shot focuses on an object or person's face, usually from the chest area upward.
• Medium Long Shot (MLS) - half of the body
• Extreme Close Up (ECU) - Extremely close shots are used to focus on small details such as eyes, lips, hands etc.
• Close Up (CU) - This type of shot focuses on an individual's face, usually from their shoulders upward.
• Three Shot - Three people are shown together in one frame.
• Two Shot - Two people are shown together in one frame.
• Motif - symbol/image recurring throughout the film
• Theme - main idea
• Synchronous sound - in sync with the action
• Non-synchronous sound - not part of the action (not in sync with it)
• Montage - collage of scenes put together in a short period of time to create a sense of longer/more time passing
• Director - A person who is in charge of a film or television production; takes care of artistic elements
• Producer - person that makes, grows, or supplies goods for sale; worries about business element
• Editor - person who puts the film together and edits it
• Cinematography - art of filmmaking that involves the use of light and camera angles to create a visual effect; the director of photography, chooses angle, shot, distance
• Story Board - summary of film (can be animated) to get funding for film
• High angle - making a person inferior, belittled, intimidated by having the camera high and looking down
• Eye level angle
• Low angle - making a person superior, intimidating by having the camera low and looking up
• Bottom/worm’s eye view
• Top/bird’s eye view
• Long Shot - shows whole body
• Extreme long shot(ELS)/ establishing shot
• Hard/deep focus (close-up focus) - bring focal point forward; objects in fore-, mid-, and background appear in equal focus at the same time
• Focal point - the place in the scene where watchers are fixated; what the eye is drawn to
• Soft focus - blurry background to put focus on focal point; often for romantic effect; all objects appear blurred
• Characternym - name describes character
• Cut - a transition where one shot/still is instantly followed by another
• Crosscut - one setting to another; the video editing technique of switching back and forth between scenes, often giving the impression that the action ocurring in different places is unfolding at the same moment
• Fade-in-fade-out is a technique used to introduce a new setting; indicate a change in place & time
• Mix/dissolve - When the end of one shot overlaps into the start of another creating a gradual scene transition (making the 2 shots SUPERIMPOSE for a while)
• Pan - camera pinned to the floor & moves horizontally
• Zip pan - fast movement/whipping camera back and forth on x-axis to create disorientation/blurrines
• Tilt - camera remains still on axis and moves vertically up & down