Film Techniques

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Film Noir

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a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace. The term was originally applied (by a group of French critics) to American thriller or detective films made in the period 1944–54 and to the work of directors such as Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, and Billy Wilder.

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Chiaroscuro lighting

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an Italian artistic term used to describe the dramatic effect of contrasting areas of light and dark

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Crepuscular lighting

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of, relating to, or resembling twilight; dim; indistinct.

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Camera angles

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The position of the camera in relation to the subject being shown. The angle from which the camera takes the shot has an important effect on what the viewers see and on the effect of the shot. The camera angle, or where the camera is placed, is important as it indicates point of view, ie from whose perspective we are seeing the action, such as the character, audience or director. The five basic angles are overhead, high angle, eye level, low angle and undershot.

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Camera movement

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the way things appear changes, so different meanings are thus created; thus camera movement is important in defining and creating meaning in shots. The main camera movements are zooming, tracking, panning and tilting.

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Camera speed

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The speed can be used to create special effects and enhance meaning, such as slow or fast motion, and the use of freeze-frames (a still image created by stopping the film in the middle of the action).

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Cinematography

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The control and design of the camera work: the operation of the camera and the control of the shot and characters.

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Close-up

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A film shot when only a part of an object or person is seen on screen; usually a head or head and shoulders only shot.

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Composition

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the control of all the elements in a single frame of film; the arrangements and relationship of the visual elements within a frame.

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Crosscutting

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An editing technique that alternates between two different actions or scenes.

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Cut

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allows the use of different types of shots without disrupting the action. Used as transitions, rather than the use of dissolves, fades and wipes, can affect the pacer of the film.

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Cutaway

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a shot that does not focus on some detail of the shot before or after it but cuts away from the action at hand. It is the interruption of a continuously-filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually followed by a cutback to the first shot.

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Dissolve

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A gradual transition, or overlap, in which one scene fades out as the other fades in. Both the end of the outgoing shot and the beginning of the incoming shot are briefly seen on the screen simultaneously. In traditional filmmaking the dissolve came to be the accepted technique for indicating substantial geographic leaps, passage of time, a flashback or a dream, or to show what the character is thinking. Dissolves are used to suggest a special relationship between the scenes that dissolve into one another; a relationship closer than one that would be suggested by a fade or cut.

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Editing

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The process of joining shots and sequences of film, and using special effects and transitions to create a single continuous film. It is the arrangement of time, parallel movements and cuts to scenes, transitions of shots. Common transitional devices are fade, dissolve, washout and wipe.

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Establishing shot

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In popular or ‘dominant’ cinema, the opening sequence is traditionally regarded as an ‘establishing’ shot: a long, wide angle view of an area or open space is given before the camera goes in closer to establish/identify the more specific location of a film story or scene. Later in the film establishing shots may be used to establish the settings for the action to come.

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Eye level shot

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This shot occurs when the camera is level with the object or figure and suggests reality.

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Fade

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A transition device for moving from one scene or sequence to another in a film. Suggests a passage of time, or a journey, or a new location.

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Frame

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the borders of the image within which the subject is composed.

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Freeze-frame

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A still image created by stopping the film in the middle of the action so that it appears like a photographic still.

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High angle shot

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This shot is taken when the camera is above and looking down on the scene or object but not directly overhead. The main effect is to make the object or character look small and lacking in power.

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Insert shot

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A close-up of some detail in the scene; a shot of part of a scene as filmed from a different angle and/or focal point from the main shot. Inserts cover action already covered in the main shot, but emphasises a different aspect of that action due to the different framing. For example a shot of a gunfighter in a street, an insert of his fingers on the trigger of his gun, an insert of the town hall clock ticking and a return shot of the gunfighter’s face.

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Intercut (intercutting)

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A term frequently used interchangeably with ‘parallel development’, an editing concept derived from the film’s ability to move back and forth among narrative elements occurring at the same time. Sometimes referred to as ‘crosscutting’.

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Lighting

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the quality of illumination and the intensity of the lighting in the frame. Usually high-key lighting is used to highlight the central subject. High-key lighting has bright, intense illumination. Low-key lighting has the opposite quality. It is more diffuse and shadowy. There is less general illumination in the shot, heavier shadows and a more atmospheric quality. Other effects can be created through use of back lighting where the light source is placed behind the subject to create a darkened effect on the subject, fill lighting where the lights are used to create or remove shadows, spot or pencil lighting which focuses on the subject or side lighting where only half the character’s face or object is lit and the other half is in shadow.

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Long shot

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A film shot which includes the whole human figure and part of the surrounding environment.

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Low angle shot

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This shot is taken when the camera is below or looking up at the object or character; suggesting power or dominance. It can also be used for caricature.

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Medium shot

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a film shot which includes half the body and a small part of the background.

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Mise-en-scene

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This term encompasses the overall design of the film and this can help the viewer identify a film’s genre and context. It refers to all that appears in a frame, every visible element in the frame, how these elements are related to each other and how you see these elements. i.e. what appears before the camera including performers, setting, lighting and décor. It also includes camera movement and action. The term means “placed in the scene” or “put in the scene” and refers to what is put into the frame, the modification of space.

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Montage

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a French word meaning ‘mounting’ used generally to describe the assemblage of a film through editing or the changing of one image to another. More specifically it is a number of shots edited quickly together in order to form a brief impression of a character, time or place. The term is used to describe a particular method of editing in which images, objects and figures are linked or overlaid in a variety of creative or unexpected ways in order to generate certain effects or ideas. Such a montage sequence in a film summarises a topic or compresses a passage of time into brief symbolic or typical images. Frequently dissolves, fades, superimpositions and wipes are used to link the images.

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Overhead angle shot

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This shot is achieved when the camera is directly above the object or scene; shot is taken with the camera facing down. A number of effects can be created: objects or characters looking small, vulnerable, moving scenes look mechanical/predictable; city looks like a maze or ants’ nest and character can appear lost; can follow character or object at different speed/pace

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Pan

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a shot in which the camera moves horizontally across the frame following the action from one side of the screen to the other; the camera moves from side to side on its tripod. This movement gives a sense of a wider perspective or shot, the sense of our eyes ‘panning’ across a large scene (hence ‘panorama’).

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Point of view

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In film, the position from which an action or subject is seen. This relates to where the camera is placed to capture the shot.

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Sound bridges

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A the scene begins with the carry-over sound from the previous scene before the new sound begins

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Reverse Shot

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A shot from the other side of the previous shot such as cutting between two characters talking, a person exiting and entering though a doorway, a reaction shot or a P.O.V. shot.

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Scene

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a space within which a narrative action takes place; it is composed of one or more shots.

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Screenplay

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The literary description of film that may be a description of characters, dialogue and actions or may contain exact shots and scenes.

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Semiotics

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The study of signs and symbols and their use, especially in language.

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Sequencing

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A series of scenes or shots unified by a shared action or motif: the putting together of a series of shots to form a continuous scene or piece of action. A series of shots can create a particular sequence of the narrative in film. The sequence, or order and presentation of shots, can be used for added effect for meaning, especially the use of flashback, dream sequences, time variations as well as juxtaposition of shots.

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Set

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The place or location used for a specific scene or shot in a film.

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SFX

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a term used to describe a range of technological additions to the film to manipulate or alter what has been filmed.

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Shot

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A continuously exposed and unedited image of any length. The shot is all that is recorded on film from the point at which the camera begins (“action”) until it stops rolling (“cut”). The choice of lens fitted to the camera determines the shot size or the amount of the scene which is included in the frame. A shot can be filmed from a variety of camera angles, and single frames can be selected and sequenced to create the most meaning. ‘Shot’ and ‘scene’ are often used interchangeably.

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Shot reverse shot

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consists of a sequence of three shots. The first shot is a person's face. The second shot is a reverse shot that shows what that person is looking at (whether it be another person or an object). And the final shot is the person again. This is commonly used for dialogue between two characters when the camera appears to switch back and forth between each speaker giving the audience a view of each of them and their reactions.

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Soundtrack

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The soundtrack is basically what we hear in the film. This is an element that cannot be neglected when studying film as it is an audio-visual medium. Sound effects are commonly used to set a scene or support a visual image. The following audio elements are part of the soundtrack of a film: dialogue, silence/no dialogue or sounds, voices – volume, pitch, pace, sound cues – how sound can take you over the cut into the next scene (drags shot into the next), sound effects, music, diegetic or synchronous sound (what we can hear that characters can also; sound whose source is identified by the film image), non-diegetic or asynchronous sound (sound the characters cannot hear/put in for the audience only; sound that does not have its source in the film image).

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Storyboard

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A series of framed sketches which are used to outline a sequence. A tool used in planning film production, consisting of comic-strip-like drawings of individual shots or sequences, with descriptions written for each drawing or frame.

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Tilting

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The camera moves up or down to follow moving objects to reveal a scene or object which is too big to fit in one frame.

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Tracking

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The camera moves forward or backward through space, or parallel to the action. This is often done by placing the camera on tracks (“dolly tracks”). The camera seems to flow with the action, has similar movement, or gets ahead or behind the action.

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Undershot

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This shot is taken when the camera is directly beneath the object or figure; suggesting extreme power or danger (eg undershot of stampeding cattle, undershot of a train etc)

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Voice-over

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The voice of someone not seen in the narrative image who describes or comments on that image. Alternatively, a character may appear on the screen but the voice-over gives us their commentary or thoughts on the action, or is used to relate what they may be reading or writing.

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Washout

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An optical transition similar to the fade; but unlike the fade-in, which the image fades to black, in a washout the image suddenly starts to bleach out or to colour, until the screen becomes a frame of white or coloured light. A new scene then follows.

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Wipe

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A transitional device that occurs when one shot moves across the screen from left to right or from right to left and appears to wipe away the preceding shot; usually used to effect a change of scene without a slowing of dramatic pace. A wipe that is achieved by using objects or characters to wipe out a shot or scene is known as a natural wipe.

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Zooming

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The movement of the image according to focal adjustments of the lens; as if the camera is moving towards or away from a particular object but without the camera actually being moved. The camera lens may zoom in or zoom back to adjust the size of the object or image being seen: it is a means of making objects appear closer or further away. A zoom can sometimes be used for similar effect to a tracking shot.

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Verisimilitude

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the appearance or semblance of truth or reality; quality of

seeming true

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Allusion

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An indirect reference to some

piece of knowledge not actually

mentioned.

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Deep focus

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the focusing of a filmed scene so as to make near and distant

objects equally clear.

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Pastiche

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a work of art that mixes styles, materials, etc

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Textual Integrity

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The unity of a text; itscoherent use of form and language to produce an integrated whole in terms ofmeaning and value.