Ross Basic Film Glossary

Front 1

Subjective Shot

Back 1

showing the point of view of a character

Front 2

Medium Shot

Back 2

taken at mid-range point from the subject. Shot of person from waist up

Front 3

Mise-en-scene

Back 3

everything within a single shot

Front 4

Non-Diegetic Sound

Back 4

sounds you don't really hear normally (background music)

Front 5

Magic Hour

Back 5

first and last hours of sunlight of the day

Front 6

Fade

Back 6

transition, image on the screen goes gradually black

Front 7

Form Cut

Back 7

cut from one scene to the next on the basis of similar geometrical, textural, or other compositional values

Front 8

Panning Shot

Back 8

camera remains in place but rotates horizontally. Background is constantly re-framed

Front 9

Establishing Shot

Back 9

showing location of a scene or the arrangement of its characters (often extreme long shot)

Front 10

Depth of Field

Back 10

distance between the nearest and furthest points at which the screen image is in reasonably sharp focus

Front 11

Deep Focus

Back 11

objects in immediate foreground and a great distance appear in equally sharp focus at the same time

Front 12

Cross-Cutting

Back 12

alternation of shots or locations inviting us to find a relationship between two or more events (clare bored in 2nd grade, clare bored now)

Front 13

Cut

Back 13

transition made by editing two pieces together, to edit a film by selecting shots and splicing them together

Front 14

Low Angle Shot

Back 14

the camera is looking up at the subject

Front 15

High Angle

Back 15

camera is looking down on subject (makes subject look vulnerable)

Front 16

Accelerated Motion

Back 16

fast motion; when a shot is represented as taking place at a greater speed

Front 17

Arcing Shot

Back 17

moving the camera in an arc around the subject (revelation)

Front 18

Back Lighting

Back 18

source of light is behind the subject (Jesus shot)

Front 19

Bird's Eye Shot

Back 19

looks vertically down on the subject (from above)

Front 20

Camera Angle

Back 20

angle of view of subject based on the position of the camera

Front 21

Low Angle

Back 21

camera looks up at the subject (makes subject look grand, authority)

Front 22

Cinema Vérité

Back 22

filming without elaborate equipment (Blair Witch style)

Front 23

Close Up Shot

Back 23

fills up frame with a small detail or a face by uding long focal lens

Front 24

Continuity Editing

Back 24

style of editing marked by its emphasis on maintaining a continuous and uninterrupted flow of action (smooth)

Front 25

Crane Shot

Back 25

a moving shot taken by camera on a specially constructed crane (going up and down, wedding shot)

Front 26

Decelerated Motion

Back 26

movement in a shot is represented as taking place at a slower speed than in reality (slow motion)

Front 27

Dissolve

Back 27

editing technique: gradual merging of the end of one shot into the beginning of the next produces by the super-imposition of a fade-out onto a fade-in

Front 28

Dolly Shot

Back 28

shot taken while camera is moving (camera is attached to something with wheels)

Front 29

Dutch Tilt

Back 29

a crazily tilted image in which the subject appears on a diagonal or off-balance (to show drunkness, etc.)

Front 30

Edit

Back 30

splicing together of separate shots

Front 31

Extreme Long Shot

Back 31

to show extreme distance from camera to subject (shot of lester's street)

Front 32

Eye-level Shot

Back 32

shot taken at height of normal vision

Front 33

Flashback

Back 33

shot or sequence that takes action of the story into the past (to show history)

Front 34

Flash-Forward

Back 34

shot or sequence which takes the action of the story into the future

Front 35

Frame

Back 35

noun: one single picture on a piece of motion picture film
noun: boundaries of screen image
verb: to compose shot so as to include, exclude, or emphasize certain elements

Front 36

Freeze-Frame

Back 36

Optical effect in which action appears to come to a dead stop by printing a single frame of motion picture over and over again

Front 37

Hand-Held Shot

Back 37

shot made with the camera not mounted on a tripod or other fixture (held in your hand)

Front 38

Jump Cut

Back 38

cut that jumps forward within a single action thus creating a sense of discontinuity (erratic body builder)

Front 39

Lighting

Back 39

can come from all directions

Front 40

Long Shot

Back 40

shot taken with camera at a distance from its subject

Front 41

Mask Shot

Back 41

a portion of the image is blocked off by means of a matte over the lens, thus altering the shape of the frame

Front 42

Montage

Back 42

rapid succession of shots assembled to convey a general visual effect

Front 43

M.O.S.

Back 43

"Mit Out Sound" recording with sound that will be added later (used to be written on clipboard)

Front 44

Parallel Action

Back 44

device of narrative construction in which the development of two pieces are presented alternatively do as to suggest they are happening at the same time

Front 45

Reaction Shot

Back 45

a shot of a person reacting to the main action as a listener or spectator

Front 46

Reverse Angle Shot

Back 46

shot taken by placing camera opposite where the previous shot was taken (one way then the other, coming in and then out)

Front 47

Score

Back 47

music composed for a film

Front 48

Set

Back 48

an artificially constructed environment in which action is photographed

Front 49

Shot-Reverse Shot

Back 49

a series of shots using reverse angles (dialogue, back and forth)

Front 50

Soft Focus

Back 50

all objects appear soft because none are perfectly in focus (people are blurry)

Front 51

Diegetic Sound

Back 51

sounds you expect to hear (a slap)

Front 52

Split Screen

Back 52

division of the projected film frame into two or more sections (mean girls phone convos)

Front 53

Stock Shot

Back 53

taken from a library of film footage, usually of famous people, places or events (recycling film)

Front 54

Superimposition

Back 54

a shot in which one or more images are printed on top of one another (HP spoofs, putting something-one in film who was not originally there)

Front 55

Swish Pan

Back 55

the camera pans so rapidly that the image blurs

Front 56

Tilt Shot

Back 56

the camera remains in place but rotates vertically on its axis so subject is continually reframed

Front 57

Tracking Shot

Back 57

camera moves parallel to its moving object (stalking shot)

Front 58

Traveling Shot

Back 58

shot taken from a moving object, such as car or boat

Front 59

Wide-Angle Shot

Back 59

a camera lens of shorter than normal focal length is employed so that the depth of the projected image seems protracted

Front 60

Wipe

Back 60

transition in which a line travels across the screen removing the first shot to reveal the second

Front 61

Zoom

Back 61

the simulation of camera movement toward or away from the subject by means of variable focal length