Intro To Film Final 2013

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above the line expenses

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a films initial costs of contracting the major personnel such as directors and stars as well as administravtive and organizational expenses in setting up a film.

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abstract film

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formal experiments that are also non representational. These films use color, shape, and line to create patterns and rhythms that are abstracted from real actions and objects.

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Academy ratio

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an aspect ratio of screen width to height of 1,37:1, the standard adopted by the Motion Picture Acadmey of Arts and Sciences in 1931 and used by most films until the introduction of widescreen ratios in the 1950s; similar to the standard television ratio of 1,33:1 or 4:3.

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activist video

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a confrontational political documentary using low-cost video equipment.

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actor

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an individual who embodies and performs a film character through gestures and movements.

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actualities

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every non fiction films introduced in the 1890s depicting real people and events through continuous footage; a famous example is Louis and Auguste Lemiere's "Workers leaving the lemiere factory (1985)"

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adaptation

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the process of turning a novel, short story, play, or other artistic work into a film.

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Agents

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individuals who represent actors, directors, writers, and other major personnel employed by a film production by contacting and negotiating with writers, casting directors, and producers.

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alternative film narrative

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film narratives that deviate from or challenge the linearity of classical film narrative, often undermining the centrality of the main character, the continuity of the plot, or the verisimilitude of the narration.

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analytical editing

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continuity editing that establishes spatial and temporal clarity by breaking down a scene, often using progressively tighter framings that maintain consistent spatial relations.

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analytical essay

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the most common kind of writing done by film students and scholars, distinguished by its intended audience and the level of its critical language.

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anamorphic lens

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a camera lens that compresses the horizontal axis of an image or a projector lens that "un-squeezes" such an image to produce a widescreen image.

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ancillary market

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a venue other than theatrical release in which a film can make money, such as foreign sales, airlines, pay television, cable, or home video

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animated musical

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a subgenre of the musical that uses cartoon figures and stories to present songs and music

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animation

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a process that traditionally refers to moving images drawn or painted on individual cels or to manipulated three-dimensional objects, which are then photographed onto single frames of film. Animation now encompasses digital imaging techniques.

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antagonists

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characters who oppose the protagonists as negative forces.

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a picture

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a feature film with a considerable budget and prestigious source material or stars or other personnel that has been historically promoted as a main attraction receiving top billing in a double feature; see B picture.

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apparatus theory

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a critical school that explores the cinema as an ideological phenomenon based on a physical set of technologies, including the camera and the arrangement and projector and screen, that reinforces the values of individualism and the transcendence of the material basis of the cinematic illusion.

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apparent motion

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the psychological process that explains out perception of movement when watching films, in which the brain is actively responding the the visual stimuli of a rapid sequence of still images exactly as it would in actual motion perception.

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archetype

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an original model or type, such as Satan as an archetype of evil.

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art director

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the individual responsible for supervising the conception and construction of the physical environment in which the actors appear, including sets, locations, props, and costumes

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art film

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a type of film produced for aesthetic rather than primarily for commerical or entertainment purposes, whose intellectual or formal challenges are often attributed to the vision of an auteur.

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aspect ratio

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the width-to-height ratio of the film frame as it appears on a movie screen or television monitor.

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asynchronous sound

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sound that does not have a visible onscreen source; also referred to as off screen sound.

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auteur

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the french term for "author"; the individual credited with the creative vision defining a film; implies a director whose unique style is apparent across his or her body of work

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auteur theory

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an approach to cinema first proposed in the french film journal "Cahiers du cinema" that emphasized the role of the director as the expressive fore behind a film and saw a director's body of work as united by common themes or formal strategies; also referred to as auteurism

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automated dialogue replacement (ADR)

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a process during which actors watch the film footage and re-record their lines to be dubbed into the soundtrack; also known as looping.

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avant-garde cinema

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aesthetically challenging, non-commerical films that self-consciously reflect on how human senses and consciousness work or explore and experiment with film forms and techniques. Avant-garde cinema thrived in Europe in the 1920s and in the United States after World War II.

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axis of action

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an imaginary line bisecting a scene corresponding to the 180-degree rule in continuity editing.

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backlighting

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a highlighting technique that illuminates the person or object from behind, tending to silhouette the subject; sometimes called edge-lighting.

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below-the-line expenses

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the technical and material costs-- costumes, sets, transportation, and so on--- involved in the actual making of a film.

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blaxploitation

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a genre of low-budget films made in the early 1970s targeting urban, African American audiences with films about streetwise African American protagonists. Several black directors made a creative mark in a genre that was primarily intended to make money for its producers.

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block booking

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a practice in which move theaters had to exhibit whatever a studio/distributor packaged with its more popular and desirable movies; declared an unfair business practice in 1948.

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block buster

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a big-budget film, intended for wide release, whose large investment in stars, special effects, and advertising attracts large audiences and economic profits.

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B picture

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a low-budget, non-prestigious movie that usually played on the bottom half of a double bill. B pictures were often produced by the smaller studios referred to as Hollywood's Poverty Row.

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cels

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a transparent sheet of celluloid on which individual images are drawn or painted in traditional animation. These drawings are then photographed onto single frames of film.

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character analysis

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a formal topic, concentrating its argument on a single character or on the interactions between more than one character.

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character coherence

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a quality created withing a fiction of characters displaying behavior, emotions, and thoughts that appear consistent and coherent.

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character depth

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a quality created within a fiction of characters displaying psychological and social features that distinguish them as rounded and complex in a way that approximates realistic human personalities.

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character development

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the patterns through which characters in a particular film move from one mental, physical, or social state to another.

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characters

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individuals who motivate the events and perform the actions of the story.

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character types

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conventional characters typically portrayed by actors cast because of their physical features, their acting style, or the history of other roles they have played.

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chronology

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the order according to which shots or scenes convey between the temporal sequence of the story's events.

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cinema verite

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a french term literally meaning "cinema truth", a style of documentary film-making first practiced in the late 1950s and early 1960s that used unobtrusive, light-weight cameras and sound equipment to capture a real-life situation; the parallel U.S. movement is called direct cinema.

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cinephilia

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a love of cinema

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clapboard

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a device marked with the scene and take number that is filmed at the beginning of each take; the sound of its being snapped is recorded in order to synchronize sound recordings and camera images.

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classical film narrative

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a style of narrative film-making centered on one or more central characters who propel the plot with a cause-and-effect logic wherein an action generates a reaction. Normally plots are developed with linear chronologies directed at definite goals, and the films employs an omniscient or a restricted third-person narration that suggests some degree of verisimilitude.

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classical film theory

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writings on the fundamental questions of cinema produced in roughly the first half of the twentieth century. Important classical film theorists include Sergei Eisenstein, Rudolf Arnheim, Andre Bazin, and Siegfriend Kracauer.

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classical Hollywood narrative

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the dominant form of classical film narrative associated with the hollywood studio system from the end of the 1910s to the end of the 1950s.

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claymation

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a process that uses stop-motion photography with clay figures to create the illusion of movement.

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click track

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holes punched in the film corresponding to the beat of a metronome that can help actors, musicians, and the composer to keep the rhythm of the action.

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close-up

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framing that shows details of a person or an object, such as a character's face.

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code

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a term used in linguistics and semiotics meaning a system of signs from which a message is generated. In a communication act, a code must be shared by the sender and the receiver for the message to be understood. For example, traffic signals use a color code. Film analysts isolate the codes of camera movement, framing, lighting, acting, etc. that determine the specific form of a particular shot, scene, film, or genre.

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color balance

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putting emphasis on a particular part of the color spectrum to create realistic or unrealistic palettes.

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color filter

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a device fitted to the camera lens to change the tones of the filmed image.

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comedy

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a film genre that celebrates the harmony and resiliency of social life, typically with a narrative that ends happily, and often emphasizes episodes or "gags" over plot continuity

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comparative analysis

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an analysis evaluating features or elements of two or more different films, or perhaps a film and its literary source

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compilation films

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films compromised of various segments by different film-makers; anthology films

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computer-generated imagery (CGI)

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still or animated images created through digital computer technology. First introduced in the 1970s, CGI was used to create feature-length films by the mid-1990s and is widely used for visual effects.

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continuity script

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a screenplay that presents in detail the action, scenes, dialogue, transitions, and often camera setups in the order planned for the final film.

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counterpoint

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using sound image to indicate a different meaning or association than the image

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credits

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a list at the end of a film of all the personnel involved in a film production, including cast, crew, and executives.

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crime film

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a film genre that typically features characters who live on the edge of a mysterious or violent society; plots that involve criminal acts and increasing mystery, with often ambiguous resolutions; and urban settings.

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critical objectivity

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writing with a detached response that offers judgements based on facts and evidence with which others would, or could agree

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crossover

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an independent film that gains success with a broader audience.

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cue

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a visual or aural signal that indicated the beginning of an action, line of dialogue, or piece of music.

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cultural analysis

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a formal topic that investigates the relationship of a film to its place of history, society, or culture

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cultural studies

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a set of approaches drawn from the humanities and social sciences that considers cultural text and phenomena in conjunction with processes of production and consumption

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cut

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in the editing process, the join of splice between two pieces of film; in the finished film, an editing transition b/w two separate shots or scenes achieved without optimal effects. Also used to describe a version of the edited film, as in a rough cut final cut, or directors cut.

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cutaway

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a shot that interrupts a continuous action, "cutting away" to another image or action, often to abridge time

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deadline structure

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a narrative structure that accelerates the action and plot toward a central event or action that must be accomplished by a certain time.

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dialectical montage

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a concept developed in the theories and films of Soviet silent film director Sergei Eisenstein that refers to the cutting together of conflicting or unrelated images to generate an idea or emotion in the viewer

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diegetic sound

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sound that has its source in the narrative world of the film, whose characters are presumed to be able to hear it

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direct cinema

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a documentary style originating in the U.S. in the 1960s that aims to observe an unfolding situation as unobtrusively as possible; related to cinema verite.

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dissolve

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an optimal effect that bruefkt superimposes one shot over the next. One image fades out as another image fades in and takes its place; sometimes called a lap dissolve because two images overlap in the printing process.

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distanciation

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derived from the work and theories of Bertolt Brecht, an artistic practice intended to create an intellectual distance b/w the viewer and the performance or artwork in order to reflect on the the work's production or various ideas and issues raised by it.

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distribution

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the means through which movies are delivered to theaters, video stores, television and internet networks, and other venues that make them available to consumers or to educational and cultural institutions. The entity that performs this function is a distributor.

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documentary

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a nonfiction film that presents real objects, people, and events

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dolly shot

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a shot in which the camera is moved on a wheeled dolly that follows a determined course.

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duration

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denotes the temporal relation of shots and scenes to the amount of time that passes in the story.

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ellipsis

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an abridgment in time in the narrative implied by editing

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epic western

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a subgenre of the western that concentrates on action and movement, with a hero whose quests and battlers serve to define the nation and its origins. This genre has its roots in literature and epic paintings, and appears early and often in film history.

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establishing shot

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generally, an initial long shot that establishes the location and setting and that orients the viewer in space to a clear view of the action

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ethnographic film

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documentary films that record the practices, rituals, and people of a culture.

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evidence

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concrete details that convince readers of the validity of a writer's interpretation

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exclusive release

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a movie that premieres in restricted locations initially.

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executive producer

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a producer who finances or facilitates a film deal and who usually has little creative or technical involvement.

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exhibition

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the part of the film industry that shows films to a paying public, usually in movie theaters.

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existential western

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a more introspective subgenre of the western that features a hero plagued with self-doubt and troubled by his changing social status. These films tend to feature a more populated and civilized frontier.

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expanded cinema

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a term coined in 1970 by Gene Youngblood that describes how video and computer technology can allow moving-image media to extend consciousness; also designates a number of installation or performance-based experimental film practices

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experimental films

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films that explore film form and subject matters in new and unconventional ways, ranging from abstract image and sound patterns to dreamlike worlds.

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exploitation film

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a cheaply made genre film that exploits a sensational or topical subject for profit

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extras

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actors without speaking parts who appear in the background in crowd scenes

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extratextual

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characterizes aspects of the film experience available to the scholar that exist outside of the film itself, including production, distribution, exhibition, and reception

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family melodrama

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a subgenre of the melodrama that focuses on the psychological and gendered forces restricting individuals within the family.

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fanfic (fan fiction)

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fan-written stories that continue or reimagine the plor and characters of a film

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fast motion

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a cinematic special effect that makes the action move at unrealistic speeds, achieved by filming the action faster than normal and then projecting it at standard speeds

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feature film

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running 90 to 120 min in length, a narrative film that is the primary attraction for audiences

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film gauge

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the width of the film stock

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film noir

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term introduced my french critics "black film" to describe Hollywood films of the 1940s set in the criminal underworld which were considerably darker in mood and mise-en-scene than those that had come before. (black and white, nighttime, urban setting)

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film review

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a short essay that describes the plot of a movie, provides useful background info and pronounces a clear evaluation of the film to guide its readers.

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film speed

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the rate at which moving images are recorded and later projected.

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film stock

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unexposed film consisting of a flexible backing o bse and light-sensitive emulsion

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foley artist

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a member of the sound crew who generates live synchronized sound effects such as footsteps, key turning in lock etc.

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following shots

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a pan, tilt, or tracking shot that follows a moving individual or object.

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formalist

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a scholar who believes a work's form or structure is primary, and posits that objective meaning is to be found in the work itself and not in an outside source, such as the author's biography

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french impressionist cinema

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the first of a series of radical experiments with film form b/w 1920 and 1939. This movement aimed to destabilize familiar or objective ways of seeing, and to revitalize the dynamics of human perception.

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french new wave

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a film movement that came to prominence in the late 1950s and 1960s in France in opposition to the conventional studio system; designates films by a group of young writer-directors involved as critics with the journal of young writer-directors involved as critics. Films were often made w/ low budget and young actors, shot on location, used conventional sound and editing patterns, and addressed the struggle for personal expression

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gangster films

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films about the criminal underworld typically set in the U.S. during prohibition in the 1930s

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genre

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a category or classification of a group of movies in which the individual films share similar subject matter and similar ways of organizing the subject through narrative and stylistic patterns

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German expressionist cinema

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film movement drawing on painting and theatrical developments that emerged in Germany b/w 1918 and 1929; expressionism depicted the dark fringes of human experience through the use of dramatic lighting and set and costume design to represent irrational forces.

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hard-boiled detective film

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a subgenre of the crime film featuring a flawed or morally ambiguous detective protagonist battling a criminal element to solve a mystery or resolve a crime

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heimat films

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set in idyllic countryside locales of Germany and Austria, these films depict a world of traditional folk values in which love and family triumph over virtually any social evil

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high concept

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a short phrase that attempts to sell a movie by identifying its main marketing features, such as its stars, genre, or some other easily identifiable connection

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historiography

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the writing of history; the study of the methods and principles through which the past becomes organized according to certain perspectives and priorities.

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Hong Kong New Wave

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a movement in Chinese cinema led by producer-director Tsui Hark, which introduced sophisticated style, lucrative production methods, and a canny use of western elements to the genre

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horror film

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a film genre with origins in gothic literature that seeks to frighten the viewer though supernatural or predator characters; narratives built on suspense, dread, and surprise; and visual compositions that anticipate and manipulate shocking sights

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hybrid genres

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mixed forms produced by the interaction of different genres, such as musical horror films

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iconography

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images or image patterns with specific connotations or meanings

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ideology

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a systematic set of beliefs not necessarily conscious or acknowledged.

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independent films

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films that are produced w/o initial studio financing, typically with much lower budgets; they include feature-length narratives, documentaries, and shorts

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insert

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a brief shot, often a close-up, filmed separately from a scene and inserted during editing that points out details significant to the action

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machinima

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a new media form that modifies video-game engines to create computer animation

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melodrama

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theatrical, literary, and cinematic narrative mose often centered on individualism crises withing the confines of family or other social institutions, frequently characterized by clearly identifiable moral types, coincides and reversals of fortune, and the use of music to underscore the action

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modernism

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an artistic movement in painting, music, design, architecture, and literature of the 1920s that rendered a fragmented vision of human subjectivity through strategies such as the foregrounding of style, experiments with space and time, and open-ended narratives

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montage

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french word for "editing". style that emphasizes the breaks and contrasts between images joined by a cut.

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narrative analysis

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formal topic that concentrates on the story and its construction

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surrealist cinema

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one of the most influential of the avant-garde movements, surrealists films confronted middle-class assumptions about normality using the powers of film to manipulate time, space, and material objects according to a dreamlike logic