Filmic Terminology
Knowing the terminology that is specific to film studies will help students analyze film and name the sound, lighting, and scene shooting choices that directors make.
Continuity Editing Terminology
- 30° Rule: If the editor cuts back to the same character or object, the second shot must be 30 degrees away from the previous shot. Example: Review the shot/reverse shot example linked above and notice the degree that the camera uses between the two characters.
- 180° Rule: Two characters in a scene should always have the same left/right relationship with each other. The camera should never cross the 180-degree line between two characters. Example: https://restream.io/blog/180-degree-rule/ (new tab)
- Crosscutting: When the camera cuts to separate actions that occur at the same time while in different places. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmptU7vEkNU (new tab)
- Establishing Shot: A wide shot that sets up the area where the scene is about to take place. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxZZb95Tk0s (new tab)
- Eyeline Match: When the eyeline of a character establishes the direction of the next shot.
- Match on Action: When a film cuts on action to a closer shot to emphasize the action
- Shot/Reverse Shot: A shot most commonly used during dialogue that shows (in the first shot) one character looking at the other and (in the second shot) the other looking back at the one character. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM6exo00T5I (new tab) (in the shots where one actor only is seen and then the other in the next shot).
Common Shot Terminology
- Big close-up: A shot that captures the entirety of the subject’s face, but not their whole head.
- Close-up: A shot that only captures the subject’s entire head.
- Extreme close-up: A shot that is so close that it only captures the eyes, nose, and mouth of the subject.
- High-angle shot: This shot captures the subject from above.
- Interview shot: This shot captures one subject talking into the empty space of the shot, with the subject they are talking to being outside of the frame.
- Long shot: A shot that captures the entirety of the subject’s body.
- Low-angle shot: A shot that captures the subject from below.
- Medium shot: This shot covers about three fourth’s of the subject’s entire body.
- Medium close-up: This shot captures the entire half of the subject’s body.
- Medium-long shot: A shot at a slightly farther distance than the medium shot, but not as far as the long shot.
- Over-the-shoulder shot: This is a type of two-shot but with one subject facing away from the camera while the other faces the camera.
- Titled frame: A shot that captures the entire subject, but this time the subject is on an angle in the filmic world while the camera stays straight. Very long shot: A shot captures the entirety of the subject’s body, like the long shot, = but this time the subject is in the background rather than the foreground.
- Two-shot: This shot captures two subjects in the same shot, and it can apply to any of these previous types of shots.
Scene, Lighting & Sound Terminology
- Crash Zoom: When the camera quickly zooms in or out in the middle of a shot. Often used to emphasize the subject of a shot.
- Diegetic: When the characters inside the film hear the sound in the film.
- Dolly Zoom: When the camera zooms in/out while moving forward/backward on a track. It brings the background into the foreground, creating a dizzying feeling. First popularized in Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Example: https://youtu.be/G7YJkBcRWB8?t=25 (new tab)
- High Key Lighting: Fully lights its subject from all angles. Example: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-high-key-lighting-definition/ (new tab)
- Low Key Lighting: The subject of the shot is covered only by one or two sources of light which use darkness to emphasize the subject. Film noir is famous for its usage of low-key lighting. Example: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-low-key-lighting-definition/ (new tab)
- Mise-En-Scene: What “makes up” the scene. How props, positioning of characters, and setting contribute to the meaning of the film
- Non-Diegetic Sound: When the characters inside the film cannot hear the sound in the film (the sound is outside the world of the characters).