Film Studies
Preproduction - answer Script, casting, visualization, set/costume design, location
selection, storyboards, acting rehearsal come from this stage of movie making
Production - answer Shooting and sound recording
Postproduction - answer Stage of editing of sound and image, musical scoring, Foley,
ADR, digital effects, color timing (digital or lab), exhibition copies (either film prints or
digital video)
ADR - answerIs a postproduction practice in which actors re-record lines of dialogue or
add new ones not present at the point of filming. Computer software enables proper
Syncing of these lines with the performer's lip movements as recorded on film.
Foley - answerThe creation of sound effects by live performance in a sound recording
studio. These artists perform sound effects in sync with a scene's action.
Producer - answerA production administrator who hires a director and supervises a
film's production to ensure that it comes in under budget and on schedule. While
directors work under them, in practice they generally allow directors considerable
creative freedom.
Director - answerThe member of the production crew who works closely with the
cinematographer, editor, production designer, and sound designer to determine a film's
organizing, creative structure. They are generally the key member of the production
team controlling and synthesizing the contributions of other team members. On
budgetary issues, however, they answer to the producer who has the highest
administrative authority on a production.
Cinematographer - answerA director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or
DOP) is the chief over the camera crews working on a film, television production or
other live action piece and is responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions
related to the image.
Production Designer - answerThe planning and creation of sets, costumes, mattes, and
miniatures according to an overall concept articulated by (this person) in collaboration
with the director.
Auteur - answerA director whose work is characterized by a distinctive audiovisual
design and recurring set of thematic issues. Auteurism is a model of film theory and
criticism that searches for film authors or auteurs.
,Run Time, Running Time - answerThe amount of real time it takes a viewer to watch a
film from beginning to end. Most commercial films run between 90 and 120 minutes.
Story Time - answerThe amount of time covered by the narrative. This may vary
considerably from film to film. The narrative of 2001: A Space Odyssey begins during a
period of primitive prehumen ancestry and extends into the era of space travel, while
the narrative of High Noon spans, rough, 90 minutes, closely approximating that film's
running time.
Internal Structural Time (film's tempo, pace) - answerThe dynamic tempo of a film,
established by its internal structure (camera positions, editing, color and lighting design,
soundtrack). Perceiving this internal tempo, viewers label films as fast or slow moving,
yet internal structural time never unfolds at a constant rate. It is a dynamic rhythm.
Filmmakers vary the tempo of internal structural time to maintain viewer interest.
Shot - answerThe basic unit of film structure, corresponding to the amount of footage
exposed in the camera from the time it is turned on until it is turned off. They are visible
on-screen as the intervals between cuts, fades, or dissolves.
Sequence - answerIn film it is a series of shots that form a distinct narrative unit, which
is usually connected either by unity of location or unity of time.
Frame - answerThe borders of a projected image or the individual still photograph on a
strip of film. Frame dimensions are measured by aspect ratio.
Composition (Rule of Thirds) - answerThe arrangement of characters and objects within
the frame. Through this filmmakers arrange the visual space onscreen into an artistic
design.
Rule of Thirds - answerThis is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and
their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear
features in the image to flow from section to section.
Long take - answerA shot of long duration, as distinct from a long shot, which
designates a camera position.
Sequence Shot - answerA long take whose duration extends for an entire scene or
sequence. Such a scene or sequence is accordingly composed of only one shot and
features no editing.
Long Shot - answerOne of the basic camera positions in which a camera is set up at
some distance from the subject of the shot. Filmmakers usually use these to stress
environment or setting.
Extreme Long Shot - answerA view from an even greater distance, in which people
appear as small dots in the landscape if at all (eg. a shot of New York's skyline).
, Establishing Shot - answerA type of long shot used to establish the setting or location of
a scene. In classical continuity editing, they occur at the beginning of a scene and help
contextualize subsequent close-ups and other partial views of the action.
Full Shot - answerAnother name for wide shot or long shot. It shows the subject fully,
from head to toe (in the case of a person). When using the 4x3 aspect ratio, they tend to
include the subject and very little else.
Three Quarters (American Shot) - answerShows the character up to the knee. Very
often used in westerns, in gangster films or, as in this clip, in screwball comedies. It
offers a compromise between the medium shot and the long shot.
Medium Shots - answerOne of the basic camera positions in which a camera is set up
to record from full- to half-figure shots of a performer.
Two Shot - answerA type of shot employed in the film industry in which the frame
encompasses a view of two people (the subjects). The subjects do not have to be next
to each other, and there are many common examples which have one subject in the
foreground and the other subject in the background.
Three Shot - answerA medium shot, featuring three actors.
Close Up - answerOne of the basic camera positions. The camera is set up in close
proximity to an actor's face or other significant dramatic object that fills the frame. They
tend to isolate objects or faces from their immediate surroundings.
Extreme Close Up - answerAny shot that zooms in very close to a particular part of a
subject. They vary considerably but usually focus on a particular part of a person—the
face, mouth, eyes, hands, etc—object, or animal. These shots can create a feeling of
intimacy in your video, and to convey a mood or emotion. These shots are very intense,
so use them sparingly.
Pan - answerA type of camera movement in which the camera pivots from side to side
on a fixed tripod or base. They produce lateral optical movements on-screen and are
often used to follow the action of a scene or to anticipate the movements of performers.
Tilt - answerA type of camera movement in which the camera pivots up and down on a
fixed tripod or base. They produce vertical movement on screen and are often used to
follow action and reveal detail.
Dolly - answerA type of movable platform on which the camera is placed to execute a
tracking shot.
Preproduction - answer Script, casting, visualization, set/costume design, location
selection, storyboards, acting rehearsal come from this stage of movie making
Production - answer Shooting and sound recording
Postproduction - answer Stage of editing of sound and image, musical scoring, Foley,
ADR, digital effects, color timing (digital or lab), exhibition copies (either film prints or
digital video)
ADR - answerIs a postproduction practice in which actors re-record lines of dialogue or
add new ones not present at the point of filming. Computer software enables proper
Syncing of these lines with the performer's lip movements as recorded on film.
Foley - answerThe creation of sound effects by live performance in a sound recording
studio. These artists perform sound effects in sync with a scene's action.
Producer - answerA production administrator who hires a director and supervises a
film's production to ensure that it comes in under budget and on schedule. While
directors work under them, in practice they generally allow directors considerable
creative freedom.
Director - answerThe member of the production crew who works closely with the
cinematographer, editor, production designer, and sound designer to determine a film's
organizing, creative structure. They are generally the key member of the production
team controlling and synthesizing the contributions of other team members. On
budgetary issues, however, they answer to the producer who has the highest
administrative authority on a production.
Cinematographer - answerA director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or
DOP) is the chief over the camera crews working on a film, television production or
other live action piece and is responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions
related to the image.
Production Designer - answerThe planning and creation of sets, costumes, mattes, and
miniatures according to an overall concept articulated by (this person) in collaboration
with the director.
Auteur - answerA director whose work is characterized by a distinctive audiovisual
design and recurring set of thematic issues. Auteurism is a model of film theory and
criticism that searches for film authors or auteurs.
,Run Time, Running Time - answerThe amount of real time it takes a viewer to watch a
film from beginning to end. Most commercial films run between 90 and 120 minutes.
Story Time - answerThe amount of time covered by the narrative. This may vary
considerably from film to film. The narrative of 2001: A Space Odyssey begins during a
period of primitive prehumen ancestry and extends into the era of space travel, while
the narrative of High Noon spans, rough, 90 minutes, closely approximating that film's
running time.
Internal Structural Time (film's tempo, pace) - answerThe dynamic tempo of a film,
established by its internal structure (camera positions, editing, color and lighting design,
soundtrack). Perceiving this internal tempo, viewers label films as fast or slow moving,
yet internal structural time never unfolds at a constant rate. It is a dynamic rhythm.
Filmmakers vary the tempo of internal structural time to maintain viewer interest.
Shot - answerThe basic unit of film structure, corresponding to the amount of footage
exposed in the camera from the time it is turned on until it is turned off. They are visible
on-screen as the intervals between cuts, fades, or dissolves.
Sequence - answerIn film it is a series of shots that form a distinct narrative unit, which
is usually connected either by unity of location or unity of time.
Frame - answerThe borders of a projected image or the individual still photograph on a
strip of film. Frame dimensions are measured by aspect ratio.
Composition (Rule of Thirds) - answerThe arrangement of characters and objects within
the frame. Through this filmmakers arrange the visual space onscreen into an artistic
design.
Rule of Thirds - answerThis is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and
their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear
features in the image to flow from section to section.
Long take - answerA shot of long duration, as distinct from a long shot, which
designates a camera position.
Sequence Shot - answerA long take whose duration extends for an entire scene or
sequence. Such a scene or sequence is accordingly composed of only one shot and
features no editing.
Long Shot - answerOne of the basic camera positions in which a camera is set up at
some distance from the subject of the shot. Filmmakers usually use these to stress
environment or setting.
Extreme Long Shot - answerA view from an even greater distance, in which people
appear as small dots in the landscape if at all (eg. a shot of New York's skyline).
, Establishing Shot - answerA type of long shot used to establish the setting or location of
a scene. In classical continuity editing, they occur at the beginning of a scene and help
contextualize subsequent close-ups and other partial views of the action.
Full Shot - answerAnother name for wide shot or long shot. It shows the subject fully,
from head to toe (in the case of a person). When using the 4x3 aspect ratio, they tend to
include the subject and very little else.
Three Quarters (American Shot) - answerShows the character up to the knee. Very
often used in westerns, in gangster films or, as in this clip, in screwball comedies. It
offers a compromise between the medium shot and the long shot.
Medium Shots - answerOne of the basic camera positions in which a camera is set up
to record from full- to half-figure shots of a performer.
Two Shot - answerA type of shot employed in the film industry in which the frame
encompasses a view of two people (the subjects). The subjects do not have to be next
to each other, and there are many common examples which have one subject in the
foreground and the other subject in the background.
Three Shot - answerA medium shot, featuring three actors.
Close Up - answerOne of the basic camera positions. The camera is set up in close
proximity to an actor's face or other significant dramatic object that fills the frame. They
tend to isolate objects or faces from their immediate surroundings.
Extreme Close Up - answerAny shot that zooms in very close to a particular part of a
subject. They vary considerably but usually focus on a particular part of a person—the
face, mouth, eyes, hands, etc—object, or animal. These shots can create a feeling of
intimacy in your video, and to convey a mood or emotion. These shots are very intense,
so use them sparingly.
Pan - answerA type of camera movement in which the camera pivots from side to side
on a fixed tripod or base. They produce lateral optical movements on-screen and are
often used to follow the action of a scene or to anticipate the movements of performers.
Tilt - answerA type of camera movement in which the camera pivots up and down on a
fixed tripod or base. They produce vertical movement on screen and are often used to
follow action and reveal detail.
Dolly - answerA type of movable platform on which the camera is placed to execute a
tracking shot.
