Malik Rivera

Film Techniques Vocabulary and Descriptions

Instructions:
1. Research to find the various techniques used in film making.
2. You should NOT copy/paste, but include information in your own words to show comprehension.
3. Visit several websites and documents to collect comprehensive information.

Category

Technique and Description

1. Diegetic Sound Sound which comes from the world of the film.
2. Non- Diegetic Is not from any source within the diegesis but is added as an extra
layer of sound in post-production/ background music

Sound

3. Soundtrack Sound recorded on a motion- picture film.

4. Dubbing/ Voice-Over Video Production in which additional or supplementary
recordings are mixed with original production sound to create the finished
soundtrack. off-camera narration by either a character or a commentator
1. Zoom To simulate movement rapidly away from or toward a subject using a
zoom lens or other optical device.

Focus

2. Pull focus Changing focus during film.

3. Depth of field The distance between the nearest and furthest objects that give an
image judged to be focus in a camera

Framing
(Shots)

1. Long-Shot/ establishing shot The object seems small or is seen from a distance.
If a person is in the shot, it is the entire body and a great deal of background
visible.
2. Aerial Shot Shot taken from a hat, helicopter or a person on top of a building.
3. Bridging Shot Used to cover a jump in time or place or other discontinuity.
4. Medium Close-up Close-up of one or two characters generally framing the
shoulders or chest and the head.
5. Tilt Shot Camera tilts up or down, rotating around the axis that runs from left to
right through the camera head.

What is the purpose of the technique? Why is it useful?

How does it enhance the viewers perception of a scene
or character?
It is highly effective at creating a sense of place and the
nature of events.
Helps further explain what your video is trying to talk
about/explain.
Soundtracks can turn simple films into blockbusters. The
soundtrack during the film can make or break the
movie.
Dubbing can break a new POV to the film by combining
sounds you can make that moment in that scene a
momentous one.
Zoom can help you escape from a shot to view a larger
circumference or move in from a large area to view
something closer.
If you ever want a clearer or wearier view of what you are
filming focus helps you out.
It can be used to provide you with the most extraordinary
fascinated views ever in your film.
Offers viewers a sense of time and place; also offers the
viewer a choice of where to focus.
Being able to film from above creates a better perspective
on the shot.
Covers extraneous activities with ease.
Helps viewers see characters from a close point of view.
Tilt shot creates a virtual experience for the viewers.

6. Master Shot A long take of an entire scene, generally a relatively long ghost that
facilitates the assembly of component closer shots and details.

Camera
Angles

Lighting

Camera
Movement
and
Transitions

Editing

1. Cut Splicing of two shots together. The different cuts will have different
meanings.
2. Cross-Cutting Cutting between sets of action that can be occurring
simultaneously or at different times.
3. Deep Focus Technique in which objects very near the camera as well as those far
away are in focus at the same time.
4. Match-Cut Make sure that there is a spatial-visual logic between the differently
positioned shots.

Facilitates closer shots for more precise details.

Creates different scenarios with different screens.
Creates a simultaneous scene that stirs viewers.
Creates a scene where an object far from each other can be
focused at the same time.
Creates a logic to what the viewers are seeing.

1. Side Lighting lighting from the side that leaves the subject half in light and half
in the shadows.
2. Fill Light Usually from side of the subject that can soften shadows and
illuminate areas not covered by the key light.
3. Key Light Placed at a 45 degree angle to the camera-subject axis. Provides all or
most of light in a scene.
4. Background Light Provides separation between the subject and the background.
It also illuminates the background area of a set.
5. Soft Light Refers to lights that tends to wrap around objects, casting diffuse
shadows with soft edges. m
6. Flood Lighting- Used when a substantial amount of flat lighting is required for a
scene.

It can indicate a split personality or a secret/something

hidden by a character.

1. Dissolve A first image gradually dissolves or fades out and is replaced by another
which fades in over it.
2. Dolly A set of wheel and a platform upon which the camera can be mounted to
give it mobility.
3. Pan Movement of the camera from left to right or right to left around the
imaginary vertical axis.
4. Shaky Cam Follows a subject giving the audience a frantic or documentary
feeling.
5. Inset Filmed from a different angle and/or focal length from the master shot and
inserts cover action already covered in the master shot.
6. Wipe One shot replaces another by traveling from one side of the frame to
another or with a special shape
7. Flashback An interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the
current point in the story.

Image fades away to represent its once importance to the

film.
Is used to help the camera move around easily and able to
be versatile.

1. Fade a scene fades to black (or any other color) for a very short time as is slowly
replaced with another image; may start the next scene or change subjects

It indicates a passage of time or the end of a segment.

Helps viewers see shadows more clearly.

Creates most of the lighting for a scene.
Creates lighting to where we can distinguish the characters
from its surroundings.
Contracts around objects to soften edges within shadows.
Helps Key light create a perfect amount of light for a scene.

Allows camera to shift easily left to right or right to left.

Chases a subjects to make the audience react.
Shot from a different angle to create a better focus.
As a shot disappears another one takes its place right away
in an extraordinary way.
Creates a visual image in the viewers mind of what the
subject may have experienced in the past.

2. Ellipsis Leaves out a section of the action, nonetheless signifies that something
has been elided.
3. Eye-Line Matching Matching is based on belief in mainstream cinema that
when a character looks into off- screen space the spectator expects to see what he
or she is looking at.
4. L-Cut Also known as split edit, transitions from one shot to another in film or
video where the picture and sound are synchronized.
5. Match-Cut Two different objects, two different spaces, or two different
compositions in which objects in the two shots graphically match, often helping
establish a strong continuity of action.
6. Montage Series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time
and information
7. Screen Direction Direction that actors or objects appear to be moving on the
screen from the point of view of the camera or audience.
8. Slow Cutting Uses shots of long duration and is estimated that any shot longer
that about 15 seconds will seem rather slow to viewers from western cultures.
9. Jump Cut- Two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera
positions that vary only slightly.

Taking out a scene or object that was once important.

Viewers want to see and be able to understand what they
are looking at.
Editing and creating a scene where the scene transitions
from a shot to another and the situation is
synchronized.
Helps continue a scene.
Using scenes to create a connected mixture of scenes.
Actors are moving in a different way but look as if they are
moving in terms of the camera or audience.
Cutting down scenes so viewers will not be bored.
Moving scenes from one part of the film to whole other
section.

Film Terminology and Techniques

Sound
Internal Diegetic: only one character can hear

Focus
Soft focus: Scene is soft, somewhat blurred or diffused
Rack focus: brings background or foreground into sudden focus
Deep focus: All objects remain in focus no matter the distance.