So you like Hollywood and Netflix, eh? Maybe you love them. If so, you’ll want to be able to write about your passion in the most popular language on the internet: English. Here’s a film glossary that can help you get started with common film and cinema terms.
- actor
- a male whose profession is acting on the stage, in movies, or on television.
- actress
- a female whose profession is acting on the stage, in movies, or on television.
- anachronism
- an element or artifact in a film that belongs to another time or place; often anachronistic elements are called film flubs
- anamorphic
- related to different optical imaging effects; refers to a method of intentionally distorting and creating a wide screen image with standard film
- angle
- This is the think who is able to capture an optical device
- anthropomorphism
- the tendency in animated films to give creatures or objects human qualities, abilities, and characteristics.
- aperture
- refers to the measurement of the opening in a camera lens that regulates the amount of light passing through and contacting the film.
- artistic director
- responsible for the visual and artistic published or multimedia project
- behind scenes
- out of sight of the public at a theater or organization.
- camera
- a device for recording visual images in the form of photographs, movie film, or video signals.
- camera
- a device for recording visual images in the form of photographs, movie film, or video signals.
- camera angle
- the point of view of a camera
- camera movement
- A shift in view, frame, or perspective caused by the movement of a camera
- cameraman
- a person whose profession involves operating a television or movie camera
- casting list
- A list of all the actors in a movie or a tv-show.
- catharsis
- during a film’s climax, the audience may experience a purging or cleansing of emotional tension, providing relief or therapeutic restoration
- cinema
- a place to see a movie
- climax
- the most intense, exciting, or important point of something; a culmination or apex.
- close-up
- a shot taken from a close distance in which the scale of the object is magnified
- costume designer
- costumier: someone who designs or supplies costumes (as for a play or masquerade)
- crane
- a large, tall machine used for moving heavy objects, typically by suspending them from a projecting arm or beam.
- delete scene
- A scene removed from or replaced by another scene in the final version of a motion picture.
- denouement
- the point immediately following the climax when everything comes into place or is resolved; often the final scene in a motion picture; aka tag; see resolution
- designer
- a person who plans the form, look, or workings of something before its being made or built, typically by drawing it in detail.
- dialogue
- conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie.
- diegetic
- the term is used to name the story depicted on screen
- director
- a person who directs the production of an audiovisual work, typically for film and television.
- director
- a person who directs the making of a film.
- director of photography
- responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image.
- documentary
- a movie or a television or radio program that provides a factual record or report.
- dolly
- a small platform on wheels used for holding heavy objects, typically film or television cameras.
- dolly shot
- refers to a moving shot in which the perspective of the subject and background is changed; the shot is taken from a camera that is mounted on a hydraulically-powered wheeled camera platform
- dubbing
- a technique of replacing the original language of production of an audiovisual work, another language to disseminate this work in foreign countries
- dystopia
- an imaginary, wretched, dehumanized, dismal, fearful, bad, oppressive place or landscape, often initiated by a major world crisis
- editing
- the process (performed by a film editor) of selecting, assembling, arranging, collating, trimming, structuring, and splicing-joining together many separate camera takes (includes sound also) of exposed footage (or daily rushes) into a complete, determined sequence or order of shots (or film) –
- editor
- The person who assembles plans and sequences of a film
- elipsis
- the shortening of the plot duration of a film achieved by deliberately omitting intervals or sections of the narrative story or action
- executive producer
- An executive producer enables and backs up the making of a commercial entertainment product. He or she is concerned with management accounting and possibly with associated legal issues. An EP also contributes to the film’s budget, and does not work on set.
- extra
- a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background.
- extra
- an actor who takes a hand accessory to the story
- fiction
- a film that tells a fictional or fictionalized story,
- film
- a thin skin, cuticle, membrane, or film.
- film editor
- The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture
- film production
- all the techniques used to render a movie, usually in a cinema, but also for private screenings
- flashback
- a scene in a movie, novel, etc., set in a time earlier than the main story.
- focus
- the state or quality of having or producing clear visual definition
- frame
- place (a picture or photograph) in a frame.
- hairstylist
- a person who cuts and styles people’s hair professionally.
- headphones
- a pair of earphones typically joined by a band placed over the head, for listening to audio signals such as music or speech.
- in shot
- All the things that are in the picture
- jump-cut
- an abrupt, disorienting transitional device in the middle of a continuous shot in which the action is noticeably advanced in time and/or cut between two similar scenes,
- leading actor
- plays the role of the protagonist in a film or play
- leading actor
- A leading actor, leading actress, star, or simply lead, plays the role of the protagonist in a film or play.
- leitmotiv
- an intentionally-repeated, recurring element or theme associated with a particular person, idea, milieu, or action; the element presents itself as a repeated sound, shot, bit of dialogue, piece of music, etc.,
- length
- reaching up to or down to the place specified.
- lens
- a piece of glass or other transparent substance with curved sides for concentrating or dispersing light rays
- lighting
- equipment in a home, workplace, studio, theater, or street for producing light
- microphone
- an instrument for converting sound waves into electrical energy variations, which may then be amplified, transmitted, or recorded.
- montage
- the process or technique of selecting, editing, and piecing together separate sections of film to form a continuous whole.
- movie
- a type of visual communication which use moving pictures and sound to tell stories or inform
- movie theater
- A movie theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing movies (films).
- movie trailer
- a short commercial whose purpose is to promote a film coming out in theaters soon
- music
- songs and instrumental pieces, which are the film score
- pan
- To move a movie or television camera to follow an object or create a panoramic effect.
- plan
- shooting, between a start and stop the camera
- post-production
- work done on a film or recording after filming or recording has taken place
- producer
- a person responsible for the financial and managerial aspects of making of a movie
- producer
- Someone who prepares and then supervises the making of a film before presenting the product to a financing entity or a film distributor
- project
- to present an image on a surface, esp. a movie screen.
- projection screen
- A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience.
- prologue
- a speech, preface, introduction, or brief scene preceding the the main action or plot of a film; contrast to epilogue.
- rails
- a steel bar or continuous line of bars laid on the ground as one of a pair forming a railroad track.
- scenario
- A work written by one or more writers for a film or television program
- scene
- a sequence of continuous action in a play, movie, opera, or book.
- screenplay
- The script of a movie, including acting instructions and scene directions
- screenplay
- the script of a movie, including acting instructions and scene directions.
- screenwriter
- a person who writes a screenplay
- scriptwriter
- a person who writes a script for a play, movie, or broadcast.
- set
- The place and the environment in which the action takes place
- shoot
- the process of filming or photographing any aspect of a motion picture with a camera; the plan for a shoot is termed a shooting schedule.
- showing
- the action of showing something or the fact of being shown.
- slow-motion
- refers to an effect resulting from running film through a camera at faster-than-normal speed (shooting faster than 24 frames per second), and then projecting it at standard speed; if a camera runs at 60 frames per second, and captures a one second-long event
- sound
- It a music in a film or noice in a movie
- sound editor
- responsible for selecting and assembling sound recordings in preparation for the final sound mixing
- sound effects
- a sound other than speech or music made artificially for use in a play, movie, or other broadcast production
- sound engineer
- Someone who manages the sound in various sectors
- soundman
- in charge of recording, transmitting, or amplifying sound or of producing sound effects
- soundtrack
- a recording of the musical accompaniment to a movie.
- special effects
- (special effect) an effect used to produce scenes that cannot be achieved by normal techniques (especially on film
- split-screen
- the combination of two actions filmed separately by copying them onto the same negative and having them appear side-by-side within a single frame (without overlapping)
- star
- (of a movie, play, or other show) have (someone) as a principal performer
- storyboard
- a sequence of drawings (some directions and dialogue), representing the shots planned for a movie
- studio
- Recording room location for film, radio, television, record company
- studio
- a film or television production company
- subtitled
- provide (a movie or program) with subtitles.
- symbol
- an object in a film that stands for an idea, or that has a second level of meaning to it,
- symmetry
- within a film when two or more distinct plotlines ‘mirror’ each other or develop variations on the film’s theme or plot; aka mirroring
- technician
- a person employed to look after technical equipment or do practical work on a film set
- television
- This is a set of techniques to make and receive video sequences
- travelling
- a movement of the camera during shooting, which is one of the uses of a subject parallel to follow its movement
- tripod
- a three-legged stand for supporting a camera or other apparatus.
- video club
- Shop that sells and rents video cassettes recorded
- visual effects
- Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shot
- voice-over
- a piece of narration in a movie or broadcast, not accompanied by an image of the speaker
- voice-over
- refers to recorded dialogue, usually narration, that comes from an unseen, off-screen voice, character or narrator
- writer
- a person who writes a script for a film
- zoom
- a single shot taken with a lens that has a variable focal length, thereby permitting the cinematographer to change the distance between the camera and the object being filmed.
