One of the most important aspects of a film class is learning how we talk about films. With film we start this process by learning to break down a film into parts and examining each piece. To do this we must first learn what all of those elements are. Film has a unique language and without it you may find yourself spending many words describing a scene, which can be very time consuming and confusing.
First, we must first identify the basic vocabulary of film.
Shot: This is the building block of a film. It is the images that we see between cuts.
Cut: The instantaneous switch from one shot to another. This term is used because when editing on film the strip of film is actually cut with a razor or scissors.
Frame: This is the rectangular outline that the image is composed within. Similar to how a painter starts with a blank canvas; the filmmaker must fill the rectangular frame of film.
Sequence: A group of shots edited together to create a continuous portion of the film.
To be able to decipher the meaning of a shot we look at shot composition and how elements are arranged in front of the camera. We will begin with shot size and composition so that we can begin to look at how they influence our connection to the world of a film. Relation to the human body within the frame determines shot size. I have put the common abbreviations for shot size next to each term; feel free to use these abbreviations in your writing as needed.
Close-up (CU): This is a shot where the person’s head fills the frame. Note: this is not a head shot. A head-shot is a photograph that an actor brings to an audition with his resume printed on the back.
Medium Shot (MS): This is a shot where a person/people are shown from the waist up.
Medium Close-up (MCU): This is an in-between shot that is used quite often where you see the person’s shoulders and sometimes part of their chest, but not the entire upper half of their body.
Long Shot (LS): This is a shot that shows the entire body of a person/people.
Extreme Long Shot (ELS): The person is often very small within the frame, if they are visible at all, and the main purpose of this shot is to focus on the surroundings. It is also often the framing used for an establishing shot.
Extreme Close-up (ECU): This shows a small portion of the human body such as an eye or a fingernail, but allows it to fill the entire frame.
Establishing Shot (ES): This is a shot of the location where a sequence is occurring. It is almost always cut at the beginning of the sequence.
Low angle: In this shot the camera is pointed up toward a person making them appear large and domineering.
High angle: In this shot the camera is pointed down toward a person making them appear small and often (though not always) used to show weakness.
Dutch or Canted angle: In this shot the camera is not level with the ground and has an angle to it that makes things appear to be off center. Depending on the severity of the angle it can be very noticeable or slight enough to just throw the audiences balance off without drawing attention to the angle.
Lastly when referring to the amount of people in a shot the terminology used is as follows: one person is referred to as a one shot, two people a two shot, three people a three shot, four people a four shot, and beyond that you can usually simply use crowd shot (if you feel there is a significance to how many people are in the shot you can still identify the number as needed).
In addition to shot composition camera movement also influences our interpretation of a film. Camera movement is very dramatic and influences the viewer strongly. Whenever the camera moves there should be a reason for the movement. When there is movement simply for the sake of movement, it usually becomes tiresome for the viewer and it can feel superfluous.
Pan and Tilt: For both a pan and a tilt the camera is stationary on one point, but is rotating on an axis either side to side (pan) or up and down (tilt). A good way to think of this movement is if you are standing in one place and move your head from left to right or right to left then you are simulating a pan. If you move your head up and down or down and up then you are simulating a tilt. Pans and tilts are often merged together, but it is important to remember that the movement always comes from a fixed spot.
Dolly Shot: The camera is placed on a device with wheels and can move around. It can go forward or back or side to side. It is harder to control the exact path and repeat it from shot to shot, which is why the following shot is preferred even with the limitations.
Tracking Shot: This is often a shot where the camera is moving along a track that is laid on the ground. The camera is usually moving beside the subject. It allows the filmmaker to move along with the subject when they are running or walking. The track allows for camera movement that feels very smooth and deliberate. It can’t move forward or backward because you would see the track on the ground.
Crane Shot: The camera is placed on a crane, which allows it to move from a high location to a low location and the reverse. This is used to create very dramatic changes in shot size or to create a dramatic high angle shot.
Helicopter Shot: With this shot the camera is attached to a helicopter that is usually flying over a city or landscape of some kind to give a birds eye view.
Here are some editing terms often used in narrative films that you may find helpful:
Fade to Black: This is when an image slowly darkens to black as opposed to cutting. This allows for an image, emotion or idea to linger in our minds. It often happens at the end of a film, but not always. There is also a Fade from Black where an image slowly appears out of darkness/black.
Dissolve: This is when an image fades out as another image fades in. It is often used to visually connect two scenes. A common usage of this would be a dissolve between someone in the hospital to a cemetery.
Juxtaposition: Two unrelated shots edited together to convey a new ideas. This formula is used to help understand juxtaposition: Shot A + Shot B = Idea C. This is used heavily in Soviet montage.
Jump Cut: this is when information is cut out between two sequential shots and is an example of discontinuous editing. It gives the feel that action suddenly jumps forth and some information is missing. With a jump cut either the background or foreground stays relatively constant and one element changes. These are often considered a mistake and are not used with purpose until the French New Wave movement in the early 1960s.
Continuity Editing: This type of editing was developed in Hollywood and is used to hide the formality of editing and make films feel as though they are one continuous shot. Hollywood was interested in creating the feeling of peering into someone else’s lives and making the viewer feel as though they were escaping into another place and/or time instead of that they were watching a constructed piece of art. Here are some key terms of the style:
Match on Action: edit would show a shot of someone reaching for an exterior door and opening it; the next shot shows an interior door opening and the person coming through it. In our minds we think that is one shot and the edit is hidden.
Shot/Reverse Shot; this is a way of making the viewer feel as though they are participants in a conversation. It often begins with a two-shot that establishes were the two people are located within a set. Once that is established the sequence can cut between close-ups of the actors as they talk and often over-the-shoulder shots are used as well. These shots in particular give the viewer the feeling they are listening in on a conversation as if they are sitting at the next table eavesdropping. Again, even though there is significant editing occurring, with multiple shots, you don’t realize it, as the technique hides it.
POV Series of shots: this is a series of shots that gives the viewer insight into one character’s viewpoint. It begins with a shot of the person looking, usually in CU or MS. It then cuts to what the person is looking at with the camera being used as a stand in for the person so that we see the object from their vantage point. The series then cuts back to a shot of the person reacting to what they just saw.
First, we must first identify the basic vocabulary of film.
Shot: This is the building block of a film. It is the images that we see between cuts.
Cut: The instantaneous switch from one shot to another. This term is used because when editing on film the strip of film is actually cut with a razor or scissors.
Frame: This is the rectangular outline that the image is composed within. Similar to how a painter starts with a blank canvas; the filmmaker must fill the rectangular frame of film.
Sequence: A group of shots edited together to create a continuous portion of the film.
To be able to decipher the meaning of a shot we look at shot composition and how elements are arranged in front of the camera. We will begin with shot size and composition so that we can begin to look at how they influence our connection to the world of a film. Relation to the human body within the frame determines shot size. I have put the common abbreviations for shot size next to each term; feel free to use these abbreviations in your writing as needed.
Close-up (CU): This is a shot where the person’s head fills the frame. Note: this is not a head shot. A head-shot is a photograph that an actor brings to an audition with his resume printed on the back.
Medium Shot (MS): This is a shot where a person/people are shown from the waist up.
Medium Close-up (MCU): This is an in-between shot that is used quite often where you see the person’s shoulders and sometimes part of their chest, but not the entire upper half of their body.
Long Shot (LS): This is a shot that shows the entire body of a person/people.
Extreme Long Shot (ELS): The person is often very small within the frame, if they are visible at all, and the main purpose of this shot is to focus on the surroundings. It is also often the framing used for an establishing shot.
Extreme Close-up (ECU): This shows a small portion of the human body such as an eye or a fingernail, but allows it to fill the entire frame.
Establishing Shot (ES): This is a shot of the location where a sequence is occurring. It is almost always cut at the beginning of the sequence.
Low angle: In this shot the camera is pointed up toward a person making them appear large and domineering.
High angle: In this shot the camera is pointed down toward a person making them appear small and often (though not always) used to show weakness.
Dutch or Canted angle: In this shot the camera is not level with the ground and has an angle to it that makes things appear to be off center. Depending on the severity of the angle it can be very noticeable or slight enough to just throw the audiences balance off without drawing attention to the angle.
Lastly when referring to the amount of people in a shot the terminology used is as follows: one person is referred to as a one shot, two people a two shot, three people a three shot, four people a four shot, and beyond that you can usually simply use crowd shot (if you feel there is a significance to how many people are in the shot you can still identify the number as needed).
In addition to shot composition camera movement also influences our interpretation of a film. Camera movement is very dramatic and influences the viewer strongly. Whenever the camera moves there should be a reason for the movement. When there is movement simply for the sake of movement, it usually becomes tiresome for the viewer and it can feel superfluous.
Pan and Tilt: For both a pan and a tilt the camera is stationary on one point, but is rotating on an axis either side to side (pan) or up and down (tilt). A good way to think of this movement is if you are standing in one place and move your head from left to right or right to left then you are simulating a pan. If you move your head up and down or down and up then you are simulating a tilt. Pans and tilts are often merged together, but it is important to remember that the movement always comes from a fixed spot.
Dolly Shot: The camera is placed on a device with wheels and can move around. It can go forward or back or side to side. It is harder to control the exact path and repeat it from shot to shot, which is why the following shot is preferred even with the limitations.
Tracking Shot: This is often a shot where the camera is moving along a track that is laid on the ground. The camera is usually moving beside the subject. It allows the filmmaker to move along with the subject when they are running or walking. The track allows for camera movement that feels very smooth and deliberate. It can’t move forward or backward because you would see the track on the ground.
Crane Shot: The camera is placed on a crane, which allows it to move from a high location to a low location and the reverse. This is used to create very dramatic changes in shot size or to create a dramatic high angle shot.
Helicopter Shot: With this shot the camera is attached to a helicopter that is usually flying over a city or landscape of some kind to give a birds eye view.
Here are some editing terms often used in narrative films that you may find helpful:
Fade to Black: This is when an image slowly darkens to black as opposed to cutting. This allows for an image, emotion or idea to linger in our minds. It often happens at the end of a film, but not always. There is also a Fade from Black where an image slowly appears out of darkness/black.
Dissolve: This is when an image fades out as another image fades in. It is often used to visually connect two scenes. A common usage of this would be a dissolve between someone in the hospital to a cemetery.
Juxtaposition: Two unrelated shots edited together to convey a new ideas. This formula is used to help understand juxtaposition: Shot A + Shot B = Idea C. This is used heavily in Soviet montage.
Jump Cut: this is when information is cut out between two sequential shots and is an example of discontinuous editing. It gives the feel that action suddenly jumps forth and some information is missing. With a jump cut either the background or foreground stays relatively constant and one element changes. These are often considered a mistake and are not used with purpose until the French New Wave movement in the early 1960s.
Continuity Editing: This type of editing was developed in Hollywood and is used to hide the formality of editing and make films feel as though they are one continuous shot. Hollywood was interested in creating the feeling of peering into someone else’s lives and making the viewer feel as though they were escaping into another place and/or time instead of that they were watching a constructed piece of art. Here are some key terms of the style:
Match on Action: edit would show a shot of someone reaching for an exterior door and opening it; the next shot shows an interior door opening and the person coming through it. In our minds we think that is one shot and the edit is hidden.
Shot/Reverse Shot; this is a way of making the viewer feel as though they are participants in a conversation. It often begins with a two-shot that establishes were the two people are located within a set. Once that is established the sequence can cut between close-ups of the actors as they talk and often over-the-shoulder shots are used as well. These shots in particular give the viewer the feeling they are listening in on a conversation as if they are sitting at the next table eavesdropping. Again, even though there is significant editing occurring, with multiple shots, you don’t realize it, as the technique hides it.
POV Series of shots: this is a series of shots that gives the viewer insight into one character’s viewpoint. It begins with a shot of the person looking, usually in CU or MS. It then cuts to what the person is looking at with the camera being used as a stand in for the person so that we see the object from their vantage point. The series then cuts back to a shot of the person reacting to what they just saw.
