Working With Films

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Glossary – Selected Terms for Film Analysis General film terms backlighting filming a person or event against a background of light, especially the sun, which produces an idealized or romantic effect words that are shown on a cinema screen to caption establish the scene of a story composition the arrangement of people or things in a film scene credits the list of people who were involved in the making of a film director the person responsible for the artistic production of a film, e.g. the lighting, camera work, action, and the actors' interpretation of their roles feature film film which tells a story (as compared, for example, to a documentary film) motion picture the North American term for 'film' / movie producer the person responsible for the overall organization, especially the financing and marketing, of a film scene a shot or series of shots that usually deal(s) with a single action the script of a film, including the dialogue and
in a dialogue between two people facing each other, the camera shoots the conversation directed at one actor and then at the other e.g. 'the establishing shot of the film shows the setting …'; 'this scene is shot from x's point of view …'; 'the director often makes use of point-of-view shots so the viewer sees the story from different perspectives …'; 'there is an over-the-shoulder shot of x …'; 'we see x through an over-the-shoulder shot …'; 'the director uses a reverse-angle shot of the dialogue …'; 'we see x and y in reverse-angle shots …' shows people or objects from above, i.e. higher than eye level shows people or objects from below, i.e. lower than eye level views a subject from the level of a person's eyes e.g. 'the director uses a high-angle / low-angle shot of x …'; 'there is an eyelevel / straight-on shot of x …'; 'we see a low-angle / high-angle shot of the characters