Media Language - Mr Kerrigan

Camera

1. Establishing Shot: The opening shot in a dramatic scene that establishes the disposition of people and objects in the mise en scene. as such it is usually a wide shot, and is likely to be followed by a succession of closer shots.

2. Two-Shot: A shot in which two figures appear in the frame.

3. Point of View Shot: A camera angle in which the viewer seems to see with the eyes.

4. Over the Shoulder Shot: A camera shot in which the viewer seems to see with the eyes of a character in the scene.

5. High-Angle Shot: A camera shot in which the subject, and angled up at them. This shot can have the effect of diminishing the authority of the subject making them look weak.

6. Low-Angle Shot: A camera shot taken from a lower level than the subject, and angled down towards them. this shot can have the effect of enhancing the authority of the subject, making them look powerful.

7. Canted Angle: A cinematic device  where the camera is physically placed at an angle so that vertical and horizantal surfaces appear diagnal. 

8. Pan: A horizantal camera movement left-to-right ot right-to-left on a fixed axis. the word is short for 'panoramic movement'. a pan following a moving object suggests that we are viewing it from the point of view of an observer.

9. Tilt: A camera movement up or down on a horizontal axis.

10. Tracking Shot: A camera movement achieved by mounting the camera on a dolly and moving it along a track. Typically, tracking shots are used to follow characters or other objects in motion.

Sound

11. Diegetic Sound: Sound that can be heard by the characters in the world of the film.

12. Non-Diegetic Sound: Sound that cannot be heard by the characters in the world of the film.

13. Synchronous Sound: Sound that is directly matched with what is being viewed.

14. Sound Bridge: Editing technique in which visual cuts are deliberately not matched with audio cuts. For example, the editor may cut to a completely new scene, but allow sound from the preceding scene to run on for a short time. Alternatively, we may hear the sound of the next scene before we see it.

15. Dialogue: The conversation that happens between characters in a work of fiction, or the lines spoken by actors.

16. Voiceover: A type of non-diegetic, asynchronous sound in which the audience hear a voice that does not have a source either within the frame or within hearing distance and which is not heard by the people on screen.

17. Incidental Music: Music used in a film or play as a background to create or enhance a particular atmosphere.

18. Stings: A short musical phrase primarily used as a form of punctuation.

19. Ambient Sound: Sound which is natural to a setting.

Mise-en-Scene.

20. Mise-en-scène: The look of a film, derived from its use of sets and settings, lighting, colour, costumes hair and make-up, props, actor movement, and the overall placement and visual composition of these elements by the director.

21. Location: A ‘real’ place, as opposed to a studio, in which something is filmed or otherwise recorded. A location might be a New York City street or a desert.

22. Set: An interior that has been constructed to look like a real place when filmed; the set helps to identify the time and place in which a narrative will unfold.

23. Costume: The clothes worn by characters in a fictional text. The costumes are part of the mise en scène and as such are an important part of signification (for example, as a generic or period identifier).

24. Make-up: Cosmetics used to change the appearance of a performer.

25. Prop: Short for ‘property’. A small item used in a film or TV production to add realism, assist with the narrative or act as a motif.

26. High-Key Lighting: Lighting which eliminates most of the shadows.

27. Low-Key Lighting: Lighting which emphasises shadows.

Editing

28. Cut: The commonest form of edit in moving image texts, this is the instantaneous change from one shot to another in an edit.

29. Shot/Reverse Shot: A convention for showing a dialogue sequence. We cut between the two speakers, showing each person’s point of view.

30. Eye-Line Match: A visual code used to make it clear what the subject is looking at.

31. Graphic Match: A compositional device onscreen, whereby objects of common characteristics of shape or colour are used in successive shots.

32. Match on Action: Two shots in which an action begun in the first is completed in the second, thus disguising the fact that there has been a cut.

33. Dissolve: In editing, a cross-fade between two shots: one fades out as another fades in.

34. Wipe: A shot transition in which the new image wipes over the previous one.

35. Superimposition: To place one image over the top of another on the screenn.

36. Long Take: Not to be confused with a long shot, a long take is a shot of comparatively long duration.

37. Montage: The production of a rapid succession of images in a motion picture, usually accompanied by music, to illustrate an association of ideas or a passing of time.

38. Post-production: The various processes that take place after filming in order to create the final cut of a film.