cinematic terms

A few examples of Cinematic terms.

Blow-up
the enlargement of a photographic image or film frame


Boom shot
a continuous single shot made from a moving boom, assembled like a montage, and incorporating any number of camera levels and angles.


Character study
a film that uses strong characterizations, interactions and the personalities of its characters to tell a story, with plot and narrative almost secondary to them


Cinematographer
specifically refers to the art and technique of film photography, the capture of images, and lighting effects, or to the person expert in and responsible for capturing or recording-photographing images for a film, through the selection of visual recording devices, camera angles, film stock, lenses, framing, and arrangement of lighting; the chief cinematographer responsible for a movie is called the director of photography, or first cameraman.


180 degree rule
a screen direction rule that camera operators must follow - an imaginary line on one side of the axis of action is made (e.g., between two principal actors in a scene), and the camera must not cross over that line - otherwise, there is a distressing visual discontinuity and disorientation.


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 (sometimes referred to as a truck or dolly), pushed on rails (special tracks) and moved smoothly and noiselessly during filming while the camera is running; a pull-back shot (or dolly out) is the moving back ('tracking back') of the camera from a scene to reveal a character or object that was previously out of the frame, dolly in is when the camera moves closer ('tracking in') towards the subject, and dollying along with (or 'tracking within') refers to the camera moving beside the subject; also known as tracking shot.


Epilogue
a short, concluding scene in a film in which characters (sometimes older) reflect on the preceding events.


Segment (or seg)
a section or episode of a film; a series of sequences that comprise a major section of the plot; segmentation of a film often helps to further analysis


Superimposition
Where an image will be layered over another image. e.g film titles at the beginning of films composed as a double exposure.



Transition
one of several ways of moving from one shot or scene to the next, including such transitional effects or shots as a cut, fade, dissolve, and wipe; a transition focus between two scenes means the current scene goes out of focus and the next scene comes into focus.