The
principal protagonist of a film who lacks the attributes or characteristics of
a typical hero, but with whom the audience identifies. The character is often
confused or conflicted with ambiguous morals, or character defects and
eccentricities, and lacks courage, honesty, or grace. The anti-hero can be
tough yet sympathetic, or display vulnerable and weak traits. Specifically, the
anti-hero often functions outside the mainstream and challenges it.
Archetype
A
character, place, or thing, that is repeatedly presented in films with a
particular style or characterization; an archetype usually applies to a
specific genre or type classification. Archetypes often associated with film noir include the femme
fatale and hard-boiled detective.
Refers
to the events that happened prior to the beginning of the story, or lead to the
story; composed of information that helps fill out the skeletal story of a
screenplay or a character's background, often to help actors (or the audience)
understand motivation.
Backlighting
This
phenomenon occurs when the lighting for the shot is directed at the camera from
behind the subject(s), causing the figure(s) in the foreground to appear in
semi-darkness or as silhouettes, or highlighted; with backlighting, the subject
is separated from the background.
Blocking
The
process of figuring out where the camera goes, how the lights will be arranged,
and what the actors' positions and movements are for each shot or take.
The
position of the frame in relation to the subject it shows. A high angle is when
camera is looking down, low angle when looking up.
Canted
angle
See
“Dutch angle.”
Chiaroscuro
Literally,
the combination of the two Italian words for "clear/bright" and
"dark"; refers to a notable, contrasting use of light and shade in
scenes; often achieved by using a spotlight; also referred to as low-key
lighting or high-contrast lighting. This lighting technique had its
roots in German Expressionism.
Cinematography/cinematographer
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.
Crane
shot
A
shot in which the camera is mounted on a crane to achieve striking height or
aerial movement. (See also “traveling shot.”)
A
use of the camera lens and lighting that keeps both the close and distant
objects being photographed in sharp focus.
Depth
of field/depth of focus
The
depth of composition of a shot where there are several planes: (1) a
foreground, (2) a middle-ground, and (3) a background. Depth of field
specifically refers to the area, range of distance, or field (between the
closest and farthest planes) in which the elements captured in a camera image
appear in sharp or acceptable focus.
Diegetic
The
“world” of the story and all the elements that belong to it: the sight and
sounds of the action (e.g., footsteps, explosions), including off-screen action
and objects (e.g., birdsong, church bells). The most common non-diegetic sound
is music (which would only be diegetic if the musicians or source of music were
part of the action).
Dutch
angle
A
tilted camera angle that shows images obliquely slanted to the frame's vertical
axis; also called oblique or canted angle.
A
shot that shows the environment in which the action will take place, usually
early in the sequence.
Expressionism
A
style of filmmaking that distorts physical reality in some way in order to
"express" strong feelings about it. Typical expressionistic techniques
include the use of distorting lenses, extreme camera angles, bizarre lighting
and sound effects, and fragmented editing. The personality of the director is
always paramount and obvious in this type of film.
The
practice of ending a shot by progressively darkening the image until it becomes
pure black.
Femme fatale
A
French term that literally means "fatal woman”; an irresistibly attractive
woman who leads men to destruction.
Film noir
A
French phrase literally meaning "black film" that developed in the
early 40s; refers to a genre of mostly black-and-white films that blossomed in
the post-war era in American cinema, with bleak subject matter and a somber,
downbeat tone; the plot (often a quest),low-key lighting often in night
scenes, camera angles (often canted or high-angle shots),
the setting (the gloomy underworld of crime and corruption), iconography (guns,
urban settings), characters (disillusioned, jaded), and other elements combined
to present a dark atmosphere of pessimism, tension, cynicism, or oppression.
Flashback
An
alteration of story order in which the plot moves back in time to show events
that have taken place earlier than the one already shown.
Focal
length
The
distance between the optical centre of the lens and the image sensor. The
longer the focal length, the greater the magnification involved; the shorter
the focal length, the wider the angle of view.
Foley
track
Sound
effects created by the “Foley artist,” after shooting, to be dubbed onto the
film to match the action (e.g., footsteps, rustling clothing).
Forelengthening
The
linear distortion caused by a wide-angle lens; the perception of depth is
exaggerated.
Framing
The
use of edges of the film to select and to compose what will be visible
onscreen.
A
type or category of motion picture, such as westerns or film noir, that employs similar plots, narrative
conventions, character types, and formulas.
German
Expressionism
A
style of film common in Germany in the 20s, characterized by dramatic lighting,
distorted sets, and symbolic action and character; often cited as a precursor
to film noir.
Lighting
that creates sharp-edged shadows.
High-angle
lighting
Lighting
coming from above a person or object, usually in order to outline the upper
areas of the figure or to separate it more clearly from the background; also
called top lighting.
High-contrast
lighting
Lighting
that creates strong contrast between light and dark areas of the shot, with
deep shadows and little fill light; also called low-key lighting.
Highlighting
The
use of thin beams of light to illuminate selected or limited parts of the
subject.
The
use of a well-known symbol or icon; a means to analyze the themes and various
styles in a film.
Lighting
from a point below the figures in the scene; also called underlighting.
Low-key
lighting
See
“high-contrast lighting.”
French
term from the theatre that literally means “what's put in the scene.” In the
cinema it refers to the elements of a shot—the set, the props, the actors, the
use of color and light—and the way these elements are composed or
choreographed.
A
dark and brooding film that features a downbeat, depressing, dreary, cynical,
gloomy or bleak tone; often doom-laden and concerned with the subjects of
death, suffering, tragedy, unhappiness, and existential despair; the
protagonist often meets with death or tragedy in a film's conclusion. Nearly
all film noir films are nihilistic.
See
“Dutch angle.”
A
cinematic style that emerged in France during the 1930s that combined
working-class milieus and downbeat story lines with moody, proto-noir art direction and lighting to stylishly represent
contemporary social conditions. Considered by some critics as a precursor
to film noir.
Point-of-view
(POV) shot
A
shot taken with the camera placed approximately where the character's eyes
would be, representing what the character sees; usually cut in before or after
a shot of the character looking.
Prologue
A
speech, introduction, or brief scene preceding the main action or plot of a
film.
A
film in which the narrator has a limited point-of-view regarding the
characters, events, action, places, thoughts, conversations, etc.
Modern-day
(or post-modern) expressionistic film noirs set
in the future, with dark, decaying societies. Some examples include Alien (1979) and Blade
Runner (1982).
Top
lighting
See
“high-angle lighting.”
Top
shot
An
extreme high-angle shot, where the camera looks straight down.
Traveling
shot (Tracking)
A
shot in which the camera, mounted on a vehicle, moves while filming. Traveling
shots are sometimes identified more specifically according to the kind of
vehicle used to move the camera (a dolly shot or a trucking shot, for example).
When tracks are laid down for the camera to roll on, the shot is usually called
a tracking shot.
See
“low-angle lighting.”
Refers
to recorded dialogue, usually narration, that comes from an unseen, off-screen
voice, character or narrator who can be heard by the audience but not by the film
characters themselves; narration often conveys the character's thoughts, either
as a “voice” heard within one's head or as other narrative information and
commentary; often a technique in film noir.
A
lens of short focal length that affects the scene's perspective by distorting
straight lines near the edges of the frame and by exaggerating the distance
between foreground and background planes. In 35mm filming, a wide-angle lens is
30mm or less. Also called a short lens.
The
change of image size achieved when the focal length of the zoom lens
is altered.
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