Auteur A filmmaker, generally a director, who creates a body of work with a unified sensibility that reveals, through the

interplay of themes and styles, a personal worldview. The term originated with Franois Truffaut, whose 1954 essay "Une certaine tendence du cinma franais" put forth the idea that the most interesting films were those that functioned as a medium of personal expression--and therefore bore the distinctive imprint of their "author." American critic Andrew Sarris later translated and expanded this idea into an "auteur theory," which proposed an evaluation of films based on their context within the filmmaker's oeuvre, rather than for their technical proficiency or greater historical significance. The term "auteur" later came to refer to any filmmaker who performed or was intimately involved in all aspects of the moviemaking process (writing, directing, producing, editing, etc.). Close-up A shot in which the subject is larger than the frame, revealing much detail. close-ups tightly frame a person or object. The most common close-ups are ones of actors' faces. They are also used extensively in stills photography. Close-ups are often used as cutaways from a more distant shot to show detail, such as characters' emotions, or some intricate activity with their hands. Continuity The degree to which a movie is selfconsistent. For example, a scene where an actor is wearing a hat when seen from one camera angle and not from another would lack continuity. A person is often employed to check that continuity is maintained since reshooting embarrassing lapses in continuity can be prohibitively expensive. See also continuity report. In modern times, some continuity errors can be corrected through digital compositing. See the Terminator 2: Judgment Day trivia entry for an example. Crane Shot

A shot taken by a camera on a crane; often used to show the actors/action from above. Cranes usually carry both the camera and a camera operator, but some can be operated by remote control. Crosscut The technique of interweaving pieces of two or more scenes, usually in order to show simultaneous actions or illuminate themes. Cut A change in either camera angle or placement, location, or time. "Cut" is called during filming to indicate that the current take is over. See also shot, action. A "cut" of a movie is also a complete edited version. Deepfocus Shot A shot in which both the foreground and the background are in focus. In other words, a shot with exceptional depth of field. Denoument The concluding scenes of a movie where the story elements are finished and the characters' status after the climax is shown. Diegetic sound A sound that is created by something or someone visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film. Director of Photography A cinematographer who is ultimately responsible for the process of recording a scene in the manner desired by the director. The Director of Photography has a number of possible duties: selection of film stock, cameras, and lenses; designing and selecting lighting, directing the gaffer's placement of lighting; shot composition (in consultation with the director); film developing and film printing.

Director's Cut Contracts under the terms of the Hollywood Director's Guild usually allow 6 weeks for a director to assemble a cut of the movie without studio interference as he or she would like it to be seen. This director's cut is fully edited and has a synchronized soundtrack. This cut is usually not color corrected or density corrected and may not even have the final music and effects tracks. In more recent times the term Director's Cut has taken on a popular meaning that implies a polished final cut of the movie that the director has complete artistic control over. Dissolve An editing technique whereby the images of one shot is gradually replaced by the images of another. Dolly A dolly is a small truck which rolls along dolly tracks carrying the camera,some of the camera crew and occasionally the director. "Dolly" is also the action of moving the camera towards (dolly up/in) or away from (dolly/pull back) the object that it is pointing at. The term often appears in screenplays. There is a subtle difference between the results of a zoom shot and a dolly shot. In a zoom, the relative positions and sizes of all objects in the frame remains the same, whereas in a dolly shot this will change as the camera moves. Alfred Hitchcock's muchimitated shot in Vertigo used a combination zoom-in and dolly back, resulting in a dramatic change in perspective. Double exposure is a technique in which a piece of film is exposed twice, to two different images. The resulting photographic image shows the second image superimposed over the first. The technique can be used to create ghostly images or to add people and objects to a scene that were not originally there. It is frequently used in photographic hoaxes. It

also is sometimes used as an artistic visual effect, Dutch Tilt A shot composed with the horizon not parallel with the bottom of the frame. Used extensively in Batman, and frequently by Orson Welles. It is a cinematic tactic often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. A Dutch angle is achieved by tilting the camera off to the side so that the shot is composed with the horizon at an angle to the bottom of the frame. Editing, Editor A person who performs editing (in consultation with the director) on a movie. This term usually refers to someone who does visual editing. Extreme Close-up A shot in which the subject is much larger than the frame. Provides more detail than a close-up. Fast Motion A shot in which time appears to move more quickly than normal. The process is commonly achieved by either deleting select frames (called "skip frames") or by undercranking. See also motion artifact, freeze frame, frame rate, judder. Flashback A scene that breaks the chronological continuity of the main narrative by depicting events which happened in the past. Contrast with flashforward. Flashforward A scene that breaks the chronological continuity of the main narrative by depicting events which happen in the future. Contrast with flashback.

freeze frame shot is used when one shot is printed in a single frame several times, in order to make an interesting illusion of a still photograph. Jump Cut

A camera shot from a medium distance, usually showing the characters from the waist up, that allows the audience to see body language, but not as much facial expression. Mise-en-scene

A cut involving an interruption to the continuity of time, where the image in a shot closely matches the image of the previous shot. The technique breaks continuity in time and produces a startling effect. Any moving objects in the shot will appear to jump to a new position. In classical continuity editing, jump cuts are considered a technical flaw. Most cuts in that editing style occur between dissimilar scenes or significantly different views of the same scene to avoid the appearance of a jump. Every effort is made to make cuts invisible and unobtrusive. Location Filming Filming which occurs at a place not constructed specifically for the production. Typically this is either outdoors, a wellknown location, or a real place which suffices. Long shot A camera shot from a great distance, usually showing the characters as very small in comparison to their surroundings. Macguffin A term used by Alfred Hitchcock to refer to an item, event, or piece of knowledge that the characters in a film consider extremely important, but which the audience either doesn't know of or doesn't care about. Examples: the engine plans in The 39 Steps, the statue with the microfilms in North by Northwest, and the contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

Literally translated as "what's put into the scene", this is the sum total of all factors affecting the artistic "look" or "feel" of a shot or scene. These can include shot selection, shot composition, production design and set decoration, as well as technical camera properties such as shutter speed, aperture, frame rate, and depth of field. Mise-enscene is often contrasted with montage, where the artistic "look" of a scene is constructed through visual editing. Reverse Shot A shot taken at a 120-180 degree angle from the preceding shot. When used in dialogue scenes, reverse-shot editing usually alternates between over-theshoulder shots that show each character speaking. See also shot/reverse shot. Shot/Reverse Shot A sequence of three shots: 1) a person's face; 2) what that person is looking at; and 3) the person again, giving the audience a chance to process the person's reaction to what (or who) s/he is seeing. Slapstick Comedy A comedy in which the humour is derived from physical interactions, often involving exaggerated but ultimately harmless violence directed towards individuals. Named after a device used by circus clowns - two boards which slap together loudly when swatted on someone's backside. Slow motion is a technique in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by Austrian August Musger. Typically this style is achieved when each film frame is captured at a rate much faster than it will be

Medium shot

played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving slower. Split screen is the visible division of the screen, traditionally in half, but also in several simultaneous images, rupturing the illusion that the screen's frame is a seamless view of reality, similar to that of the human eye. Take A single continuous recorded performance of a scene. A director typically orders takes to continue until he or she is satisfied that all of his or her requirements for the scene have been made, be they technical or artistic. For interesting exceptions, see the trivia entries for Stagecoach, The Gold Rush, , Rope, Shi di chu ma, Some Like It Hot, and The Usual Suspects. A continuity report stores the status of each take. Of the ones that don't contain obvious errors, the director will order some to be printed. Tilt The action of rotating the camera either up or down. Tracking Shot The action of moving a camera along a path parallel to the path of the object being filmed. See also dolly tracks. Voice-Over Indicates that dialogue will be heard on a movie's soundtrack, but the speaker will not be shown. The abbreviation is often used as an annotation in a script. Zoom Shot A shot in which the magnification of the objects by the camera's lenses is increased (zoom in) or decreased (zoom out/back). There is a subtle difference between the results of a zoom shot and a dolly shot. In a zoom, the relative positions and sizes of all objects in the frame remains the same,

whereas in a dolly shot this will change as the camera moves. Alfred Hitchcock's muchimitated shot in Vertigo used a combination zoom in and dolly back, resulting in a dramatic change in perspective.