Media Glossary Production elements:
Camera:
Camera/Film/Video techniques and technologies including shot selection, movement, distance, angle and focus.
Camera shot sizes:
This includes extreme long shot, very long shot, long shot, mid shot, medium close up, close up, extreme close up, cutaway, cut-in, two-shot, over the shoulder shot and point of view shot.
ELS (Extreme Long Shot):
The view is so far from the subject that they aren’t even clearly visible. This is often used as an establishing shot.
VLS (Very Long Shot):
The subject is visible (barely), but the emphasis is still on placing them in their environment.
LS (Long Shot):
The subject takes up the full frame, or at least as much as possible.
MS (Mid Shot):
Shows some part of the subject in more detail whilst still giving an impression of the whole subject.
MCU (Medium Close Up):
Half way between a MS and a CU.
CU (Close Up):
A certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame.
ECU (Extreme Close Up):
The ECU gets right in and shows extreme detail.
CA (Cutaway):
A shot of something other than the current action.
Cut-In:
Shows some part of the subject in detail.
Two-Shot:
A comfortable shot of two people, framed similarly to a mid-shot.
(OSS) Over-the-Shoulder Shot:
Looking from behind a person at the subject.
Point-of-View Shot (POV):
Shows a view from the subject's perspective.
Camera angles:
This includes bird’s-eye view, high angle, eye level, low angle and dutch tilt.
The Bird's-Eye view:
This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle.
Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first (eg umbrellas in a crowd). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike
position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant- like, part of a wider scheme of things.
High Angle:
Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant. The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting – they are often seen as less powerful when shot from a high angle.
Eye Level:
A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. The camera will be placed approximately five to six feet from the ground.
Low Angle:
These increase height and give a sense of power or authority to the character. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.
Dutch tilt:
Sometimes the camera is tilted (i.e. is not placed horizontal to floor level), to suggest imbalance, transition and instability (Titanic!!).
Camera movement:
This includes crane, panning, tilting, dolly shots, hand-held shots and zooming.
Panning:
A movement which scans a scene horizontally, that is left to right (or right to left).
The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.
Tilting:
A movement which scans a scene vertically, that is up and down, otherwise similar to a pan.
Dolly Shots:
Sometimes called TRACKING shots. The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object.
Complicated dolly shots will involve a track being laid on set for the camera to follow, hence the name. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a
shopping trolley (good method for independent film-makers looking to save a few dollars). A dolly shot may be a good way of portraying movement, the journey of a character for instance, or for moving from a long shot to a close-up, gradually focusing the audience on a particular object or character.
Hand-held shots:
The hand-held camera (despite its name, a heavy, awkward piece of machinery which is attached to its operator by a harness) was invented in the 1 950s to allow the camera operator to move in and out of scenes with greater speed. It gives a jerky, ragged effect, totally at odds with the organised smoothness of a dolly shot, and is favoured by filmmakers looking for a gritty realism (eg Scorsese), which involves the viewer very closely with a scene. Much favoured by the makers of NYPD Blue.
Zooming:
The zoom lens means that the camera need not be moved (and saves a lot of time and trouble). The zoom lens can zip a camera in or out of a scene very quickly. The drawbacks include the fact that while a dolly shot involves a steady movement similar to the focusing change in the human eye, the zoom lens tends to be jerky (unless used very slowly) and to distort an image, making objects appear closer together than they really are.
Focus:
Cameras are able to focus on certain objects within a frame, thus directing the audience’s attention towards the important information whether it is a significant object or an important conversation. By choosing the type of camera lens the director can control the depth of field of the shot. The depth of field just means how much of the information in the frame is in focus. This includes deep focus, selective focus, follow focus and focus pull.
Acting:
An actor’s facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, physical appearance and prior knowledge/associations.
Mis-en-scene:
Mis-en-scene refers to the arrangement of all the visual elements within a shot. This covers props, setting, location, costume, make-up, shot size, angle, movement, lighting, acting, character, framing and the relationship between the subjects and objects in the frame.
Editing:
This is where choices are made regarding the selection and bringing together of different aspects of the film or program, for example the visual, the sound elements, style, transitions, techniques, placement, pace and rhythm of editing. You could also include continuity, juxtaposition, montage, transitions, graphic relationships, rhythmic relationships (space) and temporal relationship (time).
Transitions:
This includes cuts (including cross cutting and jump cuts), dissolves, fades and wipes.
Cut:
A cut is an instant change from one shot to the next.
A jump cut:
A jump cut is an obvious effect as the film cuts from one shot, leaves out some action (thus the name jump) and then shows another shot.
A dissolve:
A dissolve is the gradual disappearance of one shot and the gradual appearance of the next. These can be done slowly or quickly. Slow dissolves often indicate that time has passed.
Fade in or out:
Is a gradual movement from a black screen to a shot, or the shot to a black screen.
It is a pronounced pause in a film, often indicating a scene or location change.
Wipe:
Is when one shot pushes another across the screen in some fashion.
Cross cutting:
Cross cutting allows parallel action to occur. That is as an audience we are able to see two different locations and events that are happening at the same time. The editor cuts back and forth between each event/location.
Pace and Rhythm:
This contributes to the mood or feeling of a scene. By choosing the order and duration (length
of time) of shots an editor is controlling the pace and rhythm.
Vision and sound design and mixing:
When edited together the sound and images can combine in a variety of ways. Vision and sound are juxtaposed (put side by side). They include sound to image relationships, image to image relationships, sound to sound relationships.
Lighting:
Lighting, including naturalistic and expressive. It covers the quality, direction and style of light. It also incorporates hard lighting, soft light, frontal lighting, edge lighting, back lighting, under lighting, style of lighting, low key and high key lighting.
Naturalistic lighting:
This reflects natural light conditions such as a sunset, morning, night etc. Take note that while the effect is naturalistic that it is often created with artificial lights. For example a morning scene inside a kitchen may be filmed in the early afternoon.
Lights outside a kitchen window will be constructed to look like that of an early morning sun shining in through the blinds.
Expressive lighting:
Lighting can also be expressive in order to convey a mood.
Quality of light
Hard lighting:
Creates very pronounced shadows and is often used in horror films, murder investigation TV programs to create suspense and fear.
Soft light:
Will allow the audience to see all detail clearly in a scene.
The direction of light Frontal lighting:
Is when the light aimed from the camera’s viewpoint. It reduces texture and provides a flattering image – it reduces things like wrinkles and shadows.
Edge lighting:
Emphasises texture and contours and is often used to highlight objects.
Back lighting:
Is to do with the placement of the light behind the subject, usually set at a higher angle and can produce a halo effect.
Under lighting:
Is like when you put a torch under your chin, it can produce scary facial features and create mystery and fear.
Style of lighting:
The style of lighting is often referred to as atmospheric or mood lighting. It can be low key or high key.
Low key:
(not much light and more shadows) is used for tragedy and mystery.
High key:
(lots of light, often lots of white space on screen) is used for comedy and cheerful scenes.
Sound:
Sound generally refers to dialogue, music and sound effects. It also covers diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, voice over/narration, overlapping sound, parallel sound and contrapuntal sound.
Dialogue:
Dialogue authenticates the speaker as an individual or a real person rather than the imaginary creation of a story teller. As is the case with stage drama, dialogue serves to tell the story and expresses feelings and motivations of characters as well. Often with film characterization the
audience perceives little or no difference between the character and the actor.
Music:
Background music is used to add emotion and rhythm to a film. Usually
not meant to be noticeable, it often provides a tone or an emotional attitude toward the story and/or the characters depicted. In addition, background music often foreshadows a change in mood. For example, dissonant music may be used in film to indicate an approaching (but not yet visible) menace or disaster. Background music may aid viewer understanding by linking scenes. For example, a particular musical theme associated with an individual character or situation may be repeated at various points in a film in order to remind the audience of motifs or ideas.
Sound effects:
Sound effects are added during the editing process and are sounds that
weren’t recorded during the filming of the action. These can be sounds of explosions to enhance and action scene, sounds of crackling fire to add to the romance of a scene or even footsteps to emphasise that an important character is entering the action.
CAMELS:
Is a helpful way to remember production elements. It is mnemonic (or memory aid) that stands for camera, acting, mis-en-scene, editing, lighting and sound.
Story elements:
The opening, development and resolution of the narrative:
The narrative possibilities, issues and/or ideas established in the opening sequence(s), their development throughout the film, and their resolution in the closing sequence
Cause and effect:
Cause and effect, including character motivations. Cause and effect is simply what propels the story. That something happened because of something else. Causes are usually due to a character’s actions or motivations (i.e. because the character wants something), or the actions of others. They can also be due to things outside of the control of the character, like the weather.
Characters:
Establishment and development of the character(s) and relationships between characters. How characters are established and developed through the narrative is important in communicating information to and engaging the audience.
Point of view:
Point(s) of view from which the narrative is presented, including character or other viewpoint(s). Not to be confused with a P.O.V. shot (which is part of the production element ‘camera’), the story element ‘point of view’ refers to whose point
of view we, the viewer, are invited to see the movie from. Sometimes, we may see the story from an objective point of view where we witness the events as a spectator, however there are many instances in which we see the events of the film from the perspective of a major character, whether or not we witness them through his/her eyes. This is the person that we are meant to relate to or understand to the greatest degree. This character is often referred to as the ‘point of view character’.
Setting:
The setting and its function in the narrative. The setting refers to the time and place that the action occurs. This may
be real, imaginary, historical, contemporary (modern day) or a combination of these.
Intersecting storylines:
The ways in which multiple storylines may comment upon, contrast, interrelate or interconnect with other storylines in the plot
Storylines:
The ways in which multiple storylines may comment upon, contrast, interrelate or interconnect with other storylines in the plot
Structure of time:
The structuring of time, including order, duration and frequency of events,
contraction and expansion of time, linear and non-linear time frames. Structuring of time is usually controlled by the editing process to create a flash forward, a
flashback, compression of time, expansion of time, repeats and parallel action.
Flash forward:
A flash forward is when we move from the current action to an event in the future before going back to the current action.
Flash back:
A flash back is when we move from the current action to an event in the past before going back to the current action. Flash forwards and flashbacks are usually signified by a change in colour – for example a blue or red tinge to the scene, by distorted focus to signify a memory, quick jump cuts to emulate a premonition, etc. Usually a lengthy transition is put between the current action and the past or future event to indicate that it is a movement in time.
Compression of time:
Time can be compressed in a film in a variety of ways to show the passing of time. For example it may be a year has passed in the life of our main character. This could be demonstrated to the audience by a title appearing on the establishing shot of the next scene saying ‘One year later’. Or the camera could be positioned on a long shot of the green tree in our characters front yard and could dissolve into a shot of the tree losing it’s leaves, then dissolve into a shot of three tree with no leaves, then dissolves into a shot of the tree sprouting new growth and then dissolve to a shot of the tree green again – signifying a year has passed.
Expansion of time:
In a similar way events in the narrative can be expanded to show their importance to the story or the development of the character. For example a car crash could be put into slow motion (an editing process) so that the audience can see the characters facial expressions.
Repetition:
Shots can be repeated in a narrative in order to emphasize importance.
They may be repeated from different angles to communicate different information important to the narrative.
Parallel action:
Through editing the audience can experience different events occurring in different places at the same time. The editing process of cross cutting is used to structure time in this manner.
Media representation:
Social Value:
Are those beliefs and attitudes that are held in our society and govern how we believe the individuals and groups within it should function or behave.
Dominant Social Value:
The most common or popular belief of a culture, at a particular time. These values are those that are most widespread and support the way things are at present.
Oppositional Social Value:
Values that oppose and/or challenge the dominant social values. These values go against the view point of what is normally accepted.
Emerging Social Value:
Values that bring about 'new ideas'. These values are values that are gradually gaining acceptance from a wider group of people.
Attitude:
Is the way you think about an issue and how you express that.
Distribution:
The process of getting the product to the consumer, in this case a media product to its audience via radio, TV, movie screen, iPad, etc
Construction:
The act of putting something together, in this case, a representation.
Representation:
The re-presentation of reality.
Reflects:
That mirrors back whatever is coming into it or looking at it. In this case depicts, shows, portrays the society in which the media product was made.
Discourse:
A 'discussion' or 'conversation' occurring in society (between people, in homes, in workplaces, in the media) on a topic.
Social Issue:
Are matters that concern the majority of society and are usually surrounded by debate.
Tools of language, image and sound:
The actual words, visual information (setting, props, costume, character, acting, camera, etc) and sounds (effects, music, dialogue) that combine to create a representation.
