F I L M S T U D I E S

VOCABULARY

MOVIE FILM

Movie

• Motion picture

• Generally made for

entertainment

attracting the

maximum audience

Film

• Motion picture

• Generally made for

artistic purposes and is

informative with a

lesson.

DOCUMENTARY

• A movie that

provides a factual

record or report

BASED ON

• When a film is “based on” actual events, the balance between fact and fiction is shifted in the other direction.

• In many cases, the names of people and places are retained.

• Unlike in documentary filmmaking, where some degree of accuracy is usually expected, in a story based on reality, liberties will generally be taken with details: several minor or tangential figures pressed into an amalgamation, passage of time being compressed or extended, and so on. Nonetheless, the core elements, such as the events, the themes, and the main personae, serve as representations of themselves.

• These are interpretations of the known events.

• These are not intended to serve as a retelling of the actual moment-to-moment occurrences and are in fact significantly fictionalized

INSPIRED BY

• A film that was “inspired by” actual events is primarily fictional, but the writer owes his or her idea for the film to something that took place in reality.

• Perhaps the writer read a news story or a historical account or has been fascinated by a particular person, group, or event. The resulting film takes its inspiration from those events without claiming to represent anything that may have actually happened.

• The characters are generally original to the screenplay or only vaguely resemble the real life individuals.

• Basically, “inspired by a true story” means that something made someone think, “That would make a good movie.”

SHORT FILM

• Any motion picture not long enough to be considered a feature film

• An original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less

ANIMATED FILM

• Motion picture that involves individual drawings, paintings, or illustrations which are photographed frame by frame

• Appeal to children, but they can easily be enjoyed by all.

ACADEMY AWARDS

• Awards for technical and artistic merit in the

American film industry given by the Academy of

Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) to

recognize excellence in cinematic achievements

as assessed by the Academy’s voting membership.

• The Oscars

CAST & CREW

Cast

• Actors performing in

the production

Crew

• People working behind

the scenes

• Technical

• Lighting

• Staging

ACTOR

• A person who

portrays a

character in a

performance

ACTRESS

• A person who

portrays a

character in a

performance

• female

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• An actor who

performs a role in a

play or film below

that of the leading

actor(s) and above

that of a bit part

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• An actor who

performs a role in a

play or film below

that of the leading

actor(s) and above

that of a bit part

• female

BIT PART

• a small acting role

in a play or a

movie.

CAMEO

• a brief appearance

or voice part of a

known person in a

work of the

performing arts,

typically unnamed

or appearing as

themselves.

EXTRA

• Background actor

• Non-speaking role

• In an audience

• On a busy street

DIRECTOR

• A person who supervises the actors, camera crew,

and the other staff for a movie, play, TV program,

etc.

• Controls a film’s artistic and dramatic aspects and

visualizes the screenplay (script) while guiding the

technical crew & actors in the fulfillment of that

vision.

• Viewed as the “author” of the film

PRODUCER

• Person responsible for the financial and managerial aspects of making a movie, broadcast, play, etc.

• Plan & coordinate various aspects of film production• Selecting script

• Coordinating writing

• Directing & editing

• Arranging financing

• Selling the film

• Arranging the distribution rights

• Hiring staff

• Creating filming schedules

• Checking & approving locations

SCREENWRITER

• A person who writes

a screenplay

SCREENPLAY

• Script

• Written work for films, videogame, or TV show

• Original• Created for that film

• Adapted• Based on existing

pieces of writing

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• The science or the art of making motion pictures by

recording light or other electromagnetic radiation,

either electronically by means of an image sensor,

or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material

such as film stock.

CINEMATOGRAPHER

• Director of photography

• Chief over the camera & light crews

• Responsible for making artistic and technical decisions related to the image• Framing

• Costumes

• Make-up

• Lighting

• Assistant to the post-producer for color correction and grading

• The director’s “right hand”

KEY GRIP

• Person in film crew who is in charge of the camera equipment

• Supervises all grip (lighting & rigging) crews and reports to the cinematographer

• Possible job description• Attends location scouts

• meets with cinematographer

• determines what tools needed

• orders and prepares required equipment

• transports equipment to filming location

• coordinates with cinematographer to control lighting, camera movement, and set-up

GRIP

• Lighting & rigging technician in filmmaking and

video production industries

• Work closely with camera department to provide

support, especially in the camera is mounted to a

dolly, crane, or in an unusual position

• Work closely with electrical department to create

lighting set-ups necessary for a shot under the

direction of cinematographer

DOLLY GRIP

• Dedicated technician trained to operate the

camera dolly

• Places, levels, and moves the dolly track and then

pushes & pulls the dolly & usually a camera

operator and camera assistant as riders

GAFFER

• A lighting technician

STUNT

• A non-trivial and

often dangerous

piece of physical

action…often

performed by a

stunt performer or

stunt double.

STUNT DOUBLE

• A specialist who

performs stunts

• Takes the part of

another actor for a

stunt

• Rarely speak

• Chosen to resemble

the actor

SPECIAL EFFECTS

• Illusions or visual

tricks used in film,

TV, theater, video

games, etc. to

simulate the

imagined events in

a story or virtual

world

MECHANICAL EFFECTS

• Practical or physical effects

• Live-action shooting

• Use of mechanized props, scenery, scale models, animatronics, pyrotechnics, atmospheric effects

OPTICAL EFFECTS

• Photographic effects

• Images of film frames are created photographically• Multiple exposure

• Mattes

• Optical printer

COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGERY

• CGI

• Effects created by

and with the use of

a computer

COSTUME DESIGNER

• In charge of wardrobe

• In charge of designing, creating, acquiring, and hiring all costumes for actors and extras

STUDIO

• A company that makes movies

• A production & film distributor that releases a substantial number of films annually and consistently commands a significant share of box office revenue

• 20th Century Fox

• Warner Bros.

• Paramount

• Columbia

• Universal Pictures

• Walt Disney Studios

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

• United Artists

• RKO

BOX OFFICE

• A place at a theater where tickets are bought or

reserved

• Used to refer to the commercial success of a movie,

play, or actor in terms of the audience size or

takings they command

TOP BILLING

• Where you appear

on bills (old word for

posters & other

printed promotions)

• The biggest star’s

name is the 1st listed

in BIG letters

BREAK THE 4TH WALL

• When characters

address the

audience

• Deadpool

FILM SCORE

• Movie music

• Original music written specifically to accompany a film

• Orchestral, instrumental, and/or choral pieces

SOUNDTRACK

• Recorded music

accompanying and

synchronized to the

images of a motion

picture

TECHNICOLOR

• a series of color motion picture processes, the first version dating from 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.

• It was the second major color process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952.

• Technicolor became known and celebrated for its highly saturated color, and was initially most commonly used for filming musicals such as The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Down Argentine Way (1940), costume pictures such as The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Gone with the Wind (1939), and animated films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Fantasia (1940).

A short

joke or

witty

remark

ONE - LINER

GENRE

• A category of

artistic composition

characterized by

similarities in form,

style, or subject

matter

• type

SILENT FILMS

• A film with NO synchronized recorded sound,

especially with no spoken dialogue.

• Silent film era lasted from 1895 to 1936.

• The dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures,

mime, and title cards with a written indication of the

plot or key dialogue.

DRAMA

• All forms of cinema or television that involve fictional stories

• Serious

• Not a comedy nor a tragedy

COMEDY

• Films that make the

audience laugh

ACTION

• A film in which the protagonist end up in a series of challenges that typically include violence, extended fighting, physical feats, and/or frantic chases

HORROR

• Movie that seeks to elicit a physiological reaction, such as elevated heartbeat, through the use of fear

• Movies that shock the audience

MUSICALS

• Songs sung by the

characters are

interwoven into the

narrative, sometimes

accompanied by

dancing.

WESTERN

• Set primarily in the later half of the 19th

century in the American Old West

• Often centers around the life of a nomadic cowboy or gunfighter armed with a revolver and a rifle who rides a horse.

SPAGHETTI WESTERN

• Movies about

American Old West

made cheaply in

Europe, typically

with an Italian

producer and/or

director

EPIC

• A style of

filmmaking with a

large scale,

sweeping scope,

and spectacle…

focused on a heroic

character

ROM COM

• Romantic Comedy

• Light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on

romantic ideas

• A funny movie about a love story that ends happily.

PARODY

• Subgenre of comedy SPOOF

• Work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at

original work, its subject, author, style by means of

humorous, satiric, or ironic imitation

TEAR-JERKER

• A story, song, play,

film, or broadcast

that moves or is

intended to move

its audience to tears

BIOPIC

• Biographical film

• Dramatizes the life

of a non-fictional or

historically-based

persons or people

• Real name is used.

SCI-FI

• Science fiction film

• Uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are NOT fully accepted by mainstream science

FOREIGN FILM

• World cinema

• Refer to films of all

countries other than

one’s own,

regardless of native

language

BLOCK BUSTER

• Movie that is made

with a large budget

and big stars

• Extremely popular

• Brings in a lot of

money

any motion picture not

long enough to be

considered a feature film.

The Academy of Motion

Picture Arts and Sciences

defines a short film as "an

original motion picture that

has a running time of 40

minutes or less, including

all credits".

SHORT FILM

REMAKE REIMAGINING

• A film that is based

on an earlier work

and tells the same,

or a very similar

story

SEQUEL

• Narrative, documental, or other work of literature,

film, theater, TV, music, videogame, etc. that

continues the story of or expands upon some earlier

work

TRAILER

• Preview of coming

attraction

• An advertisement or

a commercial for a

feature film

FILM REVIEW

• Popular way for critics

to assess a film’s

overall quality and

determine whether or

not they think the film is

worth recommending

RATING

• The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a film's suitability for certain audiences based on its content.

• The MPAA rating system is a voluntary scheme that is not enforced by law; films can be exhibited without a rating, although many theaters refuse to exhibit non-rated or NC-17 rated films.

• The MPAA rating system is one of various motion picture rating systems that are used to help parents decide what films are appropriate for their children.

MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA (MPAA) FILM RATING SYSTEM

• Rated G: material is suitable for all audiences.

• Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested – some material may not be suitable for children.

• Rated PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned – some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

• Rated R: Restricted – under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

• Rated X: No one under 17 admitted.