Understanding Terminology That Describes Film - CLEP Humanities

Alfred Hitchcock frequently featured characters pursuing a simple goal or object relentlessly in his films. However, what they were after was usually not important in the film's larger story by the time the film reached its conclusion. Hitchcock called such a device the "MacGuffin," a term he invented as well as helped to popularize.

A film reel is actually a series of photographs, called frames, with the time between them being much less than one second. A typical frame rate for a film is 24 frames per second, a rate which makes the many different images appear to the human eye as one continuous, moving image. A typical human eye can process 10 separate images per second, and a frame rate must exceed this by enough to look like a constant shot of action.

First developed in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, the montage originally referred simply to the instant cut between two different shots to show their relationship. Eventually, the term was broadened to refer to a compilation of short scenes that are edited together quickly to collapse time.

A "tracking shot" gets its name from the track set up to move the camera, attached to a dolly, throughout a set. This allows the camera to follow a character or an object across a scene, or between multiple locations. Tracking shots are used to move between locations in films.

"Film noir" was an appellation given to certain Hollywood films of the 1940s and 50s by French critics at the time, only being used in America by critics decades laters. Called "melodramas" in their own publicity, these films grew out of hardboiled detective fiction, and featured an element of mystery, a detective character, criminal elements, and, usually, a femme fatale as the lead female character. The films were usually quite small, with storylines that took place in one city over a few days or weeks.

A "voiceover" generally refers to the spoken part in a film that is not said by a character on screen or a by any character seen in the film. Usually, voiceover is used as a form of narration, to explain or comment on the action of the film in a way the characters cannot. Voiceover is commonly found in documentaries as a way to tie the film's story together in absence of a traditional narrative.

A "wipe" transition occurs when a visible line moves across the screen to provide the cut between two different scenes. A director can have a number of reasons for using a wipe to edit a film. In particular, it creates movement inside of a shot, and can show the continuity or a contrast between two scenes.

After moving picture film was possible, the film still had to be shot in black and white. Fairly early on in movie history, many different companies tried to create a color film process. While many were made, by far the most successful, to the point of being a near monopoly from the 1920s to the 1950s, was the Technicolor process used by the company of the same name.

A cinematographer on a film shoot can be thought of as the head camera operator. On a large film, this means the cinematographer is in charge of placing all cameras, setting lighting appropriately, and physically filming the scenes. A cinematographer is as key to the look of a film as anyone else involved in the filmaking process.

First developed in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, the montage originally referred simply to the instant cut between two different shots to show their relationship. Eventually, the term was broadened to refer to a compilation of short scenes that are edited together quickly to collapse time.

A "tracking shot" gets its name from the track set up to move the camera, attached to a dolly, throughout a set. This allows the camera to follow a character or an object across a scene, or between multiple locations. Tracking shots are used to move between locations in films.

"Film noir" was an appellation given to certain Hollywood films of the 1940s and 50s by French critics at the time, only being used in America by critics decades laters. Called "melodramas" in their own publicity, these films grew out of hardboiled detective fiction, and featured an element of mystery, a detective character, criminal elements, and, usually, a femme fatale as the lead female character. The films were usually quite small, with storylines that took place in one city over a few days or weeks.

A "voiceover" generally refers to the spoken part in a film that is not said by a character on screen or a by any character seen in the film. Usually, voiceover is used as a form of narration, to explain or comment on the action of the film in a way the characters cannot. Voiceover is commonly found in documentaries as a way to tie the film's story together in absence of a traditional narrative.

A film reel is actually a series of photographs, called frames, with the time between them being much less than one second. A typical frame rate for a film is 24 frames per second, a rate which makes the many different images appear to the human eye as one continuous, moving image. A typical human eye can process 10 separate images per second, and a frame rate must exceed this by enough to look like a constant shot of action.

Alfred Hitchcock frequently featured characters pursuing a simple goal or object relentlessly in his films. However, what they were after was usually not important in the film's larger story by the time the film reached its conclusion. Hitchcock called such a device the "MacGuffin," a term he invented as well as helped to popularize.

A "wipe" transition occurs when a visible line moves across the screen to provide the cut between two different scenes. A director can have a number of reasons for using a wipe to edit a film. In particular, it creates movement inside of a shot, and can show the continuity or a contrast between two scenes.

After moving picture film was possible, the film still had to be shot in black and white. Fairly early on in movie history, many different companies tried to create a color film process. While many were made, by far the most successful, to the point of being a near monopoly from the 1920s to the 1950s, was the Technicolor process used by the company of the same name.

A cinematographer on a film shoot can be thought of as the head camera operator. On a large film, this means the cinematographer is in charge of placing all cameras, setting lighting appropriately, and physically filming the scenes. A cinematographer is as key to the look of a film as anyone else involved in the filmaking process.

First developed in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, the montage originally referred simply to the instant cut between two different shots to show their relationship. Eventually, the term was broadened to refer to a compilation of short scenes that are edited together quickly to collapse time.

A "tracking shot" gets its name from the track set up to move the camera, attached to a dolly, throughout a set. This allows the camera to follow a character or an object across a scene, or between multiple locations. Tracking shots are used to move between locations in films.