Joseph's Glossary of Film
Terms
- camera angle see Angle
- cameraman
- the colloquial term used to refer to the person(s) operating a motion picture camera.
Actually, there is a distinction made between the Director of Photography or cinematographer, sometimes referred to as the "first
cameraman," and the camera operator, who is sometimes
referred to as the "second cameraman."
- camera movement
- the panning, tilting,
tracking, or zooming
of a motion picture camera. In camera movement, certain conventions are normally
followed. For example, movement begins and ends on a specific point of interest
which has been pre-determined prior to beginning the shot. Another example, a pan
from right to left would not normally be followed by a pan from left to right.
- camera operator also known as "second cameraman."
- The person who actually operates the camera during filming. The camera operator
follows the instructions of the cinematographer and/or the director of the film.
- camera report
- a daily log, usually completed by the assistant
cameraman, which contains key information about the each day's shooting. Details
include number of shots taken, the amount of film footage shot, recommendations concerning
specific takes as well as comments by the director and/or cinematographer.
- camp, campy
- comic mockery, especially of straight world and conventional morality
- cels, cells
- transparent plastic sheets used in layers by animators
to give the illusion of depth
- cinematic surrealism see surrealism
- cinematographer also known as director of
photography or D.P.
- the person responsible for photographing the film
- cinéma vérité
- a method of making films, usually documentaries, using aleatory
techniques that don't interfere with the way events are actually unfolding before the
camera. Such films are made with a minimum of equipment and usually involve a handheld
camera and portable sound equipment. For example, the Canadian film Warrendale
(1966) by Allan King is classic of cinéma vérité film.
- Classical Cinema, classical paradigm
- see Hollywood realism
- classical cutting
- an unobtrusive editing style which does not draw attention to itself but rather invites
the viewer to remained focused on characters in action
- close-up (CU)
- a shot taken from a close distance in which the scale of the object viewed is relatively
large; for example, a person's head from the shoulders up which fills the entire frame is
a typical close-up shot.
- close shot (CS)
- a shot closer than a medium shot but not as close as a close-up; for example, a shot of
a person from the waist to the top of the head is a close shot.
- continuity editing
- a system of cutting to maintain continuous and clear narrative action which involves
matching spatial and temporal relationships from shot-to-shot. See also axis of action, crosscutting,
cut, cut-in, cutting
continuity, eyeline match, shot/reverse shot.
- convention
- a rule, method, or practice established by usage
- coverage
- the photographing of a scene from various views and using various exposures
- covering shots, cover shot
- the blocking or concealing of an actor from the camera by another actor
- crane shot
- a shot taken from a device resembling a mechanical arm or crane at the end of which the
camera and cinematographer are located. This
crane can move in virtually any direction.
- creative producer
- a producer who has input into the artistic aspects of the film
- cross-cutting
- the alternating of shots between two or more scenes usually in different locations,
thereby suggesting that they are taking place at the same time. Cross-cutting is a key to
building tension in chase scenes by switching back and forth between the pursuer and the
pursued. Cross-cutting was employed in film-making as early as Porter's
The Great
Train Robbery (1903) and D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915)
and Intolerance (1916).
- cross-dissolve
- the fading out of one picture, sound or light source while another
picture, sound or light source fades in over top of the original.
- cross-plot
- an abbreviated breakdown (usually no more than a single page) of the main elements of a
shooting schedule (e.g., actors, equipment, props).
- cut
- (1) a term used in filmmaking to refer to stopping the cameras at the end of a scene or
a camera shot--see also action; (2) the term cut is
also used to refer to a particular edited sequence in a film--see also rough cut, fine cut,
final cut, first
cut and director's cut; (3) a transition from one
scene to another (a visual cut) or one soundtrack to another (a sound cut); (4) the
omission of a part of scene.
- cutaway
- a shot of an action, object, or person not part of the principal scene--reaction shots are usually cutaways.
- cutback
- return to a previous scene following a reaction
shot or other cutaway
- cut-in
- an immediate shift in the shot of a scene from a distant frame to some detail in the
frame.
- cutter
- a person who edits the film or works in a film-editing department; also known as the
film editor
- cutting
- the editing or splicing of parts of a film, usually done by a cutter or editor in a
cutting room
- cutting room
- a place where films are edited
- cutting continuity
- a list containing information about camera setups, dialogue, and other aspects of each
shot of the final cut of the film
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