Film as Literature

...even when it does not use a POV shot (see below), film often has a more subjective perspective through the use of camera placement, voiceover, and other cinema techniques. mise-en-scène - refers to everything in the frame of the film, which would include lighting, set, props, and the staging and movement of actors.

Sometimes, directors will use a rack focus when two characters are on screen at once but are positioned at different distances from the camera. editing - refers to the way that individual shots are connected to one another to make the film. montage - this word has two meanings.

Establishing shot is also used in continuity editing to describe a shot that establishes the spatial relationships in a given scene. • shot/reverse shot - After an establishing shot, the shot-reverse shot refers to the close-ups used when two characters are in conversation.

Sometimes, this effect is parodied (with characters commenting on the scary music playing), and some directors will transition from a nondiegetic sound to a diegetic sound (or vice-versa), as when a song is playing on a radio that then becomes the nondiegetic music even as the characters move into a new scene without the radio in it. ambient sound - This term generally refers to any sounds that are used to establish location.

William Wyler, for instance, in The Best Years of Our Lives, shows a man playing a piano in the foreground while another man in the background calls his girlfriend (the first man’s daughter) to break things off.

The background appears blurry.

...POV shot (see below), film often has a more subjective perspective through the use of camera placement, voiceover, and other cinema techniques. mise-en-scène - refers to everything in the frame of the film, which would include lighting, set, props, and the staging and movement of actors.

A camera on a tripod that moves up and down (following a plane landing, for instance), would be performing a tilt. tracking shot - the movement of the shot when the camera is no longer stationary.

...film could perceive, whereas nondiegetic refers to something they could not (see diegetic and nondiegetic sound below). point of view - Most people assume film always has a third-person perspective, but even when it does not use a POV shot (see below), film often has a more subjective perspective through the use of camera placement, voiceover, and other cinema...

This low level of lighting creates dark shadows on the faces of actors and is particularly moody when used with black-and-white film.

In a long shot (or a wide shot), one can see the entire body of the actor; in a medium shot, one can see the actor from the waist up; in a close-up, one can see only the actor’s face (there is no such term as the “short shot”).

Alternatively, when used with certain adjectives, shot also refers to the distance from the camera to the subject, almost always the actor.

Film frames appear on a film strip, which, when projected, creates the illusion of motion.

This low level of lighting creates dark shadows on the faces of actors and is particularly moody when used with black-and-white film.