Textual Analysis definitions

CAMERA ANGLES, MOVEMENT & POSITION

Q: When analysing the clip see how many of the following camera movements and positions are being used?

ESTABLISHING / MASTER SHOT: Sets the scene where the action will take place – usually evident at the beginning of a film scene and at the end of a film.

AERIAL SHOT: Birds eye view shot, usually from a helicopter.

CRANE SHOT: Camera is positioned on a crane, which gives a sweeping movement to the shot.

PANS: A camera moving on a horizontal axis, right to left, left to right.

TILTS: The camera moving again on a vertical axis, sky to floor, floor to sky.

HAND HELD: Hand held camera work gives a sense of uneasiness and documentary style realism.

FORWARD TRACKING: Camera tracking, moving forward.

REVERSE TRACKING: Camera tracking in reverse/backwards.

HORIZONTAL TRACKING: Camera tracking horizontally

(Left to right, right to left)

VERTICAL TRACKING: Camera tracking vertically (up or down)

ZOOM IN: Camera lens zooming into an area of interest.

ZOOM OUT: Camera zooming out from a point of interest.

HIGH ANGLE: Camera positioned high looking down at a subject, placing the audience in a position of dominance, making the subject appear submissive.

LOW ANGLE: Camera positioned low looking up to a subject. This produces a submissive effect on the viewer, making the subject appear dominant.

SUBJECTIVE POINT-OF-VIEW: An individual’s unique perspective, through his or her own eyes.

WIDE SHOT: This kind of shot is used to show a subject within an environment. E.g.: a wide shot of the interior of a building as a character walks through it.

TWO-SHOT: A shot that shows the distance between two characters in close proximity to one another. Sometimes occurs before/after a shot-reverse-shot.

STEADICAM: A fairly recent invention, that allows a camera to be suspended without a tripod. This allows hand held smooth, flowing movements from a camera.

EDITING

SEAMLESS EDITING / CONTINUITY EDITING: When the cuts between shots are fluid and barely noticeable.

FADE OUT: The gradual fading from the picture and sound to black (or another colour) and silence.

FADE IN: The opposite of fade out.

DISSOLVE: The superimposition, a quick overlapping/ mixing of two images (one image over the other) – usually implies a passage of time.

SUPERIMPOSE: The mixing, blending of many shots over one another to combine various different images. Created during the postproduction digital editing phase.

CUT: A stop, or break in action usually indicated by moving from one camera angle or shot to another.

SLOW MOTION: Slow motion is a stylistic edit, which serves to slow down fast action and draw our attention to it.

SHOT – REVERSE – SHOT: A series of shots between two characters in a continuous fashion.

SOUND

THEME TUNE: A piece of music that introduces a TV programme and sets the mood of the genre that will follow.

INCIDENTAL MUSIC: A music piece that surrounds a scene and compliments the action.

AMBIENT SOUND: Background, everyday sounds like traffic, sirens, wind blowing etc.

DIEGETIC SOUND: Sound that is part of the story space. E.g.: Someone playing a CD in a film scene and we as the audience can also hear the music. It is sound which the characters in a film can actually hear.

NON-DIEGETIC SOUND: Incidental music/ sound, which is used as a theme/soundtrack and is not part of the story space. In other words the characters cannot hear it, Like a VOICE OVER.

DIALOGUE: Dialogue is a scripted conversation between two or more characters within a film or TV programme.

TEMPO: The speed of the sound, faster / slower etc.

FREQUENCY: The loudness/quietness of the sound.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

PYROTECHNICS: A special effect used in film, which requires things to explode and catch fire, and the use of stunt men/women.

CGI: computer generated images – special effects created on high specification equipment – expensive to use.

MODELS: The use of models for buildings, cars, etc, to give the illusion of being a real thing. Models are often used as cheap way of blowing things up.

ANIMATION: Computer animation / stop motion animation / drawing cell animation is often integrated as a special effect into film.

MISE EN SCENE

LOCATION:

Where is the action filmed? E.g: Studio? Real life location? CGI? Country?

SETTING:

Where is the story set? What kind of setting is it?

COSTUMES:

What costumes are the characters wearing? And what does it tell us about them?

PROPS:

What props are the characters using? And what does this tell us about them?

LIGHTING:

How has the set been lit? What meaning is being conveyed