Terminology Defintions

These are some key terms that I have not yet covered/didn't previously know of relating to camera shots, angles, editing and sound.

• Master Shot - This is often a long shot and is filmed from such an angle that all characters are in view.
• Aerial Shot - This is where either a crane or camera attached to a special helicopter to view large landscapes from above.
• Canted Angle - This is where the camera is tilted to one side, often to give a sense of psychological  anxiety or instability.
• Deep Focus - A camera technique that has a great depth of field, which keeps both close and distant planes in focus at the same time.
• Shallow Focus - The opposite of deep focus, this is where the camera has a small depth of field and only one plane of the image is in focus and the rest is out of focus. It is typically used to emphasise one part of an image over another.
• Focus Pulls - A filming technique where the focal point is drawn towards the viewer.
• Steadicam - A way of mounting the camera so that it remains steady when filming.
• Continuity Systems - This is the process of smoothing different clips out to make them run smoother.
• Eyeline Match - this is where the audience wants to see what the character on screen can see. This is done by the character observing something off screen followed by a cut to this object/character etc.
• Graphic Match - this is an editing device in which a dominant shape or line in one shot provides a visual transition to a similar shape or line in the next shot.
• Jump Cut - this is an abrupt transition from one scene to another.
• Cross-cutting - this is a technique in which shots of two or more separate, usually concurring scenes are combined.
• Parallel Editing - this is a technique that involves going between two scenes that are happening simultaneously but in different locations.
• Superimposition - This is where one image is placed over another, perhaps to highlight importance.
• Long Take - a shot in a film that is uninterrupted for a long period of time and breaks from the pace of the film, usually lasting several minutes.
• Short Take - the opposite to long take, this is where a shot appears for a very brief duration, usually less than 3 seconds or so.
• Expansion of Time - this is where time is expanded; the duration of the film sequence lasts longer than in real time.
• Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound - Diegetic sound is where a sound is actually visible on screen, so the we can see what caused the sound, whereas non-diegetic sound is where he we hear something but we cannot see where it is coming from, such as a narrative or sound effect, or it is not implied by the action on screen.
• Synchronous and asynchronous sound - Synchronous sound is where a sound appears to be matched to certain movements occurring in the scene, such as footsteps corresponding to walking, whereas asynchronous sound is coming from the action but not precisely in sync with it.
• Ambient sound - the background noise present in a scene.
• Mode of Address - the way in which media texts talk to an audience, or the relations between the addresser and the audience are constructed in a text.
• Incidental music - this is music used in a scene to create or enhance a specific atmosphere, to accompany the action or drama or fill intervals.
• Sound perspective - this is the sense of a sound's position in space due to several factors such as timbre and pitch.