Technical Terminology
Technical terms and your ability to use them throughout the exam will be one of the keys to your success. You have learnt a number of technical terms and theories across the whole of the media studies and film studies course and it's important that you are able to use them in your responses. As well as the technical terms below, be sure to revise your theories such as Barthes's Enigma Codes, Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium and the Uses and Gratifications Theory.
​Sound
- Diegetic and non-diegetic
- Parallel and contrapuntal
- Parallel is when the music we hear (non-diegetic) works in parallel to what we see on screen whereas contrapuntal is where the music DOES NOT suit what we see on screen e.g. a violent scene with happy up-beat music.
- Sound bridges – sound to link two scenes together
- Ambient sound - the background noise present in a scene
- Sound effects
Editing
- Cut - One image is suddenly replaced by another, without a visible transition.
- Jump Cut - Where two shots appear to "jump“ from one to the other.
- Cross-dissolve - One image dissolves into another.
- Fade up - An image gradually fades in.
- Fade out - An image gradually fades out.
- Wipe - One image replaces another without dissolving, with the border between the images moving across or around the screen.
Cinematography
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Camera angles: extreme close up, close up, medium shot, long shot, extreme long shot, birds eye view, worms eye view, glance shot…
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Camera movement: tilt, track, pan, zoom and follow.
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Focus: out of focus, in focus, pull focus (this is when the focus is adjusted from one thing to another in one shot)
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Zoom - Camera moves closer to a character or focus
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Follow - The camera physically follows the subject at a more or less constant distance.
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Pan - Horizontal movement, left and right.
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Tilt - Vertical movement of the camera angle, i.e. pointing the camera up and down
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Track - movement which stays a constant distance from the action
Mise-En-Scene
- Setting (including location)
- Costume
- Props
- Lighting/colour
- Performance: gesture & body language