Action films: key terms
When writing about the extract you have been shown examiners will expect you to use the appropriate technical language whenever necessary. Below is a list of these terms under the five areas you are expected to cover.
Camera angle, shot, movement and position
- establishing shot – eg shot of a building to show that what follows occurs inside;
- master shot – a shot that is returned to at the beginning or end of ’sections’;
- close-up;
- long shot;
- wide shot;
- two-shot – two people in the shot;
- high angle – the camera looks down on the subject;
- low angle – the camera looks up at the subject;
- aerial shot – shot from above;
- point of view;
- pan – camera movement from side to side from a fixed position;
- crane – filmed with the help of a crane;
- tilt – like ‘pan’ but up and down;
- track – follow alongside the subject;
- dolly – the dolly is a short piece of track that allows movement either backwards and forwards or from side to side;
- zoom/reverse zoom;
- framing – the composition of a shot and the relationship of the elements within it;
- composition – what is included in a shot;
- hand-held;
- steadicam – like a hand-held camera but ’steadier’.
Editing
- Sound and vision editing – cut; fade; wipe; edit;
- FX – often used in the credits of programmes where the edit is enhanced. For example a sword may be used to make the wipe from one shot to the next;
- dissolve;
- long take – the time between edits is called a ‘take’;
- superimpose;
- slow motion;
- synchronous/asynchronous sound – the sound matches the action/or not.
Sound
- Soundtrack;
- theme tune;
- incidental music – used to create particular emotions (eg fear, sympathy) at key moments;
- sound effects;
- ambient sound – the sound from within the scene eg a radio;
- dialogue – people speaking;
- voiceover;
- mode of address/direct address – do the people in the scene speak to you, are they angry, sarcastic, patronising?
Special effects
- Graphics – pictures;
- captions – used to establish location. Spielberg uses this in Close Encounters of the Third Kind to add credibility and authenticity;
- computer generated images (CGI);
- animation – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom makes use of hand-drawn animation during the famous mining car chase;
- pyrotechnics – fire, explosions, fireworks etc;
- stunts;
- models – these can be big or little. Think of the ship in ‘Titanic’ as it sinks (big) and the space ships in Star Wars (little);
- back projection – a technique used to display an image behind a person/set. Often achieved using a ‘blue screen’.
Mise-en-Scene
- Location;
- set;
- studio/set design;
- costume;
- properties;
- ambient lighting – day light, lamp light that makes up part of the production eg a streetlamp;
- artificial lighting;
- production design period/era;
- colour design – remember colours have powerful connotations.
