From The All-Movie Guide Film Glossary
(Konigsberg, Ira. The Complete Film Dictionary. New York: Meridian, 1987.):
Narrative:
A term denoting a story in any form of human expression where no single individual is telling the story.
Narrative Film:
Narrative
films can include a large corpus of fiction and nonfiction films
including documentaries and dramas though the genre is predominantly
fictitious. Narrative films primarily concentrate on story lines and can
include character development but the drama and usual fiction are
emphasized.
Plot:
The events in an individual narrative and how they are arranged. Arguably the plot and the story are not the same.
{Narrative
includes everything that is supposed to have happened in the "story";
plot is more concretely the scenes that are presented in the film, in
the precise order in which they are
presented.
Story:
The
specific unfolding of a sequence of events in a film. It includes
character involvement, settings, and an order that superimposed in an
arbitrary manner by the screen writer or by a parallel historical
sequence through which the themes are developed. The story is general
whereas the plot is specific and includes both internal and external
relations to the work.
"Basic Elements of a Film"
Frame:
Frames
in essence are still images that are collected in quick succession,
developed, and projected giving the illusion of motion. Each individual,
or still, image on motion picture film is referred to as a frame.
Shot:
In
the process of photographing a scene a shot refers to one constant take
by the camera. It is most often filmed at one time with a solo camera.
Sequence:
Segments of a film narrative that are edited together and unified by a common setting, time, event or story-line.
Sound Track:
That
portion of the sound film medium to which are recorded the dialogue,
music, narration and sound effects. The sound head and film gate on a
film projector are physically separated from one another. This gap is
covered during the recording of a sound-film by keeping the soundtrack
recording a few frames head of the photographic image. The sound passes
over the projector head at the same time the photographic image passes
before the projector's light aperture/lens (the film gate).
Cutting (a.k.a. Editing):
The
process of changing from one shot to another accomplished through the
camera or by the splicing of shots together by the cutter (editor). This
is also referred to as editing, the preferred term, and includes the
decisions, controls, sensibilities, vision and integrative capabilities
of the individual editing (cutting) artist.
Montage:
In
the production and editing of film this term has come to refer to a
seemingly unrelated series of frames combined so that one scene quickly
dissolves into the next, shifting categories, effects and settings in
such a manner as to convey a quick passage of time or an abstract unity
through thematic devices such as meter, rhythm, tonality, and
intellectuality (viz Eisenstein). Continuity, if it exists, is not
captured in a frame by frame juxtaposition but rather through an
abstraction. (Also see "mise-en-scene".)
Camera Angle:
This
term refers to the point of view held by the focal point of the camera
when it is positioned for shooting. Included in the angle is the
perspective given by the camera to the depth of focus, height and width
of the particular object and action being photographed. The angle also
refers to whether the shot is taken from behind, in front, from the side
or from the top or bottom of the particular view. Terms appropriated
for these various angles include eye-level angle, high-angle, low-angle,
sideview angle and the "Dutch" angle.
Distance:
Distance
refers to the amount of relational space between the audience and the
character on the screen. Though the characters are two-dimensional and
the audience is distinctly separate from the screen by dead space
(virtual reality in the theatre has not yet been developed) the camera's
perspective, in effect, attempts to provide the amount of space desired
subject to the director's discretion. This space often results in the
interaction and psychological connection between the characters and the
audience. The connection is achieved through the dynamics and varying
degrees between long shots, medium shots and close-ups.
Establishing Shot (a.k.a. "Master Shot")
At
the beginning of a film, episode or scene within a film, a wide-angle
or "full-shot" is photographed for the purpose of identifying the
location or setting. Thus the audience has established, or been given
the opportunity to surmise an orientation. It also helps to establish
the distinctions between the general locale and the specific details --
from subsequent shots -- within the general context.
[The Establishing shot is a wide-angle shot and/or a long shot.]
Camera Movement:
Conventional
uses of the camera to obtain camera angles and various perspectives
while filming include panning, tilting, tracking or zooming of the
camera. These camera ploys are also known as camera movement and rarely
does the camera remain static. When a movement does occur, however, the
camera comes to a rest providing a smooth transition to the scene.
Movements are coordinated with the action in a scene so that the camera
does not go in the opposite direction of the action (i.e. action
left-to-right.) Of course, many alternative and experimental methods are
used in the film industry and camera movement is no exception.
Dolly:
Cameras
and other equipment, such as microphones and lights, are often carried
around the set on movable platforms. These are dollys and are
independently moved by the dolly grip so that the technician, be s/he
cameraman, audio or lighting technician, can keep their concerns
focused. Dollys are often run on tracks for special dolly pans, chinese
dollys, or for mere structurally smoothness. Most of the time, dollys
are used for camera work and can include booms for the cameras which
allows for the lowering, raising and pivoting of the camera. All of
these shots can be achieved simultaneously with an horizontal movement
of the camera upon the dolly track.
Dolly Shot:
A
camera perspective, on a moving or stationary subject, obtained while
the camera is in motion on either a dolly or a camera truck. When the
camera is so mounted and moves toward a closer proximity of the subject
it is called "dolly-in"; likewise, when the camera is so mounted and
moves away from the subject it is referred to as "dolly-out".
{From
the Complete Film Dictionary: Tracking Shot: ... So called because it
is sometimes photographed from a dolly that moves on tracks, also refers
particularly to a shot in which the camera follows the movement of a
subject.}
Crane:
A large camera dolly that
can raise the camera as much as twenty feet above the ground. The crane
has the capacity to move forward and backward and is usually operated by
electronic controls. Motions are generally silent and the crane allows
shots to be made over a wide ranging area providing great access to
cover shots.
Pan:
From the Greek "pan"
meaning "all" this movement of the camera is achieved by moving the
camera while turning it on an horizontal access. At least four functions
are served by this technique including an all encompasing view of the
scene, a device for leading the audience to a particular person or
place, following a person or vehicle across a distant scene, or giving
the audience the visual images and perspective as seen by a character
when turning her/his head.
{A turn of the camera up or down on the vertical axis is called a "tilt."}
[From the Complete Film Dictionary:
Zoom Shot:
A shot taken with a zoom lens in which the focal length of the lens
changes from wide angle to long focus or the reverse so that the camera
seems to move in to (i.e., "zoom in" to) or away from (i.e., "zoom out"
from) the subject while the camera actually remains stationary.]
