Film Techniques and Sound

Diegetic Sound

• Sound that originates from within the story world.
• The characters and the audience can both hear it.
• Commonly referred to as "literal sound" or "actual sound".

Non-Diegetic Sound

• Sound that originates from outside the story world.
• The audience can hear it, but the characters cannot.

Mystery and Suspense

• Mystery: The narrative presents effects while withholding causes.
• Suspense: The narrative presents causes while withholding effects.

Cross-Cutting

• Cutting between different sets of action that can be occurring simultaneously or at different times.

Depth of Field (DOF)

• The distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image.

Deep Focus

• A technique where both near and far objects in a scene are in focus.

Shallow Focus

• A technique where only one plane of the image is in focus, while the rest is out of focus.

Rack Focusing

• A technique that uses shallow focus to shift the viewer's attention from one subject to another.

Dolly

• A set of wheels and a platform that allows the camera to move.

Editing

• The process of selecting and joining together different shots.

Mise-en-Scène

• French for "putting into the scene," it encompasses every detail within the frame of the film.
• Includes setting, colors, brightness, location, costumes, staging of actors, direction of actors, camera angles, choice of lenses, and sound.

Continuity Editing

• Editing techniques used to ensure the spatial orientation of the viewer.
• Constructs the scene's space along an "axis of action" (also known as the "180-degree Line").
• The axis of action determines a 180-degree area where the camera can be placed to present the action.

Axis of Action (180° Line)

• An imaginary line drawn between two points of interest or action.
• Cameras are typically placed on one side of the axis to maintain screen position, direction, and eyeline consistency.

Ellipsis

• Refers to periods of time that are left out of the narrative.

Jump Cut

• An abrupt cut between two shots that draws attention to itself due to the lack of seamless matching.

Dissolve

• A transition between scenes or sequences achieved by briefly superimposing the end of one shot onto the beginning of the next.

Wipe

• Shot B replaces shot A by means of a boundary line moving across the screen.

Flashback

• A scene or sequence that is inserted into present-day action to depict an event from the past.

Flash-Forward

• A scene or sequence inserted into present-day action to depict an event from the future.

Establishing Shot

• Sets up the context for a scene by showing the relationship between important figures and objects.
• Often used at the beginning of a scene to establish the location and setting.

Point of View Shot (POV)

• A subjective shot showing the scene from the perspective of a character.