This study guide covers all the key terms covered in the Media Aesthetic tutorials. Most definitions are from the textbook and the slides. Using this guide, I received an 8.5 for the exam.
form: the means by which a subject is expressed. The form for movies is
pictures and sound.
synopsis: An outline of the action that briefly describes the essential ideas and
structure for a film (also known as treatment).
summary: a short description of the plot
explicit meaning: everything that a movie presents on its surface.
implicit meaning: an association, connection or inference that a viewer makes
based on the given (explicit) meaning conveyed by the story and form of a film.
formal analysis: film analysis that examines how a scene or sequence uses
formal elements – narrative, cinematography etc. - to convey the story, mood and
meaning.
cultural analysis: film analysis that examines the cultural background of the
films
themes: A shared, public idea, such as a metaphor, and adage (a proverb or
short statement expressing a general truth), a familiar conflict, or personality
type.
motifs: A recurring visual, sound or narrative element that imparts meaning or
significance.
shots: One uninterrupted run of the camera. A shot can be as short or long as
the director wants, but it cannot exceed the length of the film stock in camera.
sequence: A series of edited shots characterized by inherent unity of theme and
purpose.
scenes: A complete unit of plot action incorporating one or more shots; the
setting of that action.
cinematic language: The accepted systems, methods or conventions by which
movies communicate with the viewer.
cultural invisibility: Just as the techniques of film making can go unnoticed
during a casual viewing of a movie, so too can the cultural mores and prejudices
lurking under the surface of a movie. These are employed by the film maker to
reinforce the casual viewers subconscious beliefs or world views.
,realism: An interest in or concern for the actual or real; a tendency to view or
represent things as they really are.
antirealism: A treatment that is against or the opposite of realism. However,
realism and antirealism are not strict polarities.
formalism: An approach to style and storytelling that values conspicuously
expressive form over the unobtrusive form associated with realism.
verisimilitude: A convincing appearance of truth. Movies are verisimilar when
they convince you that the things on the screen – people, places, and so on; no
matter how fantastic or antirealistic – are “really there”.
editing: The process by which the editor combines and coordinates individual
shots into a cinematic whole; the basic creative force of cinema.
storyboards: A shot-by-shot breakdown that combines sketches or photographs
of how each shot is to look and written descriptions of the other elements that are
to go with each shot, including dialogue, sound, and music.
blocking: The actual physical relationships among figures and settings. Also, the
process during rehearsal of establishing those relationships.
dolly in: Slow movement of the camera toward a subject, making the subject
appear larger and more significant. Such gradual intensification is commonly
used at moments of a character's realization or decision or as a point-of-view
shot to indicate the reason for the character's realization.
point of view (POV): The position from which a film presents the actions of
the story; not only the relation of the narrator(s) to the story, but also the
camera's act of seeing and hearing. The two fundamental types of cinematic
point of view are omniscient and restricted.
parallel editing: The position from which a film presents the actions of the story;
not only the relation of the narrator(s) to the story, but also the camera's act of
seeing and hearing. The two fundamental types of cinematic point of view are
omniscient and restricted.
mediation: An agent, structure, or other formal element, whether human or
technological, that transfers something, such as information in the case of
movies, from one place to another.
MacGuffin: It is something of vital importance to the characters in a film that
turns out to be less significant to the overall narrative than first expected.
, Film narration
3rd tutorial
story: In a movie, all the events we see or hear on the screen, as well as all the
events that are implicit or infer to have happened but are not explicitly presented.
plot: The specific actions and events that filmmakers select, and the order in
which they arrange those events and actions to effectively convey on-screen the
movie’s narrative to a viewer.
narrative: A cinematic structure in which content is selected and arranged in
cause-and-effect sequence of events occurring over time.
narration: The act of telling of the story of the film. The primary source of a
movie’s narration is the camera, which narrates the story by showing us the
events of the narrative on-screen. When the word narration is used to refer more
narrowly to spoken narration, the reference is to the commentary spoken by
either on offscreen or on-screen voice. When that commentary in not spoken by
one of the characters in the movie, it is omniscient narration; when spoken by a
character within the movie, it is first-person narration.
narrator: Who or what that tells the story of a film. The primary narrator in
cinema is the camera, which narrates the film by showing us events in the
movie’s narrative.
diegetic element: An element – event, character, object, setting – that form the
world in which the story occurs.
non-diegetic element: Something that we see and hear on the screen that
comes from the outside the world of the story, such as background music, titles,
credits and voice-over narration.
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