The film industry is built upon many technologies and techniques, drawing upon photography, stagecraft, music, and many other disciplines. Following is an index of specific terminology applicable thereto.
Pan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown in fullscreen proportions of a standard-definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects.
In cinematography, a tracking shot is any shot where the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded. Mostly the camera’s position is parallel to the character, creating a sideway motion, tracking the character. Tracking shots differ in motion from dolly shots, where the camera follows behind or before the character resulting in either an inward or an outward movement. Often the camera is mounted on a camera dolly which rides on rails similar to a railroad track; in this case, the shot is referred to as a dolly shot. A handheld steadycam or gimbal may also be used for smaller scale productions. The camera is then pushed along the track while the scene is being filmed, or moved manually when using a handheld rig. The effect can be used to create a sense of movement, to follow a character or object, or a sense of immersion to draw the viewer into the action.
A view camera is a large-format camera in which the lens forms an inverted image on a ground-glass screen directly at the film plane. The image is viewed, composed, and focused, then the glass screen is replaced with the film to expose exactly the same image seen on the screen.
In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time that the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light when taking a photograph. The amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the exposure time. 1⁄500 of a second will let half as much light in as 1⁄250.
In photography and cinematography, a wide-angle lens is a lens covering a large angle of view. Conversely, its focal length is substantially smaller than that of a normal lens for a given film plane. This type of lens allows more of the scene to be included in the photograph, which is useful in architectural, interior, and landscape photography where the photographer may not be able to move farther from the scene to photograph it.
Cinematography is the art of motion picture photography.
A zoom lens is a system of camera lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed-focal-length (FFL) lens.
Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. For example, an image of a scene may be captured at 1 frame per second but then played back at 30 frames per second; the result is an apparent 30 times speed increase. Similarly, film can also be played at a much lower rate than at which it was captured, which slows down an otherwise fast action, as in slow motion or high-speed photography.
In filmmaking and photography, the Dutch angle, also known as Dutch tilt, canted angle, or oblique angle, is a type of camera shot which involves setting the camera at an angle so that the shot is composed with vertical lines at an angle to the side of the frame, or so that the horizon line of the shot is not parallel with the bottom of the frame. This produces a viewpoint akin to tilting one's head to the side. In cinematography, the Dutch angle is one of many cinematic techniques often used to portray psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. The Dutch angle is strongly associated with German expressionist cinema, which employed it extensively.
In photography, a tripod is a portable device used to support, stabilize and elevate a camera, a flash unit, or other videographic or observational/measuring equipment. All photographic tripods have three legs and a mounting head to couple with a camera. The mounting head usually includes a thumbscrew that mates to a female-threaded receptacle on the camera, as well as a mechanism to be able to rotate and tilt the camera when it is mounted on the tripod. Tripod legs are usually made to telescope, in order to save space when not in use. Tripods are usually made from aluminum, carbon fiber, steel, wood or plastic.
This article contains a list of cinematic techniques that are divided into categories and briefly described.
Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques that reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during exposure.
In cinematography and photography, panning means swivelling a still or video camera horizontally from a fixed position. This motion is similar to the motion of a person when they turn their head on their neck from left to right. In the resulting image, the view seems to "pass by" the spectator as new material appears on one side of the screen and exits from the other, although perspective lines reveal that the entire image is seen from a fixed point of view.
VR photography is the interactive viewing of panoramic photographs, generally encompassing a 360-degree circle or a spherical view. The results is known as VR photograph, 360-degree photo, photo sphere, or spherical photo, as well as interactive panorama or immersive panorama.
A pan-tilt-zoom camera is a robotic camera capable of panning horizontally, tilting vertically, and zooming. PTZ cameras are often positioned at guard posts where active employees may manage them using a remote camera controller. Their primary function is to monitor expansive open regions that need views in the range of 180 or 360 degrees. Depending on the camera or software being used, they may also be set up to automatically monitor motion-activated activities or adhere to a defined schedule.
Articles related to the field of motion pictures include:
In photography and cinematography, headroom or head room is a concept of aesthetic composition that addresses the relative vertical position of the subject within the frame of the image. Headroom refers specifically to the distance between the top of the subject's head and the top of the frame, but the term is sometimes used instead of lead room, nose room or 'looking room' to include the sense of space on both sides of the image. The amount of headroom that is considered aesthetically pleasing is a dynamic quantity; it changes relative to how much of the frame is filled by the subject. Rather than pointing and shooting, one must compose the image to be pleasing. Too much room between a subject's head and the top of frame results in dead space.
This glossary of motion picture terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts related to motion pictures, filmmaking, cinematography, and the film industry in general.
In cinematography, remote heads, also known as 'hot' heads, or robos are motorized mechanical and/or electronic devices that are used as a mount for film, video or digital cinema cameras and can be controlled from a distance. In most cases this refers to control not only of the physical orientation of the camera body, such as pan (horizontal), tilt (vertical), roll, but also control over many or all camera functions – focus, zoom, color balance, gamma correction, camera menus and other related functions.
