Cinematic techniques


This article contains a list of cinematic techniques that are divided into categories and briefly described.

Basic definitions of terms

;180-degree rule
;Airborne shot
;Arc
;Backlighting
;Bridging shot
;Camera angle
;Close-up
;Cut
;Cross-cutting
;Continuity editing
;Deep focus
;Dissolve
;Camera dolly
;Dollying or Dolly shot
;Dolly zoom
;Editing
;Ellipsis
;Establishing shot
;Eyeline match
;Extreme close-up
;Extreme long shot
;Fade in/out
;Fill light
;Flashback
;Flashforward
;Focus
;Framing
;Hand-held shot
;Inter-title
;Iris in/out
;Jump cut
;Key light
;Long shot
;Master shot
;Match cut
;Medium close-up
;Medium shot
;Mise en scène
;Over the shoulder shot
;Pan
;Point of view shot
;Racking focus
;Reverse angle
;Scene
;Shot
;Static Frame
;Steadicam
;Story board
;Tilt
;Tracking shot/traveling shot
;Truck
;Two shot
;Whip pan
;Whip zoom
;Wipe
;Zoom

Cinematography

Movement and expression

Movement can be used extensively by film makers to make meaning. It is how a scene is put together to produce an image. A famous example of this, which uses "dance" extensively to communicate meaning and emotion, is the film, West Side Story.
Provided in this alphabetised list of film techniques used in motion picture filmmaking. There are a variety of expressions:
  • Aerial perspective
  • Aerial shot
  • American shot
  • Angle of view
  • Bird's eye shot
  • Bird's-eye view
  • Boom shot
  • B-roll
  • Camera angle
  • Camera coverage
  • Camera dolly
  • Camera operator
  • Camera tracking
  • Close-up
  • Crane shot
  • Dolly zoom
  • Dutch angle
  • Establishing shot
  • Film frame
  • Filmmaking
  • Follow shot
  • Forced perspective
  • Freeze-frame shot
  • Full frame
  • Full shot
  • Hanging miniature
  • Head shot
  • High-angle shot
  • Long shot
  • Long take
  • Low-angle shot
  • Master shot
  • Medium shot
  • Money shot
  • Multiple-camera setup
  • One shot
  • Over the shoulder shot
  • Panning
  • Point of view shot
  • Rack focusing
  • Reaction shot
  • Shaky camera
  • Shot
  • Shot reverse shot
  • Single-camera setup
  • SnorriCam
  • Stalker vision
  • Tilt
  • Top-down perspective
  • Tracking shot
  • Trunk shot
  • Two shot
  • Video production
  • Walk and talk
  • Whip pan
  • Worm's-eye view

    Lighting technique and aesthetics

  • Background lighting
  • Cameo lighting
  • Fill light
  • Flood lighting
  • High-key lighting
  • Key lighting
  • Lens flare
  • Low-key lighting
  • Mood lighting
  • Rembrandt lighting
  • Stage lighting
  • Soft light
To achieve the results mentioned above, a Lighting Director may use a number or combination of Video Lights. These may include the Redhead or Open-face unit, The Fresnel Light, which gives you a little more control over the spill, or The Dedolight, which provides a more efficient light output and a beam which is easier to control.

Editing and transitional devices

Sound is used extensively in filmmaking to enhance presentation, and is distinguished into diegetic and non-diegetic sound:
  • Diegetic sound is heard by both the characters and audience. Also called "literal sound" or "actual sound". Examples include
  • *Voices of characters;
  • *Sounds made by objects in the story, e.g. heart beats of a person
  • *Source music, represented as coming from instruments in the story space.
  • *Basic sound effects, e.g. dog barking, car passing; as it is in the scene
  • *Music coming from reproduction devices such as record players, radios, tape players etc.
  • Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from a source outside the story space, i.e. its source is neither visible on the screen, nor has been implied to be present in the action. Also called "non-literal sound" or "commentary sound". Examples include:
  • *Narrator's commentary;
  • *Sound effects added for dramatic effect;
  • *Mood music
  • *Film score

    Sound effects

In motion picture and television production, a sound effect is a sound recorded and presented to make a specific storytelling or creative point, without the use of dialogue or music. The term often refers to a process, applied to a recording, without necessarily referring to the recording itself. In professional motion picture and television production, the segregations between recordings of dialogue, music, and sound effects can be quite distinct, and it is important to understand that in such contexts, dialogue, and music recordings are never referred to as sound effects, though the processes applied to them, such as reverberation or flanging, often are. Necessary incidental units of sound, footsteps, keys, a polishing sound, are created in a Foley studio.

Techniques in interactive movies

New techniques currently being developed in interactive movies, introduce an extra dimension into the experience of viewing movies, by allowing the viewer to change the course of the movie.
In traditional linear movies, the author can carefully construct the plot, roles, and characters to achieve a specific effect on the audience. Interactivity, however, introduces non-linearity into the movie, such that the author no longer has complete control over the story, but must now share control with the viewer. There is an inevitable trade-off between the desire of the viewer for freedom to experience the movie in different ways, and the desire of the author to employ specialized techniques to control the presentation of the story. Computer technology is required to create the illusion of freedom for the viewer, while providing familiar, as well as, new cinematic techniques to the author.