A Beginners Guide To Film Language

In this post I’m sharing some basic film language, a beginner’s guide if you will. 

 

Why's it basic? Well, from my own experience as a film student these are terms and phrases you’re introduced to in initial lectures and seminars. Over the last three years whilst doing my film degree I’ve used each of these countless times to analyse film and consider academic texts. I couldn’t write anything about film without using basic film language! 

 

Being a film fan doesn’t necessarily mean knowing film language is a must, but it’ll definitely give you a greater understanding and appreciation of a film and the way it's made. Additionally, these terms and phrases are often used when discussing film so if you love to listen to podcasts, radio shows, or read reviews then these will be handy to know! 

 

Cinematography

An essential component, cinematography is the art of motion picture photography. This involves the composition of a shot, lighting, framing, special effects, camera angle and movements.  The features that make up cinematography are those that effect the way we take in a film and its narrative but don't necessarily take too much notice of. 

 

Editing

A creative and technical part of the post-production of filmmaking, editing is basically assembling shots into a coherent sequence to tell a story or convey a message. For example, a scene can be made up of several shots from various angles or viewpoints that are edited together. 

 

Sound 

In film sound is used three ways: dialogue, music and sound effects are crucial when it comes to an audience’s perception of a film. The soundtrack is often favoured with audiences whether it’s been originally composed for a film or a collection of popular music. John Williams and Hans Zimmer are both well-known composers who favour a classical technique and are renowned in their field. When Williams’s career began to take off in the mid-1970s the popular music soundtrack had emerged with films like Easy Rider and The Graduate. 

 

Narrative 

The narrative is simply a film’s storyline, it is typically linear as the audience follow events unfolding as they occur. The characters of a film are typically responsible for the cause and effect in a narrative. For example, we may follow a main character who drives the narrative forward. 

 

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene refers to the arrangement on stage of actors and stage design- pretty much everything in front of the camera including props, lighting, hair, makeup, film texture, and composition. It’s the visual presentation and look of a production.

 

Performance 

The performance of a character by an actor in a film is often the most criticised or praised by critics. An actor’s performance in a film can make or break their career, launching them into stardom. For example, renowned actress Jodie Foster’s breakthrough role was in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) in which she played child prostitute Iris Steensma.