The following terms are commonly used in film screenplays and shooting scripts:

Backlighting: Illumination coming from behind the actors or objects being filmed. Used to increase the presence of the object or person in a dramatic way.

Close Shot (CS): A shot where the view is close to the action. Not as close as a close-up but not as far back as a medium shot.

Close-up (CU): A shot in which we see the head and shoulders of the actor. In a tight close-up, we see only the head and in an extreme close-up only a portion of the face (eyes, mouth, etc.).

Crane Shot: A shot (usually a pan or tilt) in which a crane is used to lift the camera above the action.

Cutaway: A shot inserted into the master or establishing shot (see below) in order to focus on some elements of the scene. For example, a director may cut away from a medium shot of a fight scene to a close-up of an actor in order to show his emotions.

Defocus: To deliberately take a shot out of focus. This is usually done to make a transition from one scene to another.

Dissolve: The gradual fading out of one shot while simultaneously fading in on another. Often used to make a transition from one scene to another.

Dolly Shot: A shot in which the whole camera is moved to follow the action.

Dutch Angle or Oblique Angle Shot: A shot in which the camera is tilted off the normal vertical axis. This shot tends to give the scene an off-kilter or odd look.

Establishing or Master Shot: A shot used to show the overall view of a location or all of the actors involved in a scene. It is usually a wide or long shot, used to orient the viewer to the scene. Other shots are often edited into the master shot.

Exterior: A shot taken outdoors, usually with natural lighting.

Fade: The gradual increase or decrease of light at the beginning or end of a shot. For example, a fade out has the shot going to black at the end of the scene. Often used as a transition if a dissolve is not used.

High-Angle Shot: A shot taken from above. This tends to make the objects shot look smaller and less imposing.

Interior: A shot taken indoors, usually with artificial lighting.

Jump Cut: A cut (edit) that visually jars or disturbs the viewer, most often by making a break in the continuity of a scene.

Long Shot (LS): A shot in which the subject is at a great distance.

Low-Angle Shot: A shot where the subject is shot from below. Tends to make objects appear bigger or more imposing.

Medium Shot (MS): A shot in between a long shot and a close shot. A medium shot usually includes most of a person’s body.

Objective Camera: When the scene is shot from the viewpoint of a spectator watching from outside the scene. The opposite of subjective camera.

Off Screen (OS): Words heard in a shot, with the actor outside the camera’s view.

Panning: Moving the camera in a horizontal direction from either left to right or right to left. Often used to follow the action in a scene.

Point of View (POV): Indicates the point of view the camera shows the audience, sometimes through a particular character’s eyes.

Pull Back: To have the camera zoom out—usually rapidly.

Sequence: A series of scenes edited together that is somewhat complete. In comparison to writing, a shot is like a sentence, a scene is like a paragraph and a sequence is like a chapter.

Super: To overlay one shot (often graphics or a title) over another shot.

Tilt: Moving the camera in a vertical direction either up or down. Often used to follow action in a scene.

Two-shot: A shot in which two actors are framed together.

Voice-Over (VO): Words spoken off-screen that are heard over the visual shots.

Zoom-in: Moving the camera closer to the object being filmed.

Zoom-out: Moving the camera farther away from the object being filmed.

Earl Haig Secondary School
Department of English

Film Terminology

© Oxford University Press (Canada) 2002. Permission to reproduce for classroom use restricted to schools purchasing Echoes 12 Anthology.

Film Terminology

Electronic conversion provided by GeniSoft Development Corporation.

Chris Dyck

2005-10-17

Student

Vince Morgan

Oxford University Press