The document provides definitions and explanations of key filmmaking techniques and concepts. It covers: - Auteur theory and the role of the director as a visionary. - The six major film studios that dominate Hollywood production. - How camerawork can influence how the audience views the world of the film. - Demographics and how they help media producers target specific audience groups. - The role of editing in organizing shots and establishing continuity for audiences. - The French New Wave film movement that experimented with conventions. - Additional concepts like genre, narrative, reception theory, and stereotypes.

1. Summer Assignment
A Auteur The director of the film is the most important visionary in the film, they are more like
an author or artist in their style and the way they express their ideas
B Big 6 The 6 big media companies that dominate Hollywood cinema; Disney Warner
Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount and Sony. They are made up of
hundreds of smaller companies that work together so a film isn’t just a film it’s an
enterprise with websites, games, merchandise etc
C Camerawork How the audience feels towards the world is how the camera portrays it
D Demographics Statistical information which relates to an audience, media producers can make sure
their content is tailored to the people they want depending on age, ethnicity, income,
religion. The info can be passed to advertisers so they can target their products to a
specific group
E Editing The brain that filters the camera work, editing helps organise and filter the decisions in
filmmaking such as what shots should follow the other, how long a shot lasts, how they
transition into another. This helps establish a continuity that allows the audience to
understand the meaning
F French New
Wave
The young French film makers who experimented with film in new ways, they did it
differently from Hollywood’s established conventions such as linearity and continuity
G Genre The classification of a text based on its generic conventions e.g. sci-fi will consist of
aliens and space
H Hypodermic
Needle
A dated view that the audience is passive to the influence of the media, audience is
powerless to the messages they are getting from the media and they’ll believe whatever
they are told
I Intertextuality When a text refers to another media text to create extra meaning
J Jenkins Henry Jenkins is a contemporary communication theorist who’s done work on how the
internets transformed the entire media landscape
K Key concept Language; in films they use camera angles and editing, in magazines they use layout
typography
Institution; the study of who makes the media, what are their ideologies
Audience; the study of who watches the media, why’d they watch it
Representation; the study of how our media represents the world
L Laura Mulvey A British feminist who in the 1970s produced work on the male gaze theory, it explains
how the male dominated film industry views women from the males perspective
M Mise-en-scene A French word that means within the scene. It includes the set, the props, the makeup,
the hair anything an audience can see in the frame
N Narrative How the story is told, not just the plot but the actual structure of it. How a tv show or
film is a series of chapters, the beginning the middle, the end how each one progresses
the narrative
O OFCOM A UK organization that is responsible for regulating all media communications by
setting out guidelines for each media sector and fielding complaints from the public
P Propp Vladimir Propp, a Russian film critic who suggested in all texts several archetypal
characters served narrative roles. A villain will cause disruption that needs to be
resolved, a dispatcher will send the hero on a quest to restore order
Q Queer Theory Area of research that suggests gender and sexuality are constructs of society rather than
nature
R Reception
Theory
The idea that based on a person’s cultural background, age, or gender they will
probably interperate a media text in one of 3 ways, they may agree, they may sort of
agree, they may completely disagree

2. Summer Assignment
Camerawork
Technique
Photo Description
Extreme close-
up
A specific facial featurefills
the frame to ensure the
audience focuses on that
facial feature and the
characters
emotion/reaction.
S Stereotypes Representation which consists of a few exaggerated traits, they are often used to
establish character types for the audience
T Todorov He suggested that all narratives consist of several different developments, starts with an
equilibrium (everything’s fine), then there’s some disruption and something bad
happens, then that’s resolved and there’s a new equilibrium and everything goes back
to being normal
U Uses and
Gratification
Why audiences engage with the media texts that they do whether it’s for entertainment,
a sense of personal identity, social interaction or just to find out information. Unlike
the hypodermic needle theory, it’s just the audience and active participants, they use
the media and aren’t passively controlled by it
V Viral When something is shared from person to person like a virus and it literally appears
into their inbox whether that’s email or recommended on Facebook, it’s the holy grail
of marketing campaigns
W Widescreen A term used to describe aspect ratios greater than 1.3:1
X X-Rated In America the MPAA was created to issue the x-rating to films which contain scenes
with graphic violence or sexual scenes or bad language
Y Young and
Rubicum
They came up with the cross-cultural consumer characterization model which identifies
the consumption habits of most audiences by defining 7 types of people
Z Zolly The less formal word for a zooming dolly shot iconically used by Hitchcock, this effect
is created by moving the camera closer or away from a subject whilst zooming in or
out to keep the subject the same size

3. Summer Assignment
Close-up Head and shoulders usually
used to draw focus to a
specific character or
object.
Mid/medium
shot
Shows torso and some
background.
Long shot Shows entire body of a
character, shows
background/location.

4. Summer Assignment
Establishing
shot
Tells the audience where
we are; establishes a
location.
Point-of-view
shot (POV)
A camera shot taken from
the position of the
subjects.
Two shot Two characters fill the
frame.
Over-the-
shoulder
This shot looks over an
actor’s shoulder,looking at
another actor to show that
they are having a
conversation.

5. Summer Assignment
Eye-level The audience is at the
same height/level as the
actors/characters.
High angle The camera is higher than
most of the actors, and
looks down on a
character/actor.
Low angle The camera is lower than
most of the actors, and
looks up on a
character/actor.
Canted-angle A shot which is tilted to one
side.

6. Summer Assignment
Birds-eye-view
(ariel)
The view from high above,
as if you were lookingfrom
the perspective of a bird.
Worms-eye
view
As if the camera was on the
ground and you were
lookingthrough the eyes of
an insect/worm from the
ground.
a. Soft focus – deliberate slight blurring or lack of definition in a photograph or film
b. Shallow focus – part of the image is in focus while the rest is out of focus or blurred. This draws the
audience’s attention to a particular action/character
c. Deep focus – a camera technique that affords great depth of field, keeping both close and distant
planes in focus at the same time
d. Pull Focus – a creative camera technique in which you change focus during a shot, this usually
means adjusting the focus from one subject to another

7. Summer Assignment
e. Pan – when the camera moves across from side to side from a fixed position
f. Tilt – where the camera moves up and down from a fixed position
g. Crane – where the camera, mounted on a crane, moves around at a distance above ground level;
capable of achieving high elevations and movements
h. Dolly Zoom – a cinematic technique in which the camera moves closer or further from the subject
while at the same time adjusting the zoom to keep the subject the same size in the frame. The
effect is that the subject appears stationary while the background size changes.
i. Track – where the camera follows the action, moving along tracks or a dolly
j. Steadicam – often used to create the illusion that the audience is in the action, while providing
smooth and wide-range of motion
k. Handheld – this technique is often used to suggest a greater sense of authenticity, for example it
could be used to provide ‘eye witness’ accounts of situations, linked to the point-of-view of a
particular character or characters. Can also be used to create tension within a scene; a greater
sense uneasiness
l. Whip pan – a camera panning movement fast enough to give a blurred picture
m. Static – a shot that does not have any tilts, pans, dollies or trucks.
1. Find out the definition of the following mise-en-scene terms focus, and add them to your document.
a. Locations and Setting - the context and environment in which a situation is set; the background,
time, place and circumstances in which a narrative, drama or film takes place
b. Props – a portable object other than furniture or costumes used on the set of a play or film
c. Costume – a set of clothes in a style typical of a particular country, historical period or class
d. Hair and make-up – a makeup artiste is an artist whose medium us the human body, applying
makeup and prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion. As well as make up they’re
responsible for the style and cut of the hair to match the genre and time period
e. Facial expression and body language – on or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the
skin of the face. According to one set of the controversial theories, these movements convey the
emotional state of an individual to observers
f. Blocking – a scene is simply “working out the details of an actors moves in relation to the camera”
g. Low key lighting – accentuates the contours of the subject by throwing areas into shade while a fill
light or reflector may illuminate the shadow areas to control contrast
h. High key lighting – a style of lighting for film that sims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the
scene