Moving Image Dictionary

Binary Oppositions: The contrast between two mutually exclusive concepts or things that creates conflict and drives a narrative

Non Diegetic- A sound that does not exist in the ‘real world’ of the film, for example this can be the soundtrack which only the audience can hear.

Diegetic- Sounds which can be heard and seen by the characters, this adds effect, for example this is characters talking.

Rule of thirds- A guideline used within film making that divides an image into an Imagined grid. Made up of nine equal parts, which is used for the composition of visual images.

Synergy- The release of different products with films to boost the marketing campaign and films sales, for example The Lego Movie released clothing and having a section at LEGOLAND.

Convergence- Combining two or more mediums, this happens in either production, distribution and exhibition of a film, this happened with The Lego Movie when they released a theme song ‘Everything is Awesome’ and have released a video game with the film.

Horizontal Integration- One large company owning several other companies in different types of media.

Vertical Integration- When a company owns all the stages of the production, distribution and in the case of cinema exhibition of it’s products, a example of this is Warner Bros they did everything for the Lego Movie.

Above the line Costs- Are costs which the more important people are made when a film is being made, for example in The Lego Movie the above the line costs were for people such as actors including: Will Ferrell and Morgan Freeman, also these costs were for people such as the directors who are Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

Below the Line costs- Are costs which the less important people are paid during the making process of a film, for example minor people such as minor background characters in Mrs Browns Boys D’Movie are below the line costs.

Parallel Editing- A editing technique that continuously alters between two or more scenes that are happening simultaneously, but are in different locations. It is usually used to create climax or emphasise oppositional characters and character relationships.

Continuity Editing- A style of editing that is commonly used to emphasise a smooth transition of time and a logical progression through a film’s narrative.

Binary Opposition- The contrast between two opposite things which creates conflict and creates a narrative, good/bad and day/night.

Intertextuality- The influence that media texts have on each other. Result of direct or indirect cross references.

Representation- The way the media presents the world around us in the forms of signs and codes for audiences to read.

Hegemony- This means a position of power or leadership in a given situation.

Ideology- It’s a set of ideas or beliefs which are held to be acceptable by the creators of a media text. For example text may have feminist ideology, meaning it has the idea that women are the equal of men and shouldn’t be discriminated against.

Iconography- This is used to show the conventional meanings attached to certain images to help show specific meanings.

Preferred Reading- This is a meaning of text which the producers intended, the opposite is aberrant reading which is when producers deliberately interpret text to create a different meaning.

Oppositional Reading- The way audiences choose to read the text; this would happen if text is approached by an audience that it was not originally targeted for.

Archetype- A universal type of model or character that is found in many different texts, such as a loyal friend.

Stereotype- This is a representation of people that rely on preconceived ideas about that particular group, that a particular person is belonging to.

Verisimilitude- The quality of appearing to be true or depicting reality. The more the story resembles reality the easier it is for the audience to engage.

High key lighting- This aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in each scene. It’s free from dark shadows and suggests a upbeat mood.

Low key lighting- This aims to decrease the lighting ratio present in each scene, it creates a lot of dark shadows and suggest a down beat mood. Used in product advertising to make the product look better.

Contrapuntal sound- Is where the non diegetic sounds are used to contrast with the scene which is happening in the film or movie, it helps creates a twist in the scene.

Ambient Sound- Normal sound’s which exists in a particular scene or location. Such as traffic noise, in a rough location dogs would be barking which is ambient sound.

Foley- A foley artist supplies the live action sounds that a production microphone may have missed. Sounds of swords locking together, named after Jack Foley a sound editor at Universal studios.

Dramatic Irony- The irony occurring when the audience understand and see a situation while the characters are totally unaware of it .

Ellipsis- It suggests an action by showing what has happened before and after what has been observed, films use it to clear actions that add nothing to the narrative.

Props character Theory- There is traditionally a hero which is a male whose role is to restore normality by defeating the villains. The villain is the cause of the disruption and the enemy of the hero. The Dispatcher sends the hero on a journey to restore parity and well-being. The Donor gives the hero something to help him along with his journey. The helper assists the hero in restoring normal life. The Heroine is usually a vulnerable character who is threatened by the villain and needs rescuing by them. There is also a false her who is a character that initially seems to be on the hero’s side but turns against him.

Todorov’s Narrative Theory- This states that most stories or plot lines follow the same pattern or path, there are 5 steps in this pattern: 1. Equilibrium- the first part of the story will display a happy start, where the characters are content and everything is as it should be. 2. A Disruption- The 2^nd part of the story will feature a problem or something will disrupt the happiness. 3. Realisation-This part of the play when everyone realises the problem and it is chaos. 4. Restored Order- This is the part of the plot when the characters attempt to repair the damage and restore the problem. 5. Equilibrium Again- This is the final part of the plat where the problem is resolved and normality can resume again.

Restricted Narrative- The story presented by one character in particular. Mystery or surprise may be the effect of this form of narrative.

Omniscient Narrative- The story presented through a number of characters, suspense may be the effect.

Linear Narrative- Is telling a story in a straight line through chronological order, starting at the beginning, moving to the middle and proceeding to the end of the story.

Episodic Narrative- The way a story is told is through a series of episodes or segments, it jumps from story to story, a soap opera on TV is an episodic program.

Diegesis- In this the narrator tells the story, the narrator presents the actions of the characters to the audience, it provides details about the world itself and experiences of characters are revealed through narrative.

Enigma Code- This is a question which is not immediately answered and draws the audiences into a specific text. For example a body is discovered at the beginning of a TV detective drama.

High concept film- This is a type of film which can be easily pitched and will be easily summarized as the idea would have been thought of before a lot of times. For example a high concept film in Jurassic park was high concept because a lot of people asked the question ‘What if we clone dinosaurs?’.

Juxtaposition- The placement of two or more opposed images on either side of an edit to create an effect.

Key Light- This is the first and usually most important light, this light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject.

Master Shot- This type of shot is used in film to record a entire dramatized scene, from start to finish, from an angle that keeps all the characters in view, it is usually a long shot or a establishing shot.

Reaction Shot- It is a shot which cuts away from the main scene in order to show the reaction of a character.

Polysemic- The way that all images may be interpreted in a variety of different ways, the more anchorage a text is given, the less open it is to polysemy.

180 Degree Rule- It means that two characters should always have the same left and right relationship to each other, when a camera crosses the ‘axis’ connecting two subjects it is called ‘crossing the line’. The new shot is called the reverse angle.

Codes- There are different types of codes which are decoded to create meaning: Technical codes- all to do with the way a text is technically constructed. Verbal codes- Everything to do with language, either written or spoken. Symbolic codes- Codes that can be decoded on a mainly connotation level, all the things which draw upon our experience and understanding of other media texts.

Connotation- The way in which meaning is created. Connote means creating a meaning by association and creating more than one meaning.

Conglomerates- The result of mergers and takeovers, media companies are increasingly coming together in conglomerates, also called multinational co-operations.