Eduqas GCSE Film Studies key terms

A way of representing women primarily as objects of male visual pleasure rather than as people with their own perspectives and goals.

Ideas and expectations about what it means to be male, which can vary between cultures and change over time.

An edit that joins two views of an action so that the movement appears continuous.

A continuity technique in which an action begun in one shot continues across a cut into another.

Anti-communist accusation and investigation associated with US Senator Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950s, which encouraged suspicion and pressure to demonstrate loyalty.

A shot showing a person approximately from the waist upwards, allowing expression, posture and some surroundings to be seen.

An amusing or unusual first encounter between characters who will become romantically involved.

A dramatic mode that uses heightened emotions and intense personal conflicts to make relationships and moral dilemmas especially powerful.

A representation in which one thing suggests another idea; the alien threat in a film can, for example, suggest social hostility or exclusion.

A shot usually showing a person from around the waist upwards, making facial expression and body language visible.

The arrangement of what appears within a shot, including setting, props, costume, lighting and the positioning and performance of actors.

A fictional film or programme that adopts the forms and conventions of a documentary.

An edited sequence that brings together a series of images to condense information, establish connections or convey change.

A recurring visual or sound element that develops meaning through repetition.

A recurring musical idea that can connect characters, events or emotions across a film.

A film’s storyline and the way it is presented, including its structure, order and viewpoint.

A significant moment or sequence in which the narrative’s developing action or conflict reaches a culmination.

The resolution of a narrative’s main conflicts and questions.

An area of the frame that is relatively empty, which can draw attention to a subject or suggest isolation.

A period from the late 1960s into the early 1980s when Hollywood gave greater opportunities to director-led filmmaking, stylistic experimentation and challenging subject matter.

Sound whose source is outside the film’s story world, such as an added musical score.

A narrative that presents events in an order other than their chronological sequence.

An affectionate or idealised longing for the past. In film, nostalgia can select appealing features of an earlier period while reducing attention to its difficulties.

A family consisting of parents and their children, rather than an extended household including other relatives.

A conclusion that leaves important questions unresolved rather than showing a definite outcome.

A person or group represented as different from those treated as familiar, normal or belonging.

The rhythm created by the duration of shots and the frequency of transitions between them.