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 being a man, including attitudes towards courage, strength, emotion and responsibility.

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

The campaign associated with US Senator Joseph McCarthy to identify alleged communists, involving accusations, 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 distinctive 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 the frame, including setting, props, costume, make-up and performance.

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

A sequence of selected images that condenses events or time and creates meaning through their combination.

A recurring visual or sound detail that develops meaning across a film.

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

The organisation and presentation of a story, including its viewpoint, sequence of events and resolution.

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.

Space around the main subject within a frame, which can help suggest isolation or emphasise the subject’s relationship to its surroundings.

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 outside the film’s story world, such as music added to accompany the action for the audience.

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

An affectionate or idealised view of the past, often emphasising appealing memories and familiar cultural details.

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

A conclusion that leaves significant questions or future outcomes unresolved.

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.

A horizontal camera turn to the left or right from a fixed position.