- CINEMATOGRAPHY: The photographic design and production of a film. Basically, it's how the camera is used to tell or enhance the story or tone of the film. See the cinematography handout for specific terms.
- CINEMA VERITAE: Literally, "filmed truth," the term refers to a sub-mode of participatory documentary in which hand-held cameras and unplanned photography are used to promote the idea that the film is not constructed.
- DEEP FOCUS: A camera setting that allows all objects (including background and foreground) to be in focus regardless of their relative distance from the camera.
- DIACHRONIC ANALYSIS: Analyzing and evaluating films based on comparing them to all films and cultures across time. In other words, an analysis that takes into consideration anything that happened or was produced before and after the film was released. The opposite of a synchronic analysis
- DIEGESIS/DIEGETIC: These terms refer to what is "real" within the world of the film. For example, music that is coming from a character's stereo which can be heard by the characters of the film is diegetic. The soundtrack or score of a film which the characters cannot hear is non-diegetic (or not "real" in the film's world).
- DOCUMENTARY MODES: The styles of documentary film developed of time periods in our film history (see "poetic mode," "expository mode," "observational mode," "participatory mode," "cinema veritae," "reflexive mode," "performative mode," "psuedo-documentary," and "mockumentary" in this list).
- EXPOSITORY MODE: A documentary mode developed in the 1930s and 40s that uses editing, voice-over narration, non-diegetic music, and direct interviews usually in order to persuade audiences.
- FOUR PILLARS: The four things that film reflects about the time and place of its creation (technology, economics, sociology, and aesthetics).
- FOUR VALUES: The four ways film has value (entertainment, educational, artistic, and literary).
- GENERIC FRUSTRATION: The feeling an audience gets from a film that doesn't match their expectations of the genre.
- GENRE: The generic category films fit into based on common "ingredients" or traits.
- IMR: An acronym for "Institutional Mode of Representation," it means the modes and methods a given institution at a given time uses to create or represent meaning. Basically, it's the visual and audio vocabulary of film in a given culture.
- MISE-EN-SCENE: Everything that is visible on the screen at any given time. It sometimes applies to what is audible as well.
- MOCKUMENTARY: A sub-mode of performative documentary, these films are scripted and acted to look and feel like documentary films with the express purpose of providing humor or humorous social commentary. Similar to "pseudo=documentary."
- MONTAGE THEORY: The idea that putting images in close proximity causes the viewer to create a connection between/among them.
- OBSERVATIONAL MODE: A mode of documentary film developed in the late 1950s and 1960s which shuns editing, narration, and other non-diegetic elements in an attempt to present its topic in an objective, "fly-on-the-wall" form.
- PARTICIPATORY MODE: A mode of documentary film developed in the 1960s and 70s in which the filmmaker is a participant in the film. The film usually includes (and is often about to a certain degree) the filmmaker's interaction with the world or people presented. Interviewees often answer directly into the camera.
- PERFORMATIVE MODE: A mode of documentary film developed in the 1980s which simply documents a performance of some kind. The content is planned -- even scripted -- and rehearsed beforehand. There is no attempt at portraying any reality except the reality of the performance. The film is still produced in such a way as to look and feel like a documentary.
- POETIC MODE: A mode of documentary film developed in the 1920s which presented documentary footage heavily edited to create a tone or abstract feeling rather than a concrete story or meaning.
- PSEUDO-DOCUMENTARY: A sub-mode of performative documentary, these films are scripted and acted to look and feel like a documentary for the purpose of providing generally serious social or political commentary. See "mockumentary."
- REFLEXIVE MODE: A mode of documentary film developed in the 1970s which takes participatory documentaries one step further. These films include footage of the filmmaking equipment and crew doing their jobs. Shotgun microphones, cameras, camera crews, electricians, and even editors are visible on screen doing their jobs to produce the film. In effect, a reflexive film is a document of its topic and also a document of its creation.
- SYNCHRONIC ANALYSIS: Analyzing and evaluating films based on comparing them to films and culture of their own time. In other words, an analysis that ignores everything that happened or was produced before or after the film was released. The opposite of a diachronic analysis.
For more film terms and example clips visit this external website.