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Film Terms
Glossary
Illustrated

Film Terms Glossary - Index

(alphabetical and illustrated)
Introduction | A1 | A2-B1 | B2 | B3-C1 | C2 | C3 | C4-D1 | D2-E1 | F1 | F2-I1
I2-L1 | L2-M1 | M2-O1 | O2-P1 | P2-S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | S5-T1 | T2-Z

Film Terms Glossary

Cinematic Terms
prologue
promo

props
(or property)

Definition and Explanation

a speech, preface, introduction, or brief scene preceding the the
main action or plot of a film; contrast to epilogue.

Example (if applicable)

Example: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring (2001) provided a prologue to briefly explain the
essential history of Middle-Earth and its inhabitants

slang term for sales promotion

abbreviation for properties - refers to the furnishings, fixtures,
hand-held objects, decorations, or any other moveable items that
are seen or used on a film (or stage) set but that are not a
structural part of the set; usually the responsibility of the prop
man or property master.

Example: Life-size cutouts of

celebrity guests, from the set of
The King of Comedy (1983)

the lead or main character in a film; also known as hero/heroine;

protagonist

punchline

Q rating

rack focusing

contrast to antagonist.
a funny, witty line that culminates a story, joke or scene; contrast
with payoff and one-liner

Example: In When Harry Met Sally...(1989), the request of

a female patron after Sally's fake orgasm in the deli: "I'll
have what she's having."

refers to an ad research rating that gauges how easily a celebrity

is recognized -- and how well the celebrity is liked
refers to an on-screen film technique of focus change that blurs
the focal planes in sequence, forcing the viewer's eye to travel to
those areas of an image that remain in sharp focus; the focus
changes from an object in the foreground to an object in the
background or vice versa, to direct, shift, and steer the attention
of the viewer forcibly from one subject to another; also known as
selective focusing or pull focus

also known as the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of

America) film rating system, first officially instituted in late 1968;
it refers to the ever-evolving classification system for films usually
based upon age-appropriateness, and the judgment of a film's
suitability for various audiences, in terms of sexual content,
offensiveness, or violence; see also censorship

Example: the scene in Desert

Hearts (1985) when Vivian
(Helen Shaver) realized that
lesbian Cay (Patricia
Charbonneau) was naked in
her bed behind her, or the
foreground image of a spiderweb in Spider-Man (2002)

rating system(s) or ratings

Examples: "G-Rated or General Audiences," "PG-Rated or
Parental Guidance Suggested," "PG-13," "R-Rated or
Restricted under 17," and "NC-17, or No One 17 and
Under Admitted" (originally known as the X rating), are
examples of ratings; the X-rating is not trademarked /
copyrighted by the MPAA; NR (not rated), meaning that a
film was not submitted for ratings, is sometimes used in
place of X. Pornographic films often use "XXX" to imply a
rating stronger than X.

reaction shot

real time

a quick shot that records a character's or group's response to

another character or some on-screen action or event; often
accompanied with a POV shot; reaction shots are usually
cutaways.
actual time it would take for an event to occur in reality, as
contrasted to filmic time (time can be sped up or slowed down).
Real and filmic time often coincide for long sequences within a
film; also see running time.

Example: High Noon (1952) was

specifically shot in real-time with
frequent reference to clocks ticking
closer and closer to the noon-time
showdown.

filming so that the reality outside the camera is shown in a neutral Examples: Woody Allen's Husbands And Wives (1992);
realism

rear (screen) projection

red carpet

style with as little distortion and interference as possible; realism

is attained by long, uninterrupted takes, deep focus shots, and
other filmic techniques; contrast to expressionism; similar to the
'reality' of docudramas

Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage (1973)

a special effects technique to create backgrounds, in which actors

are filmed in front of a screen on which a background scene is
projected; commonly used in early films to produce the effect of
motion in a vehicle. Also see process shot, process
photography, or back projection.

Example: rear projection in

Written on the Wind (1956), or
the many films with shipboard
scenes of two actors standing
near a railing behind which
are rear-projected waves and sky

literally, to "roll out" a welcoming 'red carpet', laid down for major
ceremonies (film premieres, awards ceremonies) to signify an
important, honorary event with dignitaries and esteemed guests
attending; often the locale for live interviews and photo
opportunities

red herring

an instance of foreshadowing that is deliberately planted to make

viewers suspect an outcome--but the audience is to be deceived the opposite happens and the false clue 'plant' is irrelevant; often
done for humor, irony, or for other thematic reasons; contrast to
McGuffin

redlighted

refers to a film project that was in production, but lost its financial
backing - resulting in a premature abandonment by the studio;
aka a film in turnaround

reel

Example: the red carpet

entryway for the Academy
Awards show

Example: the various clues, all to subvert and confuse, that

are unrelated to the real reason for Michelle Pfieffer's
paranormal beliefs and confusion in What Lies Beneath
(2000).

refers to a plastic or metal spool for winding film; also, earlier

films were measured in reels (one reel = about 10 minutes of
running time).

Example: typical film reel

re-enactment

a film production that re-creates an actual event as closely as

possible
refers to how one film in its storyline (through dialogue, images)
alludes to, recalls, or refers to another film; similar to homage

Examples: Glory (1989), Nixon (1995).

Examples: the movie that E.T. (in Spielberg's E.T.: The

Extra-Terrestrial (1982)) is watching at home on TV and
that Elliot re-enacts in his Science class is the John Wayne
classic The Quiet Man (1952);
and in Electric Dreams (1984)
(pictured), Edgar the computer
watches TV - in one sequence
he views Forbidden Planet
(1956) starring Robby the
Robot.

reference

reissue

refers to a studio releasing a work subsequent to the original or

initial release; similar to re-release

release

refers to the first distribution and general public exhibition of a film

to theatre audiences.
refers to a later production (of a previous film), with different
Examples: The Jazz Singer (1927) remade in the 50s as

credits, script, and cast; a redone, second version of a film's

narrative and subject matter; remakes have been common
throughout all of film history.

The Jazz Singer (1953) with Danny Thomas, and in the

early 1980s as The Jazz Singer (1980) with Neil Diamond;
also What Price Hollywood? (1932) became A Star is Born
(1937) - with Janet Gaynor, and A Star is Born (1954) - with
Judy Garland, and A Star is Born (1976) with Barbra
Streisand; and the unnecessary, meticulous shot-by-shot
remake of Psycho (1960) by Gus Van Sant in 1998

remake

rentals
re-release

reshoot contingency

resolution

retrospective

refers to that portion of film grosses that goes to film

distributors; also refers to videocassette (or DVD) rentals
the revival or rebroadcast of a work by the original distributor,
studio, releaser, or broadcaster.

Example: Disney's re-releases of its animated films every

five to seven years.

refers to the funds kept or saved by a producer in case

supplementary shootings (reshoots) are required - often
occurring after test screenings or decisions made by studio
executives
the outcome, or the "untying" of tension in the scenes after the
climax of a film; refers to how things turned out for all of the
characters; some films abruptly end without a scene following the
climax; aka denouement

Example: the original, non-studio version of Don Siegel's

ultra-paranoid Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) was
softened with the addition of a framing device ('bookends')
at the film's beginning and end), to change the film's
resolution and make it less grim

usually a tribute, exhibition, or 'looking back' at a film star's,

Example: Sunset Boulevard (1950) - a film told almost
artist's or director's work over a span of years with a
entirely as a backwards-looking retrospective
comprehensive compilation or montage of film clips or excerpts;
also known as a retro; also, in terms of a screenplay, a film in
which nearly the entire story is looking back in time at events that
have already taken place, usually accomplished by flashback
a basic camera angle composed of a shot photographed from the
opposite side of a subject to provide a different perspective; in a
dialogue scene between characters, a shot of the second
participant is commonly composed as an over-the-shoulder
shot; sometimes known as an 180 degree angle shot or change
in perspective; the alternating pattern between two characters'
points of view is known as shot/reverse shot

reverse angle shot

Example: a typical dialogue scene with shot/reverse shot

between two characters in Written on the Wind (1956).
reverse motion

refers to a trick camera effect, created by running film backwards

in the camera or during optical printing; aka reverse action
refers to films that present an apparent genre stereotype and
then subvert, revise, or challenge it; aka deconstruction

Examples: Altman's McCabe &

Mrs. Miller (1971), and The
Long Goodbye (1973); Arthur
Penn's Little Big Man (1970)
(shown here); the sword-andsorcery Dragonslayer (1981, UK), or Costner's Dances
With Wolves (1990)

film or exhibition theatres that are dedicated to emphasizing or

specializing in only one type of film - such as foreign films, older
films, silent films, classics, rarely-screened films, etc.

Example: the Film Forum in New York City, founded in

1970, which exhibits well over a hundred different classic
films a month on three screens; one screen features a
theme every month (i.e., Greatest Westerns, Paramount
Before the (Hays) Code, Golden Age of Film Noir (19411958))

refers to exploitation films (such as "sex-hygeine" films) with

controversial content (disguised as educational medical
information) that were heavily promoted and shown on the road,
and would be packed up quickly in case of the authorities; also
refers to films that were released early and shown in prestigious

Example: showman Kroger

Babb's Mom and Dad (1945),
or Child Bride (1938)

revisionistic

revival house

roadshow

theatres
a French term literally meaning 'novel with a key'; in film terms,
refers to a film in which actual persons/events are disguised or
masked as fictional characters - but with a 'key,' the true
persons/events are revealed

roman a clef

rotation

refers to a camera rotation - which can be a vertical or horizontal

pan; or it may refer to a camera move in which the camera is
moved in a complete (or half) circle to produce a spinning,
disorienting effect to the viewer; a partial rotation is termed a tilt

rough cut

an early edited (or 'cut') version of a film - with all the pieces of
the film assembled in continuous, sequential order, but without
any fancy editing; also sometimes known as first cut; one of the
stages toward the final cut; often used in a focus group
screening.

Examples: Citizen Kane (1941) - with similarities between

Kane and newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst

a measure of the duration or length of a film, usually about two

hours for a feature film.

running time

the prints of takes (of the camera footage) from one day's
shooting, usually without correction or editing, for examination by
the director before the next day's shooting; aka daily-ies

rush(es)

a mocking, ridiculing commentary on an economic, political,

Examples: The Great Dictator (1940), Dr. Strangelove, Or
religious or social institution, ideology or belief, person (or group), How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love the Bomb

satire

policy, or human vice.

scenario

(1964), Brazil (1985)

(1) the outline for a screenplay, or (2) a complete screenplay

usually a shot (or series of shots) that together comprise a single,
complete and unified dramatic event, action, unit, or element of
film narration, or block (segment) of storytelling within a film,
much like a scene in a play; the end of a scene is often indicated
by a change in time, action and/or location; see also shot and
sequence.

scene

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Example: The classic love scene

of John Wayne and Maureen
O'Hara caught in a drenching
rainstorm in a graveyard, and
their rain-soaked embrace in The
Quiet Man (1952)

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