Basic Introductory Information (You should know a lot of these from English)

1. Basic Introductory Information (You should know a lot of these from English)

2. Plot The orders and the actions of the story. (What happens in the story)

3. Theme An implicit or recurrent idea or concept in a work of art. (The point or message the art is trying to convey) THIS IS NOT ONE WORD! Titanic Wrong Example: Love. Titanic Correct Example: Love once felt, endures forever.

4. ACTOR • Embodies and performs a film character through gestures and movements.

5. PERFORMANCE • The actor’s use of language, physical expression, and gesture to bring a character to life and communicate important dimensions of that character to the audience.

6. Characters Individuals who motivate the events of the story. This includes the protagonists, the antagonists, as well as the supporting and minor characters

7. Protagonists • Characters we identify as positive forces in a film. 

8. Antagonists • Characters who oppose the protagonists as negative forces. 

9. Minor or secondary characters • Surround, contrast, and support protagonists and antagonists.

10. Tone The general atmosphere of a film and the effect it has on a person. This is usually created through a combination of sets, colors, lighting, sound effects, and music.

11. Scene One or more shots that take place in terms of a continuous space, time, and action.

12. Sequence Any number of shots that are unified as a coherent action, or as an identifiable motif, regardless of changes in space or time.

13. Flashback Whereby a story shifts dramatically to an earlier time in the story

14. Dialogue • Conversation between two or more people.

15. Monologue • A long speech by one speaker. 

16. Intertitles Printed words inserted between images in silent films.

17. Settings • A fictional or real place where the action and events of the film occur. • Settings are Characters Too Film

18. Set • A constructed setting for filming, often a studio soundstage

19. Narration The perspective through which the characters, events, and action of the plot appear.

20. First person narration The reflection of one person’s subjective point of view.

21. Third person narration An objective detached point of view

22. PROPS • Objects that function as parts of the sets or as tools used by the actors. In Praise of Chairs Film

23. COSTUMES • Clothing and related accessories that a character wears or that define that character. Costume Design Film.

24. Diegetic Sound • Any sound that could logically be heard by a character within the movie environment. (ex. A character speaking, cat growling, gunshot, traffic) • Example of diegetic sound

25. Nondiegetic Sound • Sounds in film that characters in the film could not possibly hear. (ex. Movie music, voice-over narration, sounds added in horror films to emotionally manipulate the audience) • Example of nondiegetic sound