Fade
A common optical transition, usually marking a change of scene, a lapse of time, or both.
Dissolve
A transition from one shot to the next in which the second shot gradually appears as the first appears as the first disappears, creating in the process a momentary superimposition of the two shots.
Wipe
An optical transition from one shot to another in which a line appears to move across the screen, pushing one shot off the screen and replacing it with another.
Iris
An adjustable, usually circular masking device that blacks out a portion of the screen
Montage
In its most familiar American usage, transitional sequence of rapidly edited shots, usually connected by dissolves, used for purposes of ellipsis, to suggest a longer passage of time.
Opticals
Effects produced in the film laboratory using an optical printer, such as fades, dissolves, irises, wipes, split-screen, and matte shots.
Continuity
The logic implied between edited shots, their means of coherence.
Analytical Editing
The process of breaking a scene down into separate shots that can be edited to preserve spatial and temporal continuity
Accelerated Editing
In an action sequence, speeding up the pace of the editing by decreasing the duration of shots.
Match on Action
A cut which occurs in the middle of a gesture or movement, with the result that the cut is less noticeable and the movement seems to continue without interruption.
180 Rule
The continuity approach to editing demands that the camera stay on one side of the action to preserve consistent screen direction and clear-cut spatial relations between objects and characters with respect to the right and left sides of the frame.
Axis of action
the imaginary line determining the side to which the camera is limited is referred to as the ...
Screen Direction
The right/left, top/bottom relationships in a shot or scene, set up by an establishing shot and preserved through continuity and adherence to the 180 rule.
Eyeline Match
An editing technique obeying the 180 rule, in which the first shot shows a character looking offscreen and the second show what the character sees from his or her approximate angle of vision.
Shot/Reverse Shot
A basic figure or pattern in continuity editing.
In one shot we see a character looking at something offscreen; in the next we see what the character is looking at. Usually followed by a third (REACTION SHOT)
Point of view shot
A shot that is taken from the viewpoint of a character, so that we see what the character is seeing
Reaction Shot
A shot a character reacting to the content of the preceding shot
Establishing Shot
A wide or long shot occurring at the beginning of a film scene that establishes the general setting and provides the viewer with a context for subsequent closer shots
Reestablishing Shots
A return to a wider or longer view of a scene after a sequence of closer shots following an establishing shot.
Over the shoulder Shot
A shot commonly used in conversation scenes in which the speaker is seen from the perspective of a person standing just behind and a little to one side of the listener, so that part of the head and shoulder of the listener are visible at the side of the s
Cut-Away
A shot that cuts from the main action to a different action or to a detail somehow related to the main action.
Parallel Editing
An editing technique in which two or more scenes in separate locations are shown alternately, usually with the assumption that they are occurring simultaneously
Crosscutting
Editing which alternates shots of two or more lines of action that are occurring simultaneously in different locations or spaces.
Intercutting
An editing technique in which shots of one action intrude upon or alternate with shots of another.
Overlapping
An editing technique which prolongs the time of an action by joining together several shots of the action from different angles, or by using cutaways to allow repetition of parts of the action covered in previous shots.
Insert
A shot, usually a close up, edited into a film after principal shooting has been completed. (shots showing hands of characters signing things)
Flashbacks
An alteration of normal story progression in which the present in interrupted with a shot or sequence of shots from the past.
Flashforward
Which interrupts the present with a shot or sequence of shots from the future
Stock Shot
A shot drawn from a library and cut into a film. Shots of city skylines, airplanes taking off or landing, etc
Jump Cut
A cut which sharply breaks continuity by jumping forward abruptly in time; a direct cut from one shot to the next with no concern for smoothness of transition.
Match Cut
A cut in which an object or shape in the outgoing shot matches a similar object or shape in the incoming shot.
Cheat Cut
In continuity editing, a cut that implies continuous time from one shot to the next, but slightly mismatches the screen position of figures or objects and thus cheats on continuity
Long Take
A shot that continues for an unusually long time before a cut to the next shot.
Master Shot
A single long take that records the entire action and dialogue of a scene in order to assure adequate coverage.
Synchronous Sound
Sound that matches the movement of the images, corresponding with its visible onscreen source. (expected in movies)
Asynchronous Sound
Does not match as when dialogue does not correspond to the lip movements of characters. (dreams)
Postsynchronization
The addition of sound to images after they have been shot and edited. If sound is dialogue, the process is often called looping, which involves repetition on a loop of audiotape of the lines to be re-recorded by the actor, or dubbing in the case of transl
Overlapping Sound
A technique of sound editing which continues sound from one shot into a following shot where it does not belong or which anticipates a shot by introducing its sound prematurely in the previous shot.
Sound Link
(sound bridge) Sound that is carried over the transition from one scene to another, or sound that begins before the transition to the scene in which it belongs. Mainly music or sound effects, but sometimes dialogue can be used.
Voice-Over
Works spoken over the image by an offscreen narrator or commentator.
Boom
A long mechanical arm that suspends a microphone over the source of sound and can be moved to follow it.
Classical Style
A method of narrative filmmaking that took shape early in the history of the American studio system and has dominated worldwide film production ever since.
Linearity
In narrative, the clear, straightforward progression of events without significant digressions, delays, or irrelevant action.
Ideology
A system of values, beliefs, or ideas shared by a certain culture or social group and often taken for granted as natural and inherently true.
Transparency
A theoretical term used to describe the aim of the classical style to efface or make "invisible" the operations of film technique in the process of narration.
Witness Point
A useful term referring to the position of the spectator in a given shot, which is not always synonymous with the position of the camera.
Decoupage
An imported French term (literally cutting out) referring to the way in which a scene is broken down into patterns of shots.
Ellipsis
The omission of parts of a film narrative. This editing uses transitions like jump cut and dissolves to skip over certain events and thereby condense time.
Freeze Frame
The arresting or freezing of motion in a shot.
Kuleshov Effect
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