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NOTES ON SOME IMPORTANT TERMS FOR FILM STUDIES

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Gopa B. Caesar:
Optical effects: The editor can use a number of optical effects to connect different shots together.
    A fade-in gradually lightens the beginning of a shot from black; a fade-out gradually darkens the end of a shot to black.
    In a wipe, the initial shot is replaced by the subsequent shot through a horizontal motion, as when one piece of paper is gradually slid over another.
    In a dissolve, the subsequent shot is briefly superimposed over the initial shot. Dissolves often denote the passage of time.

Gopa B. Caesar:
Continuity: The dominant style of editing in Western narrative film is called continuity editing. Continuity editing, which tries to keep the aesthetic qualities of images before and after a cut the same, is designed to minimize the distraction and disorientation caused by cuts and to establish narrative causality.
    Continuity editing follows the 180° rule, the practice of keeping the camera on one side of the action to retain consistent spatial relations between figures from shot to shot.
    Editors commonly use establishing shots to familiarize audiences with a given space and matches on action to present movement from multiple angles.

Gopa B. Caesar:
Spatiotemporal effects: Whereas continuity editing seeks to present events in chronological order and show events only once, editors often deviate from these norms.
    Flash forwards and flashbacks present events out of sequence or show events more than once (such as a persistent memory or nightmare).
    Crosscutting enables editors to show events at two of more locations simultaneously by cutting back and forth between them. This technique disrupts spatial continuity but establishes temporal simultaneity.
    Often, a film presents an event in a shorter amount of time than its actual duration. This effect is achieved by letting a character move out of frame and then, after a cut, showing the character move into frame at a new location. This effect may also be accomplished through the use of fades and cutaways.

Gopa B. Caesar:
Other editing techniques: With continuity editing, the primary site of meaning is the scene. By contrast, a montage sequence, such as the newsreel passage in Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, uses rapid juxtaposition of images to create meaning at the shot level. Experimental filmmakers often break the rules of continuity editing, such as through the use of unexpected jump cuts to disorient the audience and undermine the realism of their representation.

Gopa B. Caesar:
Narrative
The majority of commercial films have a narrative—a series of events that make up a story. While most people use the terms story and plot interchangeably, in film studies these two terms have different meanings.
Story and Plot
The plot of a film consists of all the events and characters that are represented directly during the course of the film; the story is a broader set of events and characters, some of which are contained within the plot and others that are alluded to but not shown in the film.
    For instance, a detective film often begins at the scene of a crime. The criminal act is not shown in the film, so it is not part of the plot but is part of the story.
    Elements of a film that take place within the world of the film’s story are called diegetic. Elements of the film that exist outside of that world (such as music heard by the audience but not the characters in the film) are called extradiegetic or nondiegetic.

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