FILM & TV GLOSSARY
UKFILMNET FILM & TELEVISION PRODUCTION GLOSSARY
Browse the glossary using this index
Special | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | ALL
M |
|---|
match cut | ||
|---|---|---|
a cut in which two shots joined are linked by visual, aural, or metaphorical parallelism. For example, at the end of North by Northwest, Cary Grant pulls Eva Marie Saint up the cliff of Mt. Rushmore; then match cut to Grant pulling her up to a bunk in the train. | ||
materialist cinema (1) | ||
|---|---|---|
a contemporary movement, mainly in avant-garde cinema, which celebrates the physical fact of film, camera, light, projector, and in which the materials of art are in fact its main subject matter. | ||
matte shot | ||
|---|---|---|
a type of process shot in which different areas of the image (usually actors and setting) are photographed separately and combined in laboratory work. | ||
McGuffin | ||
|---|---|---|
Alfred Hitchcock's term for the device or plot element that catches the viewer's attention or drives the logic of the plot, but often turns out to be insignificant or is to be ignored after it has served its purpose. Examples are mistaken identity at the beginning of North by Northwest and the entire Janet Leigh subplot of Psycho. | ||
MCU | ||
|---|---|---|
See medium close up | ||
meaning - Explicit | ||
|---|---|---|
meaning: meaning expressed overtly, usually in language and often near the film's beginning or end. | ||
meaning - Implicit | ||
|---|---|---|
meaning: meaning left tacit, for the viewer to discover upon analysis or reflection. | ||
meaning - Referential | ||
|---|---|---|
meaning: allusion to particular pieces of shared prior knowledge outside the film which the viewer is expected to recognize. | ||
meaning - Symptomatic | ||
|---|---|---|
meaning: meaning which the film divulges, often "against its will", by virtue of its historical or social context. | ||
medium close-up | ||
|---|---|---|
a framing in which the scale of the object shown is fairly large; a human figure seen from the chest up fill most of the screen. | ||
medium long shot | ||
|---|---|---|
a framing at a distance which makes an object about 4 or 5 feet high appear to fill most of the screen vertically. See plan americain, the special term for a medium long shot depicting human figures. | ||
medium shot | ||
|---|---|---|
a framing in which the scale of the object is of moderate size; a human figure seen from the waist up would fill most of the screen. | ||
melodrama | ||
|---|---|---|
originally, simply a drama with music; more precisely, the type of 19th century drama that centred on the simplistic conflict between heroes and villains. | ||
metteur en scene | ||
|---|---|---|
a modest - sometimes derogatory - term for "director". See auteur. | ||
mic | ||
|---|---|---|
mic - See Microphone | ||
microphone | ||
|---|---|---|
microphone - (often abbreviated to mic) Is an electrical device that converts sound vibrations into electrical signals that can then be recorded or amplified. Types of microphones vary widely from vocal mics, to lapel (clothing attached) microphones to direction / shotgun mics for recording sound from a particular direction on a TV or film set. Microphones vary greatly in sensitivity and choosing the wrong microphone for a particular job can result in recordings that are either too quiet, inaudible or badly distorted. Microphones generate what is known as "MIC LEVEL" signals (which are electrical signals generally 100 times quieter than LINE LEVEL signals - which come from cameras, CD players and iPods) | ||
mimesis | ||
|---|---|---|
a Greek word for "imitation", a term important in the Realist school. | ||
minimal cinema | ||
|---|---|---|
a kind of extreme, simplified realism, best exemplified by films of Carl Dreyer, Robert Bresson, and early Andy Warhol; minimal dependence on the technical power of the medium. | ||
mise-en-scene | ||
|---|---|---|
all the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed, that is, part of the cinematic process that take place on the set, as opposed to montage, which takes place afterward. It includes the settings and props, lighting, costumes and make-up, and figure behaviour. Mise-en-scene tends to be very important to realists, montage to expressionists. | ||
mise-en-shot | ||
|---|---|---|
the design of an entire shot, in time as well as space. | ||
mixer | ||
|---|---|---|
1. The person or role involved in mixing audio or video signals (the location sound mixer, or the vision mixer when applied to the role of the person responsible for mixing live video feeds during a television studio production) 2. The equipment used to mix (usually but not exclusively) audio signals from a number of sources into a single output (stereo or otherwise). This is done using channel faders. The equipment is either body worn, desk mounted or rack mounted. | ||
mixing | ||
|---|---|---|
combining two or more sound tracks by recording them onto a single one. | ||
mobile frame | ||
|---|---|---|
the effect on the screen of moving camera, a zoom lens, or special effects shifting the frame in relation to the scene being photographed. | ||
monochromatic colour design | ||
|---|---|---|
colour design which emphasizes a narrow set of shades of a single colour. | ||
montage (1) | ||
|---|---|---|
a synonym for editing. | ||
montage (2) | ||
|---|---|---|
an approach to editing developed by the Soviet filmmakers of the 1920's; it emphasizes dynamic, often discontinuous, relationships between shots and the juxtaposition of images to create ideas not present in either one by itself. Also called montage of attraction. | ||
montage (3) | ||
|---|---|---|
montage sequence | ||
|---|---|---|
a segment of film that summarizes a topic or compresses a passage of time into brief symbolic or typical image. Frequently, dissolves, fades, superimpositions, and wipes are used to link the images in a montage sequence. | ||
motif | ||
|---|---|---|
an recurrent thematic element in a film that is repeated in a significant way. | ||
Motivated light | ||
|---|---|---|
Motivated light is an artificial light source that creates an effect that is seen within the frame, but which is understood and believed by the audience to be caused or 'motivated' by an unseen or indeed visible 'real world' light source (and not the technical light source used by the lighting director or cinematographer) | ||
motivation | ||
|---|---|---|
the justification given in film for the presence of an element | ||
multiple exposure | ||
|---|---|---|
a number of images printed over each other. | ||
multiple image | ||
|---|---|---|
a number of images printed beside each other within the same frame, often showing different camera angles of same action, or separate actions. Also called split screen | ||