Filmmaking Terms: 50 Film Terms Every Director Should Know

Time is short on set, so a crew uses shared terms instead of long descriptions. Say “medium close-up, eye level, static” and the crew knows the shot size and the camera set-up you want; say “let's get something closer here” and three people build three different frames while the day disappears in trial and error. Below are 50 terms a director needs from day one, in six groups: the parts of a film, framing, camera, light and lenses, editing, and sound and set.

The parts of a film

Shot: In the finished film, the unbroken piece of picture between two cuts. During the shoot it means a set-up designed with a particular frame, angle and camera movement.
Take: Each recorded attempt at the same shot. Everything from the moment the camera starts rolling to the moment it stops is one take; the first attempt is “take 1” — so the first take isn't a retake.
Scene: A piece of action that happens in the same place and the same stretch of time. If the place or the time changes, the scene changes.
Sequence: A block of connected scenes that begins and ends on its own terms. A small story inside the film.
Master shot: A shot that covers the main action of a scene from start to finish without a break. It's usually wide, but it doesn't have to be. In the edit it's your reference and your safety net.
Coverage: All the extra shots — master, close-ups, reverses, inserts — filmed so a scene can be edited in different ways. Thin coverage narrows your options in the edit and makes some moments hard to join.

Framing and shot sizes

Wide shot (long shot): Shows the place and where the character stands in it. It's the shot where the audience works out where they are.
Full shot: The character is in frame from head to toe. Body language and the walk are visible.
Medium shot (waist shot): The character is framed from the waist up. The in-between size that carries speech and hand movement together.
Medium close-up (chest shot): From the chest up. The most used shot size in dialogue scenes.
Close-up: The face fills the frame. It carries the reaction; it's usually saved for the moment the scene turns, not spent on every line.
Insert (detail shot): A single detail: a hand, a watch, a key. It locks the audience's attention on that one thing.
Over-the-shoulder shot (OTS): Shows the speaker past the shoulder of the person facing them. The standard set-up for a scene between two people.
Headroom and lead room (looking room): The space left above the head and in the direction the character is looking. Too little and the frame feels cramped; too much and the character sinks to the bottom of the frame.

Camera angle and movement

Low angle: The camera sits below eye level and makes the character bigger. Depending on context it can read as strong or dominant — on its own it guarantees neither.
High angle: The camera sits above eye level and makes the character smaller. Depending on context it can feel vulnerable or under pressure.
Bird's-eye view: Looking straight down from above. It turns the action into a map; it can take the audience out of the action and set them outside it.
Dutch angle: The camera is tilted sideways. It can create a sense of imbalance or unease; use it sparingly.
Pan: The camera stays in one spot and turns horizontally. It follows a look or scans a place.
Tilt: The camera stays in one spot and turns vertically. It builds an up–down relationship.
Tracking shot (travelling): A move where the camera physically changes position: on a track, a dolly, a vehicle, a Steadicam, a gimbal or handheld. A “dolly shot” is one kind of it: a tracking move made on a wheeled platform — a follow shot taken on the shoulder isn't a dolly shot.
Steadicam / gimbal: Two different stabilising systems that reduce the shake that comes from walking: a Steadicam is mechanical (counterweight and springs), a gimbal is motorised. Both make long follow shots easier.
Zoom: The camera stays put and the lens's angle of view changes: the frame changes but the perspective doesn't. It isn't the same as tracking — there the camera's position, and so the perspective, changes too.
Dolly zoom: The camera moves one way while the lens zooms the other. The subject stays the same size while the perspective behind them shifts — the staircase shot in Vertigo.

Light and lenses

Three-point lighting: The key light is the main source, the fill light softens the shadow, the back light (rim light) separates the character from the background. It's the skeleton of most set-ups.
Low-key / high-key lighting: In low-key lighting shadows dominate and contrast is high (thrillers, film noir). In high-key lighting the overall tone is bright, the shadows soft and the contrast low (comedy, everyday life).
Practical (practical light): A real light source you can see in the frame: a desk lamp, a screen, a candle. It justifies the light and makes the scene believable.
Golden hour: The short stretch of soft light just after sunrise and just before sunset. It doesn't last long; you plan the shot around it, not the other way round.
Depth of field: The range of depth in the frame that stays sharp. When it's shallow the background falls out of focus and attention goes to the subject; when it's deep, more of the image's depth stays acceptably sharp.
Rack focus (pull focus): Shifting the focus from one subject to another. It moves attention inside a single shot, without a cut.
Focal length: Together with the sensor size, it sets the lens's angle of view and how much the image is magnified. What sets perspective directly is the camera's position: move in with a wide lens to keep the subject the same size and depth looks exaggerated; step back with a long lens and the layers look compressed.

Editing and continuity

The 180-degree rule (line of action): The camera stays on one side of the imaginary line between two characters; cross it and the characters can seem to swap places in the edit. It isn't an absolute ban: you can cross with a camera move, a neutral shot on the line, or by re-establishing the space.
The 30-degree rule: If you cut between two shots of the same subject, the camera should move at least 30 degrees. It isn't a law of physics; it's a classic continuity editing principle that stops a visible jump cut from happening.
Continuity (raccord): Keeping objects, costume, light, eyelines and movement consistent from one shot to the next. The script supervisor keeps track of it overall; continuity is the shared responsibility of every department.
Shot–reverse shot: Alternating shots of the speaker and the listener. The basic set-up of a dialogue scene; very often it's the listener's shot that carries the scene.
Cut: Two shots joined directly, with no transition. The default transition in editing.
Dissolve: One shot fades out as the next fades in. It signals a jump in time or a link between two images.
Fade (fade in / fade out): The picture going down to black, or opening up from black. It reads as a section closing or opening.
Jump cut: A cut between two similarly framed shots that deliberately breaks continuity of time or space. It can create a sense of speed, unease or fragmentation.
Match cut: A cut where two shots match in shape, movement or meaning. The transition in 2001: A Space Odyssey where the bone becomes a spacecraft.
Cross-cutting (parallel editing): Cutting back and forth between two or more lines of action. The actions can be happening at the same time, or the cutting can set up a thematic comparison between them.
Ellipsis: The story skipping a stretch of time or action without showing it. Not showing someone on the road after they walk out of the door, and cutting straight to where they arrive.

Sound and set

Diegetic / non-diegetic sound: Diegetic sound comes from inside the story world: speech, footsteps, a radio the characters switch on. Non-diegetic sound comes from outside that world and the characters don't hear it: the film's score, a narrator's voice from outside the story.
Room tone: The natural ambient sound of a location, recorded with no dialogue and no noticeable action. In the edit it keeps the sound continuous between shots; without it, changes in the background can give the cuts away.
ADR: Re-recording lines in a studio after the shoot (automated dialogue replacement). Used when the sound from set can't be used.
Foley: Recreating everyday sounds — footsteps, doors, fabric — in a studio. That's where the film's audible texture comes from.
Clapperboard (slate): The board that carries the shot and take numbers and lets the edit line up sound and picture. The “clap” is the sync point.
Blocking: Working out where the actors stand and how they move in the location before the shoot. The camera, framing and lighting set-up are fixed together with it.
Call sheet: The plan for the day: who needs to be where and when, which scenes are being shot, the weather and emergency numbers.
Colour grading (and colour correction): Two separate jobs: colour correction balances the images technically — exposure, white balance, consistency between shots. Grading then builds the film's creative colour, contrast and overall look.

Wrong / Right

Without the terms

“Let's get something closer here, then grab a wide one.” — Without the name of a shot size, three people picture three different frames; the day goes on trial and error.

With the terms

“Medium close-up, eye level, static. Then an insert of the hand gripping the key.” — The cinematographer and the actor both hear the same picture.

Frequently asked questions

Do you have to memorise these terms to become a director?

Not memorise — use. A term isn't a show of knowledge; it's the shared language you build with your crew, so that what you describe has only one meaning. Make one short film and half of them settle in on their own.

Isn't a zoom the same as a tracking shot?

No. In a zoom the camera stays put; the angle of view and the frame change, the perspective doesn't. In a tracking shot the camera's position changes, so the perspective relationship between foreground and background changes too — the audience feels they're moving through the space.

Is breaking the 180-degree rule a mistake?

Breaking it without knowing causes trouble: the audience can think the characters have swapped places. But crossing the line isn't forbidden — you cross it with a camera move, a neutral shot on the line, or by re-establishing the space. What makes the difference is whether you know the rule is there.

Do you write camera terms in a screenplay?

In a spec script they're usually used only when they're genuinely needed to tell the story; there's no rule that says “never”. The screenplay carries the dramatic information the audience will see and hear, and detailed shot sizes, lenses and camera moves are mostly left to the shot list and the storyboard. A shooting script can carry far more camera directions.

Start the lessons: learn to write scenes a crew can shoot