English 1130 Film Terms
Terms
undefined, object
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1. Medium
realist films -
- style of filmmaking that attempts to duplicate the look of objective reality as it's commonly perceived, with emphasis on authentic locations & details,
- long shots, lengthy takes, & min. of distorting techniques -
1. Medium
George Melies -
- from France
- thought of film as "magic"
- innovations: fade in, lap dissolve, stop-motion,
- started "Star Film" company, 1897 - 1913, created 500 films
- sci-fi, fantasy, formalism
- worked mostly in studio
- 1902: Trip to Moon
- 1896: Arrival of the Train (captured citylife) -
1. Medium
narrative point of view - .
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1. Medium
motif - - any unobtrusive technique, object, or thematic idea that's systematically repeated throughout a film
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1. Medium
allusion - - a reference to an event, person, or work of art, usually well known
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1. Medium
formalist or expressionist films -
- style of filmmaaking in which astethic forms take precedence over the subject matter as content
- time & space as ordinarly perceived are often distorted
- emphasis is on essential, symbolic characteristics of objects & people, not necessarily on their superficial appearance
- formalists are often lyrical, self-consciously heightening their style to call attention to it as as a value for its own sake -
1. Medium
Lumiere brothers - .
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1. Medium
homage -
- direct or indirect reference within a movie to another movie, film-maker, cinematic style
- respectful & affectionate tribute -
1. Medium
symbol -
- figurative device in which an object, event, or cinematic technique has significance beyond its literal meaning
- symbolism is always determined by dramatic context -
1. Medium
classical cinema - .
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1. Medium
screenplay - .
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1. Medium
allegory - - symbolic technique in which stylized characters & situations represent rather obvious ideas, such as Justice, Death, Religion, Society, and so on.
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1. Medium
metaphor - - an implied comparison between two otherwise unlike elements, meaningful in a figurative rather than literal sense
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2. Story
genre -
- a recognizable type of movie, characterized by certain preestablished conventions
- some common American genres: westerns, thrillers, sci-fi movies, etc.
- a ready-made narrative form -
2. Story
archetype -
- an original model or type after which similar things are patterned
- can be widely-known story patterns, universal experiences, or personality types
- myths, fairy tales, genres, and cultural heroes are generally archetypal, as are the basic cycles of life and nature -
2. Story
literal adaption - - a movie based on a stage play, in which the dialogue and actions are preserved more or less intact
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2. Story
film noir -
- refers to a kind of urban American genre that sprang up after WWII, emphasizing a fatalistic, despairing universe where there is no escape from mean city streets, loneliness, and death
- stylistically, noir emphasizes low-key & high-contrast lighting, complex compositions, and a strong atmosphere of dread and paranoia -
2. Story
genre cycle - .
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2. Story
plot -
- arrangement of story events in the order in which they appear in the film
ex. events occurred in the past might be introduced at any point through flashbacks or dialogue -
2. Story
loose adaption - - movie based on another medium in which only a superficial resemblance exists between the two versions
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2. Story
classical paradigm -
- aka classical cinema
- a vague but convenient term used to designate the style of mainstream fiction films produced in America, roughly from midteens until the late 1960s
- movie strong in story, star, and production values, with a high level of technical achievement, and edited according to conventions of classical cutting
- visual style is functional and rarely distracts from the characters in action
- movies in this form are structured narratively, with a clearly defined conflict, complications that intensify to a rising climax, and a resolution that emphasizes formal closure -
2. Story
myth - .
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2. Story
tone - .
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2. Story
faithfal adaption - - film based on a literary original which captures the essence of the original, often by using cinematic equivalents for specific literary techniques
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3. Photography
frame -
- dividing line between the edges of the screen image and the enclosing darkness of the theatre
- can also refer to a single photograph from the filmstrip -
3. Photography
shot/take -
- those images that are recorded continuously from the the time the camera starts to the time it stops
- an unedited strip of film -
3. Photography
medium shot - - a relatively close shot, revealing the human figure from the knees or waist up
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3. Photography
extreme long shot - - a panoramic view of an exterior location, photographed from a great distance, often as four hundred metres away
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3. Photography
matte shot -
- a process of combining 2 separate shots on one print, resulting in an image that looks as though it had been photographed normally
- used mostly for special effects, such as combining a human figure with giant dinosaurs, etc. -
3. Photography
high-angle shot - - a shot in which the subject is photographed from above
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3. Photography
oblique-angle shot -
- a shot photographed by a tilted camera
- when image is projected on screen, subject itself seems to be tilted on a diagonal -
3. Photography
wide-angles shot (short) -
- a lens that permits a camera to photograph a wider area than a normal lens
- side effect is its tendency to exaggerate perspective
- also used for deep-focus photography -
3. Photography
optical printer -
- an elaborate machine used to create special effects in movies
ex. fades, dissolves, multiple exposures, etc. -
3. Photography
low-key lighting -
- style of lighting that emphasizes diffused shadows & atmospheric pools of light
- often used in mysteries & thrillers -
3. Photography
fast stock -
- film stock that's highly sensitive to light & generally produces a grainy image
- often used in documentaries who wish to shoot only in available light -
3. Photography
warm colours - .
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3. Photography
selective focusing aka rack focusing - - blurring of the focal planes in sequence, forcing the viewer's eyes to travel with those ares of an image that remain in sharp focus
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3. Photography
close-up, close shot -
- detailed view of a person or object
- close-up of an actor usually includes only his or her head -
3. Photography
full shot - - a type of long shot that includes the human body in full, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom
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3. Photography
establishing shot - - usually an extreme long or long shot offered at the beginning of a scene, providing the viewer with the context of th subsequent closer shots
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3. Photography
wide-angle, Deep-focus shot - - technique of photography that permits all distance planes to remain clearly in focus, from close-ups to infinity
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3. Photography
eye-level shot - - placement of camera approximately one and a half to two metres from the ground, corresponding to the height of an observer on the scene
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3. Photography
standard lens - .
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3. Photography
fish-eye lens - .
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3. Photography
high-key lighting -
- a style of lighting emphasizing bright, even illumination, with few conspucious shadows
- used mostly in comedies, musicals, & light entertainment films -
3. Photography
back lighting - - when the lights for a shot derive from the rear of the set, thus throwing the foreground figures into semidarkness or silhouette
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3. Photography
slow stock -
- film stocks that are relatively insensitive to light & produce crisp images and a sharpness of detail
- when used in interior settings, these stocks generally require considerable artificial illumination -
3. Photography
point of view shot aka pov shot, 1st person shot, subjective camera - - any shot that is taken from the vantage point of a character in film, showing what the character sees
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3. Photography
available light -
- the use of only that light which actually exists on location, either natural (the sun) or artificial (house lamps)
- when available lighting is used in interior locations, generally a sensitive fast film stock must also be used -
3. Photography
extreme close up -
- a minutely detailed view of an object or person
- an extrme close-up of an actor generally includes only his or her eyes or mouth -
3. Photography
long shot - - shot that includes an area within the image that roughly corresponds to the audience's view of the area within the proscenium arch in the live theatre
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3. Photography
reaction shot - - cut to a shot of a character's reaction to the contents of the preceding shot
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3. Photography
bird's eye view - - a shot in which the camera photographs a scene from directly overhead
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3. Photography
low-angle shot - - shot in which subject is photographed from below
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3. Photography
telephoto lens (long) -
- lens that acts a telescope, magnifying the size of objects at a greater distance
- side effect is its tendency to flatten perspective -
3. Photography
filters - - pieces of glass & plastic placed in front of camera lens that distort the quality of light entering the camera & hence the movie image
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3. Photography
high-contrast lighting -
- style of lighting emphasizing harsh shafts & dramatic streaks of lights and darks
- often used in thrillers and melodramas -
3. Photography
overexposure -
- too much light enters the the aperture of a camera lens, bleaching out the image
- useful for fantasy & nightmare scenes -
3. Photography
cool colours - .
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3. Photography
reverse angle shot -
- shot taken from an angle 180 degrees opposed to the previous shot
- camera is placed opposite its previous position -
4. Mise-en-Scene
composition - .
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4. Mise-en-Scene
top of the frame - .
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4. Mise-en-Scene
iris -
- masking device that blacks out portions of the screen, permitting only a part of the image to be seen
- usually circular or oval in shape & can be expanded/contracted -
4. Mise-en-Scene
proxemic patterns - - spatial relationships among characters within the mise en scene, & the apparent distance of the camera from the subject photographed
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4. Mise-en-Scene
dominant contrast - - area of the film image that compels the viewer's most immediate attention, usually because of a promiment visual contrast
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4. Mise-en-Scene
bottom of the frame - .
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4. Mise-en-Scene
closed form (tightly framed) -
- visual style that inclines self-conscious designs & carefully harmonized compositions
- frame is exploited to sugget a self-sufficent universe that encloses all necessary visual information, usually in an asthetically, pleasing manner -
4. Mise-en-Scene
aspect ratio - - ratio between the horizontal & vertical dimensions of the screen
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4. Mise-en-Scene
masking - - technique whereby a portion of the movie image is blocked out, thus temporarily altering the dimensions of the screen's aspect ratio
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4. Mise-en-Scene
open form (loosely framed0 -
- used primarily by realist filmmakers
- these techniques are likely to be unobtrusive, with an emphasis on informal compositions & apparently haphazard designs
- frame is exploited to suggest a temporary masking, a window that arbitrarily cuts off part of the action -
5. Movement
pan - - short for panorama, this is a revolving horizontal movement of the camera from left to right or vice versa
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5. Movement
tracking shot
OR trucking shot/dolly shot -
- shot taken from a moving vehicle
- originally tracks were laid on the set to permit a smoother movement of the camera -
5. Movement
zoom - - lens of variable focal length that permits the cinematographer to change from wide-angle to telephoto shots (and vice versa) in one continuous movement, often plunging the viewer in or out of a scene rapidly
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5. Movement
animation -
- form of filmmaking characterized by photographing inanimate objects or individual drawings frame by frame, with each frame differing minutely from its predecessor
- when such images are projected at the standard speed of 24 fps, the result is that the objects or drawings appear to move, and hence seem animated -
5. Movement
reverse motion -
- a series of images are photographed with the film reversed
- when projected normally, the effect is to suggest backward movement-an egg "returning" to its shell, for ex. -
5. Movement
tilt -
- shot photographed by a tilted camera
- when the image is projected on the screen, the subject seems to be tilted on a diagonal -
5. Movement
crane shot -
- shot taken from a special device called a crane, which resembles a huge mechanical arm
- crane carries the camera and the cinematographer and can move in virtually any direction -
5. Movement
hand-held shot - - shot taken with a moving camera that is often deliberately shaky to suggest documentary footage in an uncontrolled setting
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5. Movement
fast motion - - shots of a subject photographed at a slower rate than 24 fps, which, when projected at the standard rate, conveys motion that is jerky and slightly comical, seemingly out of control
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5. Movement
freeze frame - - shot composed of a single frame that is reprinted a number of times on the filmstrip; when projected, it gives the illusion of a still photograph
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5. Movement
dolly shot -
- same as tracking shot
- shot taken from moving vehicle -
5. Movement
aerial shot -
- essentially a variation of the crane shot, though restricted to exterior locations
- usually taken from a helicopter -
5. Movement
swish pan - - horizontal movement of the camera at such a rapid rate that the subject photographed blurs on the screen
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5. Movement
slow motion - - shots of a subject photographed at a faster rate than 24 fps, which when projected at the standard rate produce a dreamy, dance-like slowness of a motion
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6. Editing
shots - - images that are recorded continuously from the time the camera starts to the time it stops = an unedited strip of film
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6. Editing
continuity -
- the kind of logic implied between edited shots, their principle of coherence
- cutting to continuity: emphasizes smooth transitions between shots, in which time & space are unobtrusively condensed
- classical cutting: linking of shots according to an event's psychological as well as logical breakdown
- thematic montage: continuity is determined by the symbolic association of ideas between shots, rather than any literal connections in time and space -
6. Editing
jump-cut - - an abrupt transition between shots, sometimes deliberate, which is disorienting in terms of the continuity of space and time
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6. Editing
classical cutting -
- developed by Griffith
- sequence of shots is determined by a scene's dramatic & emotional emphasis rather than by physical action alone
- sequence of shots represents the breakdown of the event into its psychological as well as logical components -
6. Editing
flashback - - editing technique that suggests the interruption of the present by a shot or series of shots representing the past
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6. Editing
dialectics - - an analytical methodology, derived from Hegel & Marx, that juxtaposes pairs of opposites - a thesis & antithesis - to arrive at a synthesis of ideas
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6. Editing
New Wave -
- group of young French directors who came to prominence during the late 1950s.
- most widely known: Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, & Alain Resnais -
6. Editing
scenes - - imprecise unit of film, composed of a number of interrelated shots, unified usually by a central concern - a location, an incident, or a minor dramatic climax
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6. Editing
fade -
- snuffing of an image from normal brightness to a black screen
- opposite: fade-in -
6. Editing
D.W. Griffith - .
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6. Editing
thematic cutting, montage -
- propounded by Eisenstein
- separate shots are linked together not by their literal continuity but by symbolic association
- common in documentaries, in which they are connected in accordance to the filmmaker's thesis -
6. Editing
flashforwards - - editing technique that suggests the interruption of the present by a shot or series of shots representing the future
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6. Editing
Andre Bazin - .
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6. Editing
first cut -
- aka rough cut
- initial sequence of shots in a movie, often constructed by the director -
6. Editing
sequences - - lengthy shots, usualy involving complex staging & camera movements
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6. Editing
dissolve - - slow fading out of one shot and the gradual fading in of its successor, with a superimposition of images, usually at the midpoint
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6. Editing
cutting to continuity - - emphasizes smooth transitions between shots, in which time & space are unobtrusively condensed
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6. Editing
parallel editing -
aka cross-cutting
- alternating of shots from 2 sequences, often in different locales, suggesting that they are tkaing place at the same time -
6. Editing
Sergei Eisenstein - .
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6. Editing
personalism - .
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6. Editing
final cut -
aka release print
- sequence of shots in a movie as it will be released to the public -
7. Sound
three types of sound - .
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7. Sound
high-pitched sound - .
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7. Sound
atonal music - .
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7. Sound
synchronous sound -
- agreement or correspondence between image and sound, which are recorded simultaneously, or seem so in th finished print
- synchronous sounds appear to derive from an obvious source in the visuals -
7. Sound
musical motifs - .
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7. Sound
dubbing -
- addition of sound after the visuals have been photographed
- dubbing can be either synchronous with an image or nonsynchronous
- foreign language movies are often dubbed in English for release in this country -
7. Sound
low-pitched sound - .
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7. Sound
dialogue - .
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7. Sound
non-synchronous sound -
- sound and image that are not recorded simultaneously, or sound that is detached from its source in the film image
- music is usually nonsynchronous in a movie, providing background atmosphere -
7. Sound
melodrama - .
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7. Sound
voice over - - a nonsynchronous spoken commentary in a movie, often used to convey a character's thoughts or memories
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7. Sound
dramatic effects of music - .
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7. Sound
monologue - .
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7. Sound
sub-text -
- a term used in drama and film to signify the dramatic implications beneath the language of a play or movie
- often the subtext concerns ideas and emotions that are totally independent of the language of a text -
7. Sound
mickey-mousing -
- a type of film music that is purely descriptive and attempts to mimic the visual action with musical equivalents
- often used in cartoons -
8. Acting
persona -
- Latin: mask
- an actor's public image, based on previous roles, and often incorporating elements from his or her actual personality as well -
8. Acting
method -
- style of performance dervied from stage director Stanislavsky, whcih has been the dominant acting style in America since the 1950s
- emphasize psychological intensity, extensive rehearsals to explore a character, emotional believability rather than technical mastery, and "living" a role internally rather than merely imitating the external behaviour of a character -
8. Acting
star system -
- technique of exploiting the charisma of popular performers to enhance the box-office appeal of films
- developed in America and has been the backbone of the American film industry since the mid-1910s -
8. Acting
improvisation - .
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8. Acting
casting - .
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8. Acting
actor vs. personality star -
- personality star tends to play only those roles that fit a preconceived public image, which constitutes his or her persona
- an actor star can play roles of greater range and variety
ex. Barbra Streisand - personality star; Robert De Niro - actor star -
9. Non-Fiction Films
documentary vs. fiction film - .
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9. Non-Fiction Films
cinema verite - - method of documentary filming using aleatory methods that don't interfere with the way events take place in reality. Such movies are made with a minimum of equipment, usually a handheld camera & portable sound apparatus
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10. Canadian Cinema
National cinemas - .
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11. Theory
realist theory - .
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11. Theory
iconograpy -
- use of a well-known cultural symbol or complex of symbols in an artistic representation
- movies: iconography can involve a star's persona, the preestablished conventions of a genre (like shootout in a western), use of archetypal characters and situations, and such stylistic features as lighting, settings, costuming, props, and so on -
11. Theory
postmodernism - .
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11. Theory
Fredric Jameson - .
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11. Theory
formalist theory - .
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11. Theory
Marxist theory - .
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11. Theory
Jean Baudrillard - .
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11. Theory
pastiche - .
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11. Theory
auteur theory -
- popularized by critics of the French journal Cahiers du Cinema in the 1950s
- emphasizes the director as the major creator of film art, stamping the material with his or her own personal vision, style, and thematic obsessions -
11. Theory
semiology - .
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11. Theory
hyperreality - .
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11. Theory
intertextuality - .