The Grammer of TV and Film

For myself to be able to understand the language of TV and Film I looked at the basic terms. These basic terms will help me when it comes to evaluating and will help with my understanding of these terms.

Auteur: This is the french for "author" who is the director

Diegesis: This includes objects, events, spaces and the characters that inhabit them. Including things, action and attitudes which are not explicitly presented in the film but inferred by the audience.
Editing: The joining together of clips of the film into a single filmstrip.

Flashback/ Flash forward:A jump backwards and forwards in a diegetic time. When using flashbacks and flash forwards the order of the events in the plot are no longer matching the order of events.

Focus: The degree at which light rays coming from any particular part of an object or through the lens. The depth of the field through shallow focus and deep focus and racking focus.

Genres:  Types of films that are recognised by the audience and producers. These are distinguished by the narrative conventions.

Mise-en-scene: Everything that is "put in the scene". The setting, the decor, the lighting, the costumes, the performance etc.

Story/Plot:  Labelled as fabula and syuzhet, the story refers to what the audience infers about the events that occur in the diegesis on the basis of what they have been shown by the plot. The events that are directly presented within the film. The order, duration and the settings of these events.

Scene/Sequence: A segment of a narrative film that usually takes place in a single time and place, which is often between characters.


Shot: A single stream of images which are uninterrupted by editing. The shot can use a static or mobile framing, a standard or non standard frame rate but it must be continuous.

 This research will help me when it comes to analysing other work in the further for example title sequences. It will also help me when analysing as film as I will be able to use this information to help myself. This will enable me to look back at these definitions when I need to use them.