Terms and Definitions

DESCRIPTION:

On your shot sheet, this is a written representation of what you visually see. You describe in exact detail what you see, down to the smallest point.

This should include color, movement, posture, action, tone of voice, objects and their descriptions. There should be no opinion in this part of the shot write-up.

There should be no opinion presented at all in your shot sheet. Opinion would be saying something like he looks happy. Just say he smiles and describe what the person or object or animal or whatever does.

Do not include Camera movement here.

Include Camera movement in the Camera movement section. Any reference to movement should be described as follows. First we see feet and then we move from the feet up to the face of the man running.

Do not include lighting references in the Description. You may make reference to the fact is "appears to be morning" or "night."

Any discussion of lighting needs to go in the lighting section.

Do not include sound in the description setting. Include sound in the sound slot.

Do not include full sections of dialogue. Use dialogue as you feel it is needed, but the description should not contain full passages of dialogue.

Use dialogue as needed.

Example: Jefferies makes frequent mention of "getting married."

Sound: Anything that is not Dialogue. Examples: Music. Gunshots. Slamming Doors. Hammering. People Talking in the background. Lunch trays clinking or glasses in a Restaurant. Birds Chirping. The sounds of Cars. Footsteps on pavement.

Two Types:
Diegetic: Visable Source. Radio. Bird, Moving Feet, Moving Cars, People typing on Typwriters in the background.

Non-diegetic: Non-Visible Source. Often Called Mood Music or Magic Music. Reflects theme or idea or emotion at given moments. Sounds without visable sources are also non-diegetic.

The Following link is a film called Diegesis which discusses non-Diegetic sound as an idea:
"Diegesis: A Film"

This link shows a discussion of Non-Diegetic and Diegetic Sound:
What is Diegetic Sound?

Sometimes In a film, a process called a Voice Over is used. A Voice Over is a Non-Diegetic piece of sound that plays over a shot. It has no Visable source, so it is non-diegetic.

Here is an example of a Non-Diegetic Voice Over.

For a Voice Over it is possible to include some sections of what the person is saying, or specific part in the sound section of your shot sheet..

Example: Non-Diegetic Voice Over floats over shot. "Sauron forged the one ring in the fires of Mount Doom."

Lighting:

This term deals with the type of light and its effect on the shot.

Types:

Natural: This refers to lighting that doesn't augment or change any aspect of the shot, IE. If everyone seems to be shot and there are no extraneous shadows on a person's face, that is

Natural Lighting. All that needs to be written is usually Natural Lighting.

In this shot from Big Night, the lighting is Natural.


Low Lighting: Low Lighting is an Aspect of Natural Lighting, but with less of an Artificial Source. Low Lighting is usually shot in the dark, or in dark rooms, or in areas where light is sparse. You know low lighting by how little light there is.

In this example from Knowing low lighting is being used.

Hard Lighting: Hard Lighting is the use of an artificial source to highlight the aspect of a characters face or an object. Hard Lighting always creates shadows or is used to brighten an object in an otherwise Dark room.

If no object is brightened, then Hard Lighting is not being used. If there are no shadows, specifically on Human faces then it is not hard lighting.

This link shows examples mostly of Hard Lighting, some of the lighting uses gels.
Notice when the model has shadows on his face. That is Hard Lighting.

Soft Lighting:

Soft lighting is the use of an artificial source to highlight an aspect of the human face. It uses a soft light filter which highlights and improves visual aspects of a person's face such as Hair, skin, eyes, lips and teeth. Soft lighting is only used in a close-up.

Here's an example of Soft lighting:

Judy Garland in most of her close-ups is being lit by soft lighting. Notice How lustrous her hair is, and how her lips seem to glisten. She is shot in soft light, while the other girls have hats on that cause shadows on their faces.

In the following Makeup Tutorial soft lighting is being used to accent the hair and lips and eyes.

Length:
The time period a shot lasts from the time it begins to the time of a transition starting a new shot. A shot usually lasts 3-7 seconds, though there are longer and shorter shots.
The following links show many shots. This is the opening to Citizen Kane, and most of the shots here are about 5 seconds in Length. There are also Specifically Dissolves in between them.

Opening to Citizen Kane.

Now here, exactly are two shots from the same film. These two shots are specific, the first is over a minute long while the second is less than two seconds. There is one cut between them, but I need you to see the reason for the first shot. The first shot reveals quite a bit of information about Charles Foster Kane.

"How to Run a Newspaper"


The following link shows two shots. One shot is about 2 minutes the other is 5 seconds:
This is the Shot from Touch of Evil

Transitions: The bridge between shots, creating how a director transitions between shots.
Here is a Video on the types.

A Cut:
A cut is a basic transition between shots. It is an instantaneous jump from one shot to another like a snap. Most shots are cuts. A Straight Cut is simply another word for a Cut.
This is a section from Black Hawk Down, which shows numerous cuts. These shots are also about 5 seconds in length on average.


Dissolve: A Gradual transition where one shots fades out or disintegrates and the other appears. The importance of the dissolve is that is directly links similar things. Shapes or visuals are similar. To quote Robert Olen Butler, "For a brief time, the two become one."
Here is a series of Dissolves between the opening shots of Citizen Kane.

Wipe: A Transition where the first shot remains stationary, while the second shot is literally dragged across screen or wiped into being by wiping the first shot away. The following is a commentary about George Lucas and his use of the wipe.

There are several examples of wipes, including a circle wipe, horizontal or vertical wipe:

Tracking and Panning.
Tracking is the slow movement of the camera in distinctly straight ways, where the movement is slow and methodical, and steady.

Panning is the fast fluid movement of the camera in multiple ways, where blurring often happens for a moment.

Trucking: Slow Tracking left or right.


Special Effects: Anything created digitally and added to the film. In this clip from Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World the Special Effects are the strange powers of the yellow haired man, his glowing eyes and his glowing hands as well as the strange power lines, and the large "POW!" that appears on screen.

For a Special effects Writeup you describe what is exactly created and shown on screen.
The Following is From Scott Pilgrim vs the World, and has several Special Effects in it:


Focus and Depth of Field: This refers to the entire frame of the shot.

Inside a shot there is usually a background and a foreground and the camera chooses what you see and how you see it. When something in the foreground is shown in deep focus, then the background is usually in shallow focus. When the background is shown in Deep focus, the foreground is in Shallow.

A director can play with what you see and how you see it. Also symbolically or appropriately you blur out an image or bring it to a crisp focus given the context of the shot, or any number of reasons.

Shallow Focus: When something in the foreground or background is blurry or unclear.

Shallow Focus:


Deep Focus: When something in the foreground or background is in crisp clear focus.
Both planes cannot be in the deep focus or shallow at the same time. Both planes may be in

Deep Focus.

Medium to Shallow Space. All Planes in Focus:
This refers to a shot where everything is essentially in focus and neither crisp nor blurry.
Most Shots are shot in Medium to Shallow Space.

In this sequence of shots from 300, most of it shot in Medium to Shallow Space, however, there are moments of extensive deep focus in the foreground. The visual of Leonidas 's wife is shot in deep focus, where the background is in Shallow.