Film Language Glossary
A film is not a window on reality. Every shot is a choice. This glossary gives you the vocabulary to explain what the filmmaker chose and how that choice positions the audience.
Success criteria
- I can name the main elements of film language.
- I can describe a shot precisely using film vocabulary.
- I can explain how a film technique creates meaning or feeling.
- I can use a sentence frame to connect evidence to a judgement.
Start with the big idea
Animated film is designed twice: once in the storyboard and once in the frame. A director chooses what we see, how long we see it, what we hear, and what is left outside the frame. Analysis is not a list of techniques. It is an argument about why those choices matter.
Analysis formula: technique + specific evidence + effect + judgement.
Example: In the first crossing into the Other World, the camera moves forward through the corridor while the score swells. The continuous movement makes the transition feel like an invitation rather than a warning, positioning the audience to share Coraline's curiosity.
Shot size
| Term | What it shows | Common effect |
|---|---|---|
| Extreme wide shot | A tiny figure in a large environment | Isolation, scale, vulnerability, wonder |
| Wide shot | The whole setting and the figure | Establishes place and the character's relationship to it |
| Medium shot | The figure from roughly the waist up | Balances action, gesture, and setting |
| Close-up | The face or an important object | Emotional intensity, intimacy, scrutiny |
| Extreme close-up | A detail filling the frame | Unease, obsession, significance, shock |
Camera angle
| Term | What it shows | Common effect |
|---|---|---|
| Low angle | Camera looks up at the subject | Power, threat, authority |
| High angle | Camera looks down at the subject | Vulnerability, inferiority, control |
| Eye level | Camera is level with the subject | Equality, realism, neutrality |
| Dutch tilt | The frame is tilted | Instability, disorder, wrongness |
| Overhead shot | Camera looks straight down | Pattern, surveillance, powerlessness |
Camera movement
| Term | What it does | Common effect |
|---|---|---|
| Pan | Turns left or right from a fixed position | Reveals information, follows a gaze |
| Tilt | Moves up or down from a fixed position | Reveals scale or status |
| Tracking / dolly | Moves through space with the subject | Immersion, momentum, accompaniment |
| Handheld | Unsteady, human movement | Urgency, realism, anxiety |
| Crane | Rises or falls through space | Scale, spectacle, revelation |
| Zoom | Changes focal length without moving the camera | Focus, pressure, sudden realisation |
Lighting and colour
| Term | What it looks like | Common effect |
|---|---|---|
| High-key lighting | Bright, even, few shadows | Safety, cheerfulness, artifice |
| Low-key lighting | Deep shadows, strong contrast | Danger, secrecy, unease |
| Backlighting | Light behind the subject | Silhouette, mystery, halo |
| Warm palette | Reds, golds, ambers | Comfort, nostalgia, seduction |
| Cool palette | Blues, greens, greys | Distance, coldness, realism |
| Desaturation | Muted colour | Bleakness, memory, loss of life |
Sound and editing
| Term | What it is | Common effect |
|---|---|---|
| Diegetic sound | Sound the characters can hear | Realism, atmosphere, information |
| Non-diegetic sound | Sound only the audience hears, such as score or narration | Guides emotion and judgement |
| Sound bridge | Sound that links two scenes | Continuity, tension, inevitability |
| Silence | Removal of expected sound | Shock, dread, emphasis |
| Cut | Instant change from one shot to another | Rhythm, contrast, momentum |
| Match cut | Cut between similar shapes or actions | Connection, transformation, theme |
| Cross-cutting | Alternating between two actions | Suspense, comparison, parallel meaning |
| Montage | A sequence of short shots compressing time | Passage of time, pattern, emotional build |
Apply it to Coraline
Use a teacher-approved clip. For each term, record a timecode and explain the effect. Do not simply name the technique.
| Term | Evidence (timecode and description) | Effect | What it makes the audience think or feel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example: tracking shot | 0:00-0:20: the camera follows Coraline through the corridor into the Other World. | The viewer moves with her into the new space. | We share her curiosity and ignore the warning signs. |
Sentence frames
- In the sequence where ..., the filmmaker uses [technique] to [effect].
- The [shot size / angle / movement] makes the audience notice ..., which suggests ....
- At first the [technique] seems to ..., but later it .... This shift reveals ....
- The film does not simply show ...; it positions us to ... by ....
Check your understanding
- What is the difference between a low angle and a high angle? What does each usually do to power?
- Why is a close-up not automatically more emotional than a wide shot?
- How can diegetic sound be more unsettling than a loud non-diegetic score?
- Choose one technique from this glossary and explain how it could make the Other World feel attractive.
Coraline is a PG-rated film. Use a licensed copy and follow your school's screening policy. This page does not include film stills.