204 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding MediaMusical – A fi lm genre in which songs performed by actors in the motion
picture are imbedded into the sequences of the movie. Common musicals
are those that evolve from stage musicals with narrative interwoven with
song and dance.
Nickelodeon – Early motion picture theater, oft en a converted local business,
in which short movies were continuously shown.
Non-narrative – Motion pictures that do not contain a narrative of events
linked by cause and eff ect and typically include many types of documentary,
promotional, avant-garde, and educational fi lms. Four broad categories have
been defi ned by various fi lm theoreticians to classify patterns present in non-
narrative fi lms: categorical, rhetorical, associational, and abstract.
Pitch – A term related to “sales pitch” in business in which originators of a
project seek investment through an oral presentation of the premise and
attractive potential of the movie in meetings with studios representatives or
funding sources.
Post-production – Phase of motion picture creation that generally consists of
editing, sound design and mixing, digital eff ects, and printing.
Pre-production – Th e phase of motion picture creation in which all of the
elements necessary for principal photography are prepared. Locations or
studio settings are built, arranged, and dressed, costumes are prepared,
rehearsals take place, and all of the other logistical aspects of the production
are completed.
Production – Th e phase of motion picture creation during which the core images
of the movie are generated, referred to by the term principal photography.
Rhetorical – Non-narrative motion pictures that present evidence to support or
debate their premises, common to documentaries because of their organized
presentation and analysis of a topic.
Science-fi ction – Genre that consists of speculative narrative based on principles
of science and current technology and is typically set in the future.
Serial – Motion pictures in which the narrative is intended to take place over
a number of distinct episodes. First popularized in the 1910s with such series
as Th e Perils of Pauline, serials brought spectators back to the next episode
until the main action was resolved aft er a certain number of installments. Th ey
continued through the 1950s with detective, science fi ction, and superhero
serials as these techniques shift ed to television through episodic series.
Studio – Th is term is used in fi lmmaking to designate two concepts: fi rst, a
company that oversees the production and distribution of motion pictures;
and, second, a space designed and built for the production of motion pictures
(oft en consisting of soundproof stages).Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).