Film Trivia | 100 did you know facts & trivia about Films [Part 3]

Film, or more commonly cinema, has its own terminology. Terms that are used specifically for the medium.

We have already dived into to the history of film and its language. So it’s time to learn some of the terms that are used in film.

The terminology used for describing motion pictures varies considerably between British and American English
In British usage, the name of the medium is “film”
The word “movie” is understood but seldom used
Additionally, “the pictures” (plural) is used semi-frequently to refer to the place where movies are exhibited
While in American English this may be called “the movies”
The term is becoming outdated
In other countries, the place where movies are exhibited may be called a cinema or movie theatre
By contrast, in the United States, “movie” is the predominant form
Although the words “film” and “movie” are sometimes used interchangeably
“Film” is more often used when considering artistic, theoretical, or technical aspects
The term “movies” more often refers to entertainment or commercial aspects, as where to go for fun evening on a date
For example, a book titled “How to Understand a Film” would probably be about the aesthetics or theory of film
While a book entitled “Let’s Go to the Movies” would probably be about the history of entertaining movies and blockbusters
Further terminology is used to distinguish various forms and media used in the film industry
“Motion pictures” and “moving pictures” are frequently used terms for film and movie productions specifically intended for theatrical exhibition
“DVD” and “videotape” are video formats that can reproduce a photochemical film
A reproduction based on such is called a “transfer”
After the advent of theatrical film as an industry, the television industry began using videotape as a recording medium
For many decades, tape was solely an analog medium onto which moving images could be either recorded or transferred
“Film” and “filming” refer to the photochemical medium that chemically records a visual image and the act of recording respectively
The act of shooting images with other visual media, such as with a digital camera, is still called “filming”
The resulting works often called “films” as interchangeable to “movies,” despite not being shot on film
“Silent films” need not be utterly silent, but are films and movies without an audible dialogue
The term includes those that have a musical accompaniment
The word, “Talkies,” refers to the earliest sound films created to have audible dialogue recorded for playback along with the film, regardless of a musical accompaniment
“Cinema” either broadly encompasses both films and movies, or it is roughly synonymous with film and theatrical exhibition
Both are capitalized when referring to a category of art
The “silver screen” refers to the projection screen used to exhibit films
By extension, is also used as a metonym for the entire film industry
“Widescreen” refers to a larger width to height in the frame, compared to earlier historic aspect ratios
A “feature-length film”, or “feature film”, is of a conventional full length
It is usually 60 minutes or more
It can commercially stand by itself without other films in a ticketed screening
A “short” is a film that is not as long as a feature-length film
It is often screened with other shorts, or preceding a feature-length film
An “independent” is a film made outside the conventional film industry
In US usage, one talks of a “screening” or “projection” of a movie or video on a screen at a public or private “theater”
In British English, a “film showing” happens at a cinema
Never at a “theatre”, which is a different medium and place altogether
A cinema usually refers to an arena designed specifically to exhibit films
There the screen is affixed to a wall
While a theater usually refers to a place where live, non-recorded action or combination thereof occurs from a podium or other type of stage, including the amphitheater
Theaters can still screen movies in them, though the theater would be retrofitted to do so
One might propose “going to the cinema” when referring to the activity, or sometimes “to the pictures” in British English
Whereas the US expression is usually “going to the movies”
A cinema usually shows a mass-marketed movie using a front-projection screen process with either a film projector or, more recently, with a digital projector
But, cinemas may also show theatrical movies from their home video transfers that include Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and videocassette
Due to the advent of digital film production and distribution, physical film might be absent entirely
A “double feature” is a screening of two independently marketed, stand-alone feature films
A “viewing” is a watching of a film
“Sales” and “at the box office” refer to tickets sold at a theater
More currently this depicts rights sold for individual showings
A “release” is the distribution and often simultaneous screening of a film
A “preview” is a screening in advance of the main release
Any film may also have a “sequel”
The term is used to portray a film that has events following those in the film
Bride of Frankenstein is an early example
When there are more films than one with the same characters, story arcs, or subject themes, these movies become a “series”
Such as the James Bond series, MCU, The Bourne series and many more
And, existing outside a specific story timeline usually, does not exclude a film from being part of a series
A film that portrays events occurring earlier in a timeline with those in another film, but is released after that film, is sometimes called a “prequel”
An example being Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, or the Star Wars prequel series
The “credits,” or “end credits,” is a list that gives credit to the people involved in the production of a film
Films from before the 1970s usually start a film with credits
Often ending with only a title card, saying “The End” or some equivalent, often an equivalent that depends on the language of the production
From then onward, a film’s credits usually appear at the end of most films
However, films with credits that end a film often repeat some credits at or near the start of a film and therefore appear twice
These may be film’s acting leads
While less frequently some appearing near or at the beginning only appear there, not at the end
This often happens to the director’s credit
The credits appearing at or near the beginning of a film are usually called “titles” or “beginning titles”
A post-credits scene is a scene shown after the end of the credits
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has a post-credit scene in which Ferris tells the audience that the film is over and they should go home
MCU made the “post-credits” scene a tradition
A film’s “cast” refers to a collection of the actors and actresses who appear, or “star,” in a film
A star is an actor or actress, often a popular one, and in many cases, a celebrity who plays a central character in a film
Occasionally the word can also be used to refer to the fame of other members of the crew, such as a director or other personality, such as Martin Scorsese
A “crew” is usually interpreted as the people involved in a film’s physical construction outside cast participation
This could include directors, film editors, photographers, grips, gaffers, set decorators, prop masters, and costume designers
A person can both be part of a film’s cast and crew
Such as Woody Allen, who directed and starred in Take the Money and Run
A “film goer,” “movie goer,” or “film buff” is a person who likes or often attends films and movies
Intense interest in films, film theory, and film criticism, is known as cinephilia
A film enthusiast is known as a cinephile or cineaste
A preview performance refers to a showing of a film to a select audience
This happens usually for the purposes of corporate promotions, before the public film premiere itself
Previews are sometimes used to judge audience reaction
If unexpectedly negative, may result in recutting or even refilming certain sections based on the audience response
One example of a film that was changed after a negative response from the test screening is 1982’s First Blood
After the test audience responded very negatively to the death of protagonist John Rambo, a Vietnam veteran, at the end of the film, the company wrote and re-shot a new ending in which the character survives
Independent filmmaking often takes place outside Hollywood, or other major studio systems
An independent film (or indie film) is a film initially produced without financing or distribution from a major film studio
Creative, business and technological reasons have all contributed to the growth of the indie film scene in the late 20th and early 21st century
On the business side, the costs of big-budget studio films also lead to conservative choices in cast and crew
There is a trend in Hollywood towards co-financing
Over two-thirds of the films put out by Warner Bros. in 2000 were joint ventures, up from 10% in 1987
A hopeful director is almost never given the opportunity to get a job on a big-budget studio film unless he or she has significant industry experience in film or television
Also, the studios rarely produce films with unknown actors, particularly in lead roles
Before the advent of digital alternatives, the cost of professional film equipment and stock was also a hurdle to being able to produce, direct, or star in a traditional studio film
But the advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more importantly, the arrival of high-resolution digital video in the early 1990s, have lowered the technology barrier to film production significantly