Glossary
Comprehensive glossary of filmmaking terms, concepts, and techniques.
Showing 17 terms
A
2Ambient Light
The non-directional background light present in an environment from all surrounding sources combined.
Available Light
All light already present in a location, natural or artificial, used without adding film lighting equipment.
D
2Day-for-Night Shot
A cinematographic technique in which daytime footage is processed or graded to simulate nighttime lighting conditions.
Dogme 95
A 1995 Danish filmmaking manifesto demanding stripped-down production with handheld cameras, natural light, and no genre conventions.
G
2Golden Hour
The period after sunrise or before sunset when low sun angle produces warm, directional, soft natural light.
Guerrilla Film
A film made with minimal budget and crew, often without permits, using resourceful methods to reduce costs.
M
2Magic Hour
The brief period after sunset or before sunrise when the sky provides soft, diffuse, warm-toned natural light.
Mockumentary
A fiction film or series shot in documentary style to satirise its subject or the documentary form itself.
N
2Naturalism
A filmmaking approach that represents the world as it objectively appears, avoiding stylisation and artifice.
New Wave
The French film movement of the late 1950s and 1960s that rejected studio convention for personal, low-budget, location-shot cinema.
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