Film Terms 9 - Story, Script, Direction, Production

Back to filmfun.org

pre-production, story, script, direction

treatment script/screenplay teleplay
adaptation story plot

plot points (turning points)

protagonist antagonist
character traits character conflict rule of threes
three-act structure backstory storyboard
scene sequence story setting vs. actual location
climax denouement closure
structure juxtaposition pace

story time

running time

flashback

flashforward red herring MacGuffin (or McGuffin)
moral theme (motif)

moment — a supremely memorable point in a film; examples:

EXT. — in a screenplay, an outside (exterior) scene, though it may be shot on a sound stage for technical convenience

INT. — in a screenplay, an inside scene

O.S. — in a screenplay, the speaker of the dialog is technically in the scene but off screen V/O or V.O. — in a screenplay, a voice over, or a voice acting as a narrator POV — point-of-view, as in POV SHOT
production, direction

principal photography

shooting phase

backlot

set (noun) Alan Smithee wrap
acting

stylized performance

cue mark
stunt squib

motivation

animation

computer generated imagery (CGI)

clay animation (claymation)

cels

pixillation animatronics animé