Film and Television Language: Codes and Conventions
What you must know
Every moving-image text communicates through technical codes (camera, lighting, sound, editing), symbolic codes (objects, colour, costume, setting, body language) and audio codes (dialogue, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, silence). You should be able to name a technique, describe what it does, and link it to meaning and audience response.
Camera work includes shot size (extreme close-up to extreme wide), angle (high, low, eye-level, Dutch tilt), movement (pan, tilt, tracking, handheld, crane, zoom) and lens choice (wide-angle distortion versus telephoto compression). Editing terms matter: continuity editing, shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, cross-cutting, match cut, jump cut, montage, and transitions such as dissolve and fade.
Traps in questions
- Confusing story (what happens) with discourse (how it is told).
- Using "zoom" for a tracking shot, or "pan" for a tilt.
- Calling non-diegetic music "diegetic" because characters can "feel" it.
- Describing a technique without stating its effect.
Rule of thumb
Use a three-part sentence: technique + specific detail + intended effect. "The slow push-in on the closed door isolates the character and signals her exclusion." Always anchor claims in a concrete moment of the text rather than general praise.
Worked example
A question asks how tension is built in a scene. Strong answer: handheld camera, tight framing and escalating diegetic sound (footsteps) combine with a cut on movement to deny resolution, placing the audience in the character's restricted perspective.