1. Media language
If the question is about media language, you need to focus on ‘the language of film’
as you have all produced short films (don’t forget other students will have completed
different briefs so will be required to talk about media language in a different way, for
example, the language of newspapers).
The language of film will necessarily involve discussion of genre and narrative, so
don’t be scared to write a bit about this even if these concepts aren’t directly
mentioned in the question.
The majority of your response should be about film language in the sense that film
as a medium is a CONSTRUCT and your films are artificial representations.
DIEGESIS: You’re familiar with the words diegetic and non-diegetic when talking
about sound; the term diegesis is somewhat broader in that in refers to the internal
world created by the story the characters experience and the narrative ‘space’ in
which the story is told. Diegesis is the fictional world in which events unfold. This
means that anything you see on screen, or are told about (such as events leading up
to the present action, people who are being talked about but not present, events that
have happened elsewhere) are all diegetic. Anything that is neither taking place in
the world of the film, nor is seen, imagined, or thought by a character is non-
diegetic. This includes not just soundtrack but titles, subtitles and some voice-overs.
CINEMATOGRAPHY can be defined as the making of lighting and camera choices
when recording photographic images for the cinema. This can be quite technical and
as most of you will have used the ‘automatic’ function on the cameras, your
cinematographic choices are likely to be limited.
All your films were shot in the aspect ratio 16:9 widescreen. You recorded video at
25fps (frames per second) in most cases.
The focal length of the camera lens determines the angle of view and, therefore, the
field of view. Cinematographers can choose between a range of wide angle lenses,
"normal" lenses and telephoto lenses, as well as macro lenses and other special
effect lens systems. Wide-angle lenses have short focal lengths and make spatial
distances more obvious. A person in the distance is shown as much smaller while
someone in the front will loom large. A zoom lens allows a camera operator to
change their focal length within a shot or quickly between setups for shots. All your
films were shot with a camera with a zoom lens so you can refer to this.
Film grammar: Just as written storytelling uses a basic grammar of words, phrases
and sentences, filmmaking uses shots, scenes, and sequences. This is part of film
grammar — the basics of filmmaking language.
Shots By Position In The Scene Shots By Number Of Subjects
Establishing Shot Single (One-Shot)
Point-Of-View Shot Two Shot
Reaction Shot Group Shot

2. Shots By The Type Of Lens
Shots By Camera Movement
Wide-Angle Shot
Dolly Shot
Telephoto Shot
Panning Shot
Zoom Shot
Tilting Shot
Shots By Camera Angle
Shots By Camera Position
High Angle
Over-The-Shoulder Shot
Low Angle
Head-On Shot
Bird's-Eye View
Film Punctuation
Continuity
Fade Out
Imaginary 180 degree line
Fade In
Framing
White Out
Extreme Close-up
Cutting To Black
Close-up
Colour Fade
Medium Shot
Dissolve
Medium Full Shot
Composition
Full Shot
Light, Colour
Wide Shot
Camera Angle
Match Cut (Match on Action)
Camera Movement
By camera position
Object/Character Placement
In the subject you need to write about how your film operates within the language of
By exam, movement
film discussed above. Discuss mise-en-scene, shot types, continuity, editing
By dialogue
decisions, sound, lighting etc in relation to your production.