Film Terminology Study Guide: 78 Flashcards from Blocking to Foley
Learn 78 essential film terms with real flashcards: shots, camera moves, editing, three-point lighting, diegetic sound, VFX, crew roles and production workflow.
Studying. But it's also a video game. 🎮
Flashcards, quizzes and games that make you actually remember.
Posted by
FLIP IT TeamRelated reading
Memorize 100 Famous Film Directors: From Citizen Kane to Dune in One Flashcard Deck
Learn which director made which film with 100 flashcards: Welles, Kurosawa, Bergman, Spielberg, Tarantino, Gerwig, Bong Joon-ho and 54 more, plus trap pairs to watch.
Film vocabulary is the one part of a film course you cannot reason your way through: either you know that best boy is an assistant and not a young actor, or you don't. Film Terminology (deck code UB1275, 78 cards) on Flip It covers the working language of a set — camera, cut, light, sound, crew and budget — in short, exam-ready definitions.
Study this deck: Film Terminology
1 / 10180-degree rule
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
Sample cards
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| American shot | A medium-long (knee-level) shot of a group of characters arranged so all are visible, allowing complex dialogue without camera changes |
| Dutch angle | A shot where the camera is tilted on its roll axis, creating diagonal vertical lines to portray psychological uneasiness |
| Dolly zoom | Dolly movement and zoom in opposite directions, creating a disorienting effect (aka the Vertigo effect) |
| 180-degree rule | Keeping the camera on one side of an imaginary axis between characters, maintaining consistent spatial relationships on screen |
| Cutting on action | Cutting during an action so the transition is less noticeable |
| Low-key lighting | Lighting with strong contrasts and deep shadows, often used in film noir and thrillers |
| Best boy | The assistant to either the gaffer (best boy electric) or key grip (best boy grip) |
| Non-diegetic sound | Sound outside the story world, for the audience only — film score, voiceover narration |
| Day for night | Filming techniques that simulate night while shooting in daylight (underexposure, blue tint) |
| Forced perspective | Optical illusion making objects appear larger, smaller, closer or farther than they are |
The 78 terms, by department
- Framing and grammar: establishing shot, close-up, high-angle shot, American shot, Dutch angle, blocking, the 30-degree rule, the 180-degree rule.
- Camera movement: pan, tilt, zoom, dolly shot, tracking shot, crane shot, dolly zoom.
- Optics and format: depth of field, shallow depth of field, deep focus, aspect ratio, film stock, 35mm, frame rate (24 fps).
- Editing: cut, jump cut, cutting on action, dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, cross-cutting, cutaway, continuity editing, montage.
- Lighting: three-point lighting (key, fill, back), high-key, low-key, practical, ambient.
- Sound: ADR, foley artist, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, film score.
- Effects: chroma keying, compositing, CGI, motion capture, practical effect, stop-motion animation.
- Crew: cinematographer (director of photography), camera operator, gaffer, grip, best boy, extra, character actor, cameo appearance.
- Workflow: storyboard, pre-production, principal photography, post-production, clapperboard, dailies, take.
- Business and forms: above-the-line and below-the-line costs, feature film, B-movie, independent film, documentary, fourth wall, cold open.
How to run the deck
Go department by department rather than alphabetically — the cards were built in clusters, and key light / fill light / back light only makes sense as one three-part answer. Two sessions of roughly 20 cards get you through the camera and editing halves; the crew and business terms are shorter and can be cleared in a single pass.
Two tips that work for this deck
Attach one film to each term before you review it. Dolly zoom → Vertigo. Deep focus → Citizen Kane. Low-key lighting → any noir. Cold open → most TV dramas you already watch. Definitions are abstract, but a shot you have actually seen is not, and the recall cue becomes visual rather than verbal.
Learn the opposites as pairs, not as separate cards. The deck tests them individually, but they are only memorable in contrast: above-the-line / below-the-line, diegetic / non-diegetic, high-key / low-key, shallow depth of field / deep focus, pan / tilt, fade-in / fade-out, practical effect / CGI, gaffer (light) / grip (rigging). Answer each card, then say its opposite out loud before flipping — you will halve the number of items you actually have to store.
A useful companion once the vocabulary is in place: 100 Famous Film Directors, which gives you the filmographies to hang every one of these techniques on.
Ready to learn faster? 🚀
Join FLIP IT for free and turn studying into a game.