We continue with the behind the scenes of the magic of cinema and this time we want to talk about the different technical terms that are usually used while filming to establish what will be shot: take, scene, shot and sequence. This is the vocabulary used as a rule within the industry since it is essential for the understanding between all the teams involved in the shooting and to understand the processes of cinema itself. Even though they seem to be similar concepts, they have differences that we will explain below.
The take is the different attempts we make to get the shot we want and they are listed on the clapperboard –a device we’ll talk about in the upcoming news. On the other hand, the shot is the basic unit of audiovisual language. It usually has different frames - what we see on the screen- and it is delimited by the cuts in editing. There are different types of shots:
- Static: when the camera is left fixed in one place and it shoots. It is a very common shot and you can find examples in many films such as At Eternity’s Gate or Ben is Back.
- Sequence: it consists of a long shot with no cuts.
- Cutaway: when a close up is done to some particular object to highlight it or to emphasize some action the character is doing. You will see several examples in Unhinged or Jexi.
On the other hand, the scene. How do we define it? It is a series of shots that are part of the same action, same space or same specific time. It is the unit of time and action reflected in the film script.
And last but not least, the sequence: a unit of time and space within a cinematographic narrative. Although it may seem that it is the same as a scene because of the definition, it is not as a sequence could be said to be several small scenes that come together to form a larger scene. It has a beginning and an end until a goal is achieved and therefore it is composed of scenes. It is very common to see this type of sequences in action films, such as Greenland, Peppermint, Mile 22 or 12 Strong.
Now we’ll watch movies with a keen eye for detail!
