Vocabulary List – Film Lingo (B) Critical Viewing Vocabulary List – Film Lingo (B)

IMAX a specialized, big-screen film format about ten times larger than the traditional 35mm cinema format (70mm); IMAX film produces incredible high-definition sharpness and is projected on up to eight-story high screens in theatres or domes equipped with advanced digital surround-sound systems.

GREENLIGHT the “go-ahead” for a film to be made -to green-light something is to formally approve its production finance, thereby allowing the project to move forward from the development phase to pre-production and principal photography. -The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead.”

BOX OFFICE POISON a term of contempt for movie stars who lose popularity, typically making their subsequent films financial disasters.

PAPARAZZI an Italian term for pushy photographers who stalk celebrities in their private lives.

BALLYHOO an Irish term which denotes hype/publicity regardless of the film’s actual merit

CASTING COUCH a term that implies the trade of sexual favors to a director or producer to obtain a film role.

“CHEW UP THE SCENERY” self-indulgent hamming or overacting by a famous actor

MOVIE MOGUL an important film industry executive. Harvey Weinstein Scott Rudin Steven Spielberg Tyler Perry Jerry Bruckheimer

MacGUFFIN Alfred Hitchcock's term for an item, object, goal, event, or piece of knowledge that drives the logic or action of the plot; although it appears extremely important to the film characters, it often turns out to be insignificant. The Ark of the Covenant - “Raiders of the Lost Ark”The best Indiana Jones film has the best MacGuffin of the series.  The golden casket finally gets opened at the end - with face-melting results! The Death Star Plans - “Star Wars”A classic piece of MacGuffinry - the plans to the fortress showing the secret entrance or the point of weakness.  The pay-off at the end of the film, of course, is the brilliant trench run sequence: a MacGuffin that leads to a fantastic denouement.  “Use the Force, Luke!" 

PRODUCT PLACEMENT advertising space within a film sold to name-brand companies for their products to appear within the film as a way for a producer to fund some film production costs.

STUDIO SYSTEM the all-powerful control that monopolistic film studios had over all aspects of assembly-line filmmaking and film production from the 1920s until the late 1950s, when movie moguls such as Mayer, Selznick, and Zukor ruled ownership of property, control of publicity and marketing and brokered iron-clad contracts with star actors, directors, composers, cameramen, costume designers, writers, and producers.

HAYS CODE named after Will Hays, a series of rigid censorship restrictions imposed on films by the Motion Picture Production Code, beginning in mid-1934 and lasting until the lat 1960’s; enforced/administered by Joseph Breen, the Code explicitly prescribed what couldn't be shown in films, e.g. "nakedness and suggestive dances," "methods of crime," "illegal drug use," "scenes of passion," "pointed profanity," etc. The Production Code enumerated three general principles as follows: -No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence, the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin. -Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented. -Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation. -Specific restrictions were spelled out as particular applications of these principles: -Nakedness and suggestive dances were prohibited. -The ridicule of religion was forbidden, and ministers of religion were not to be represented as comic characters or villains. -The depiction of illegal drug use was forbidden, as well as the use of liquor, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization. -Methods of crime (e.g., safe-cracking, arson, smuggling) were not to be explicitly presented. -References to alleged sex perversion (such as homosexuality) and venereal disease were forbidden, as were depictions of childbirth. -The language section banned various words and phrases that were considered to be offensive. -Murder scenes had to be filmed in a way that would discourage imitations in real life, and brutal killings could not be shown in detail. -Revenge in modern times was not to be justified.The sanctity of marriage and the home had to be upheld. -Pictures could not imply that low forms of sexual relationships are the accepted or common thing. -Adultery and illicit sex, although recognized as sometimes necessary to the plot, could not be explicit or justified and were not supposed to be presented as an attractive option. -Portrayals of miscegenation (inter-racial marriage and procreation) were forbidden. -Scenes of passion were not to be introduced when not essential to the plot. -Excessive and lustful kissing was to be avoided, along with any other treatment that might stimulate the lower and baser element. -The flag of the United States was to be treated respectfully, and the people and history of other nations were to be presented fairly. -The treatment of vulgarity, defined as "low, disgusting, unpleasant, though not necessarily evil, subjects" were to be "subject to the dictates of good taste." -Capital punishment, "third-degree methods", cruelty to children or animals, prostitution and surgical operations were to be handled with similar sensitivity. Will Hays