Photo courtesy of Pixaby, CC

We go to the movies to have experiences that we can’t have anywhere else, and to share that experience with strangers in the dark. It really is an odd kind of pleasure, but we have been doing it for over 100 years and there are no signs that we will stop anytime soon. The box office receipts worldwide are calculated in the tens of millions even on a slow weekend.

There are many vocabulary terms associated with movies which might be new to you, or sound similar to other words you might know. With the Academy Awards ceremony upon us, the annual love-fest produced by and for the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, it seems like an appropriate time to explain the vocabulary associated with the awards which we commonly refer to as The Oscars.

• Adaptation – A movie based on material from another medium. This usually means a movie based on a book, story, or a play, but it can refer to anything, really. Comic book adaptations are popular now, and there are movies based on video games and operas.
• Animation – The act of making inanimate objects or drawings move onscreen. They are filmed one frame at a time to create the illusion of motion.
• Art Director – The person responsible for the overall look of a movie. This includes set design and construction, props, and all things visible on camera.
• Blockbuster – A hugely successful film, financially. Any film which earns over $200M in box-office receipts is currently considered a blockbuster.
• Box-office – The total amount of money any film earns in distribution. Also referred to as  B.O.or gross; usually divided into domestic grosses (unadjusted and adjusted for inflation), and worldwide grosses.
• CGI – Computer-Generated Imagery, or special effects created by digital computers and specialized software.
• Cinematography – The art of photographing images for films.
• Cinematographer – The person who has mastered the camera and lighting techniques of cinematography. Also known as the Director of Photography, or DP.
• Costume Design – The creation or selecting of wardrobe for the entire cast of a film.
• Credits – The text which appears at the beginning and end of a film, listing everyone who contributed to the making of the film, and what their specific role was.
• Director – The creative artist who is responsible for the film. The director supervises all aspects of the production, from cast selection to the final editing process.
• Documentary – A non-fiction film which depicts some aspect of our world, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record.
• Editing – The process of assembling a film from all the footage shot, as well as all the music and sound recorded. The Editor adheres to the script, as well as to the Director’s vision.
• Executive Producer – A person responsible for overseeing a film’s finances and budget, or acquiring financing and/or insurance.
• Foreign Language Film – Movies made outside the United States with no (or very little) English dialogue. Every country is invited to submit a film for consideration. Sometimes, for political reasons, it may not be among the best films made in that country that year. An Academy panel selects the final nominees.
• Makeup and Hair – The makeup artist is responsible for the transformation of actors into the physical characteristics of the roles they are playing. Movies set in specific time periods require meticulous detail. Of course, grotesque latex sculptures may be needed to create creatures and/or deformities.
• Original Screenplay – The script of a film written exclusively for the screen.
• Producer – The person or persons in charge of seeing that a movie is made. They handle the logistics of budgeting, hiring personnel, and finalizing distribution, while managing the production from start to finish.
• Production Design – The person responsible for the overall look of a movie. This includes set design and construction, props, and all things visible on camera.
• Score – The music created for a film by a composer. Also known as the soundtrack. Most scores are composed after a rough cut of the movie has been assembled by the Editor, in consultation with the Director. While most scores are not conducted by the film’s composer, some are.
• Short Subjects – A short film is an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits. There are categories for Live-Action, Documentary, and Animated.
• Sound Editing and Mixing – The person or team responsible for assembling recorded dialogue, sound effects recording and creation, then integrating all those sounds with the music. They work closely with the Editor in order to integrate all sounds with images.
• Visual Effects – Not just special effects, or CGI, but virtually anything added to the picture that wasn’t in the original shot. This can include slow motion or stop action capture, in which the action onscreen appears to freeze in place.

Will you be watching the Academy Awards this year?