HSC glossary

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An Account is a statement such as a report or a description or an explanation of an event.

Allusions are brief references to other works of literature, history, historical figures, myths and legends. Skrzynecki uses classical allusions in "Felix Skrzynecki" to describe the growing void between the boy and his father.

An Anecdote is a short and amusing story about a real person or thing.

Angles indicate the level at which the camera (and the viewer) sees the subject. Angles are another way a filmmaker has of making meaning.

1. An eye level shot means that the camera is at eye level with the subject or figure. It represents a ‘normal’ way of viewing the subject.
2. A high angle shot places the camera above the subject; the camera ‘looks down’ on the subject.
3. A low angle shot places the camera below the subject, the camera ‘looking up’ at the subject.

See shots; camera movements

Appropriation of a text occurs when one text from one context has been transformed into another text in a different context, such as Emma, the early nineteenth century novel by Jane Austen, and the film Clueless directed by Amy Heckerling in the 1990's.

The blurb is the text found on the back cover of a book. It usually has a combination of text and visual material. There is more text that on the front cover. This will include a synopsis of the content, only putting in enough material to make you want to read the book. It may include snippets from reviews or other authors. The visual material will continue the theme of the front cover, at least repeating the principal colour choices.

Camera movements indicate how the camera will move in relation to the subject.

1. A Pan shot is when the camera head moves horizontally on a fixed position, for example, a tripod. These usually go from right to left – like the eye movement in reading. Through panning, the filmmaker can have a camera comment on a situation, thus making the camera almost a character.
2. Tilt shot (or a vertical pan) describes the movement of the camera head vertically on a fixed position. Tilting also mimics the movement of the eye so that it will move up a building to take in its height or down a column of names.
3. Mobile camera shots have the whole camera moving. This kind of shot can add to the narrative by opening up more space or mimicking movement. These can be referred to as a dolly shot or a tracking shot.
4. Zooms are not technically a moving shot. Through the use of an adjustable lens the camera gives the appearance of moving closer (zooming in) or further away (zooming out) from the subject. It can be a dramatic way of calling attention to detail.

See shots; angles

Chronicles are an earlier version of ‘the history’. They are an account in prose or poetry of significant events over a lengthy period of time. They can be a blend of fact and legend. Shakespeare used chronicles written by Holinshed to provide material for some of his plays.

Classical allusions are usually references to Greek and Roman literature, arts, mythology. They are a specific form of allusion.

Colloquial expression is familiar language. It is informal, conversational and familiar. It may be serious, but the tone is warmer and less distant than formal expression.

See also register; formal expression; slang

Colours have emotional connotations or meanings. These can be used by a film maker or any other artist or designer to suggest moods.

• Green is the colour of nature and therefore life, youth and spring.

• Red is often seen as a colour that represents passion and anger.

• Blue can be seen to represent tears or sadness, even depression.

• Yellow has the warmth of the sun, a warm and inviting colour that suggests life and spirit.

• Black is often used to represent depression or grief.

Comparison is the process of putting two or more things - in this case two texts and their contexts - against each other and looking for what is similar and what is different.

Comparison also involves evaluation of what is being said and how it is done and the value of the text to the context of its composition.

One thing complements another when it fills or completes that thing, for example, colour and mood; words and music.

Context refers to the composer's background: historical, social, cultural, workplace etc. You can see the differences you and Shakespeare would bring to a text by looking at your contexts:

A composer's context will influence the texts that they compose: their themes, their perspective; the setting and characters they create.

The text set for you to study will also have a context: the set of circumstances that lie behind its composition.

Context will also play a role in how a composer chooses to present their ideas.

The credits are the list at the end of the film (and sometimes more briefly at the beginning) of the people responsible for a film or a CD or any other text.

Critical readings of texts - literary theory or critical readings - reflect the response to texts by people with shared beliefs; for example, social, historical, cultural etc.

Critical readings include:

• Postmodernism
• Psychoanalytic criticism
• Feminist criticism
• Marxist criticism
• Post colonial criticism
• Lesbian and gay (Queer) criticism

Deconstruction is the breaking down of a text into its component parts. It English studies you have been trained to analyse a print text for the composer’s purpose and the tools used by the composer to make their meaning, such as, structure and language features. This same process applies to films and to songs although the tools of the composer may change to visual langue or sound.

Design: Some basic principles

Composition means organizing a picture so that you get the best out of the material you have chosen to work with. When you look at the first page of a newspaper, your eyes are usually drawn to the centre of the page. This is frequently where a picture is placed - Australia winning the Ashes in 2006 is an example. The text beneath this picture explains details of the main illustration. Your eyes will go to the top of the page and then the bottom. The story's significance determines where the main stories on the first page are placed and the size of its headlines.

 Contrast is probably the most important means of creating visual attraction on a page. Illustration easily attracts attention and can lead a reader into text so that you must read the pictures as well as the text. Another way of creating contrast is to use colour or size.

 Repetition of elements helps to develop the organization of the page and strengthens its unity.

 Alignment means that nothing should be placed on a page at random. Every element should have some connection with another element on the page.

 Proximity means that items relating to each other should be grouped close to each other. When several items are in close proximity to each other, they be come a cohesive unit rather than separate units.

Dramatic irony: occurs when the audience understands the implications and meaning of a situation on stage, or what is being said, although the characters on stage do not.

Extended metaphor: This is a metaphor that operates in a text for an extended period for example, throughout a poem; recurs through a text.

A Fable is a short narrative in prose or poetry in the actions of characters provides a moral lesson. The characters are usually animals, for example, Aesop’s Fables and George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The focus is that thing that is the centre of interest or concern. In the case of a book cover, all the components should reinforce the focus.

Font is a printing term for the type of lettering used in a text. Fonts are either serif (like Times New Roman with the little extensions at the end of the letters that are designed visually to take your eye to the next letter) or sans serif, (like Arial, the font used in these notes which is crisp and clear).

The foreground is the front part of a scene or photograph. The foreground is usually where a photographer will want the subject of their photo and they will usually want clarity at that point.

Form, when referring to a work in literature, is the shape and structure of the work – in this case, Macbeth - and the manner in which is composed – Shakespeare’s style, his use of language. It can also refer to the genre, for example, novel, poetry or drama etc.

Foreshadow: to give notice or warning of events to come. For example, the Porter’s Scene in Macbeth strongly builds the sense that terrible things will happen.

Formal expression is the language used when the purpose is serious and the audience is educated. It makes use of the structural variety in speaking and writing and uses a vocabulary that reflects this. It is always thoughtful and has dignity.

See also register; colloquial expression; slang

A frame is like a still photograph that represents a key moment in a series of key moments that are used to interpret a script or text through pictures. What goes into each frame is carefully planned. Framing a shot is a way a filmmaker has of making meaning.

See also shots; angles; camera movements 

Genre refers to the classification of a text on the basis of it's subject matter, its form, structural features and language features. Literary genres include crime, romance, science fiction, travel etc. These genres can also be applied to film although visual language becomes a feature.

Image/imagery: a general term describing the use of language to represent objects, actions, feelings, thoughts, ideas, states of mind and any sensory or extra-sensory experience. It can be, but does not have to be, a mental picture.

Many images are conveyed by figurative language, for example, metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia.

 Shakespeare writes in both poetry and prose in his plays. He uses imagery for the purposes described above. He also uses it for a very practical purpose: to generate the atmosphere and settings that were lacking in Elizabethan performances due to the physical nature of their stages, the lack of the technology we are so used to, and the timing of their performances – during daylight hours.

Imaginative journey

• Imaginary means existing only in the imagination; not real

Synonyms: fancied, fictitious, hypothetical, illusory, invented, legendary, made up, mythical, non-existant, unreal

• Imagine means to form pictures or ideas in your head.

Synonyms: conceive, dream up, fancy, fantasise, picture, speculate, think up, visualise

Inner journey

Inner means inside, internal, nearer to the centre.

Synonyms: central, inside, interior, internal

Intertextuality is the use of more than one textual form to create a text, for example, the use of animation, film within a photo frame to tell a story, and performance in a video clip. The film Run Lola, Run is an excellent example.

Irony: involves the awareness of a discrepancy or an incongruity between words and their meaning or between actions and their results or between appearance and reality.

At a very basic level, consider this statement: "It's a lovely day!"

Journey: from the French and meaning 'a day's travel.

Synonyms: cruise, drive, excursion, expedition, flight, jaunt, mission, outing, pilgrimage, ride, safari, tour, trek, trip, voyage or walk.

Language modes: The modes are reading, writing, speaking, listening and representing, any of which can be integrated and are interdependent.

For example: Speaking is often a response to listening. Writing can be a product of having read or viewed something. What was read may represent an event, personality or a situation in such a way that requires comment. Comment can be written or spoken.

A Legend is a story that has its basis in fact but which has, over time, become embellished and is largely fictional for example, the Arthurian legend.

Literary approaches to texts - literary theory or critical readings - reflect the response to texts by people with shared beliefs; for example, social, historical, cultural etc.

Critical readings include:

• Postmodernism
• Psychoanalytic criticism
• Feminist criticism
• Marxist criticism
• Post colonial criticism
• Lesbian and gay (Queer) criticism

Meaning refers to the relationship between a text and the resonance it has for the responder arising from the content and the manner of its presentation (structural and language features) as well as the effect on the responder. It is 'what you make of it'.

Media is the plural of medium and commonly refers to the media - newspapers, radio and television - which present information and ideas (often very current) to the public,

Medium of production: This refers to the form of production or kind of material chosen to communicate the composer's meaning, for example, newspaper, radio, television, blog, film, autobiography. In literature the medium is we commonly experience is is either aural or the printed page.

Take a look at these three views of the Grand Canal in Venice. These are three different choices by three different composers/artists.

A metaphor compares two things by saying one thing is another, for example, "The moon is a ghostly galleon ..." compares the moon to the movement of a ship moving across the sky at night like an old ship and that it is as pale as a ghost.

Medium of production: colour photograph	www.europe-cities.com/.../images/227554_9269.jpg
Medium of production: Black and white photograph	italiancenter.net/altrevoci/
Medium of production: Oil painting	www.art.com/.../pg--3/William_Turner.htm
Medium of production: oil painting	http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=L1027

Modes: The language modes are reading, writing, speaking, listening and representing, any of which can be integrated and are interdependent.

For example: Speaking is often a response to listening. Writing can be a product of having read or viewed something. What was read may represent an event, personality or a situation in such a way that requires comment. Comment can be written or spoken.

Mood is the prevailing atmosphere or feeling and is used to reinforce meaning. Mood is produced by a combination of factors: the nature of the action + character interactions + spoken/visual language creating a mood within the viewer.

Movement and meaning

Actors interpreting any kind of script – play or film or television – make use of the body, facial expression and movement in relation to other characters and their setting to reinforce the meaning of their words. Some scriptwriters (composers) make it clear how they want their actors to move in relation to any line of script; others leave it more open to the actors interpretation. For example, in the script for Rabbit Proof Fence, the composer, Christine Olsen, has created scenes in which there is no dialogue and so all the meaning that is being made for the viewer comes from the actors’ movements and their body language.

A multimedia text is one that combines still or animated graphics, text, sound, video images and some degree of user interaction. It usually refers to electronic media such as CD Rom (for example, encyclopaedias such as Britannica or Encarta ) and the Internet (for example, www.Britannica.com).

Myths reflect a culture, for example the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Aborigines, and recount events, often supernatural or unusual,  designed to reflect the view of that culture.

A Narrative  is a real or fictional sequence of events told by a narrator. It can apply to non-fiction as well.

A Novel is more commonly a lengthy fictional prose narrative. The plot is often complex and features a number of characters with emphasis on a principal character.

The Parable is designed to teach a moral lesson, for example the parables of Jesus Christ in the New Testament or John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.  The characters in a parable are human, unlike the fable.

A paradox is a statement that appears to contradict itself but on closer examination has meaning, for example 'dumb prophet' in Peter Skrzynecki poem about his father, "Feliks Skrzynecki". A prophet is a person who can see or predict the future; a person who is dumb is unable to speak.

Physical journey

Physical means of the body; of things that you can touch or see.

Synonyms: bodily, corporal, actual, concrete, material, real, solid, tangible

The purpose of a prologue is to introduce a work. The prologue will usually introduce the concerns that are explored throughout the text.

Props is short for properties and refers to the items that are used to furnish a stage or a scene in a film. These props are chosen to reinforce the director’s vision for the text they are staging or filming.

Readings of a text are interpretations of the meaning a text may have. These readings are a product of the context, audience and purpose of the reader (an individual or a group) and are often the result of a particular way of looking at the world. In the case of performance texts, these readings are evident in the production of the text.

Critical readings include:

• Postmodernism
• Psychoanalytic criticism
• Feminist criticism
• Marxist criticism
• Post colonial criticism
• Lesbian and gay (Queer) criticism

A Record is a permanent collection of information.

A reflective novel is one that looks on the events on a life and evaluates it, often from the present looking back. It is a novel about people, their thoughts and feelings rather than action.

Register Choosing the appropriate register is an important means of approaching your audience when your programme relies on sound. Register is the appropriate use of language for the intended purpose, audience and context. Language used can fall into three broad categories: formal, colloquial or slang.

Formal expression is the language used when the purpose is serious and the audience is educated. It makes use of the structural variety in speaking and writing and uses a vocabulary that reflects this. It is always thoughtful and has dignity.

Colloquial expression is familiar language. It is informal, conversational and familiar. It may be serious, but the tone is warmer and less distant than formal expression.

Slang is highly colloquial language, often considered to have dropped below the point of educated or acceptable expression. Clearly defined social groups often have a ‘language’ of their own, words and phrases that are understood by the group but not always understood by people outside the group.

A Report is a description of something or an account of someone’s behaviour.

Representation refers to the way in which a composer chooses to portray their subject matter (events or personalities or situations) in order to convey their meaning in relation to that subject. This involves a composer making choices about the structure of their text and language forms and features of that text in order to convey the desired meaning.

These are different representations of the Grand Canal in Venice. Santa Maria del Salute is in the centre of all representations.

Medium of production: colour photograph	www.europe-cities.com/.../images/227554_9269.jpg	A distance shot showing the waterway and buildings. Clear and sunny day. Colours reinforce the colours used in the oil painting.
Medium of production: Black and white photograph	italiancenter.net/altrevoci/	Clear and more detailed. A closer and lower perspective than the colour photograph above, but still from an elevated perspective. It shows gondolas and their moorings as well of some of the building fascia on the left Obviously a clear and sunny day.
Medium of production: Oil painting	www.art.com/.../pg--3/William_Turner.htm	More impressionistic. Colours are played down to water and sky in blue tones and gondolas and buildings in light earth tones with the Cathedral fading in the distance. This is viewed from the landline.
Medium of production: oil painting	http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=L1027	Also impressionistic. Brighter colour selection and at a low angle. Moorings dominated the fore ground. Less detail and no figures.
Each image represents a similar section of the Grand Canal  in Venice from roughly the same distance. Each composer/artist has chosen their medium of production: photograph or oil painting and emphasised details through choices such as colour, angle, brightness, contrast, included details, excluded details. Each image of the Grand Canal reflects the composers unique use of their particular skills to represent their subject.

Responder: A text can mean different things to different people - readers , viewers and listeners - for a range of reasons:

• personal
• social
• historical
• cultural and
• workplace.

These reasons shape the way that we respond to a text.

Therefore the composer of a text and the reader of a text will not bring the same background to the reading of the text.

To give an extreme example: These reasons can explain the difference between you as a reader responding to Shakespeare's plays and Shakespeare as the composer of the text, making the decisions he did in creating his plays.

Rhetorical question: a question to which an answer is not expected because the answer is self-evident.

A Rumour is information about a person or event that circulates amongst a lot of people and may not be true.

A screenplay has Scenes, a little like chapters in a book. It does not have Acts like a play. Each scene is a complete sequence of action. Scenes can be very short or they can be long.

Shots are the way in which the camera man (cinematographer) photographs the material he is asked to film so that the viewer sees the meaning the director wants to express.

There are six basic shots. They describe the distance between the camera and the viewer to the subject matter.

1. An extreme long shot is also called an establishing shot because it gives the viewer a sense of location through lots of landscape and it can also suggest atmosphere.

1. A long shot also uses landscape but figures (or the subject or subjects) are a part of the scene and they are usually recognisable.

2. A full shot shows the complete figure or subject within the frame and whatever landscape or background can be seen around the figure. There can be two or even three figures in a full shot.

3. A medium (mid) shot shows the figures from the waist up and includes whatever landscape is behind these figures. There can also be two or even three figures in a medium shot.

4. A close-up concentrates on the whole face of the figure. There is almost no landscape or background to be seen. This is a ‘personal’ shot because it is so close to the figure. The closeness to the subject can therefore make it shot used for emotional purposes. This is a shot that loses its impact if it is overused.

5. An extreme close up focuses on an aspect of the figure in great detail such as the eyes or the mouth. It is an extremely ‘personal’ shot. Because it is so personal, it should not be overused.

See angles; camera movements; framing shot

Similes are comparisons that include the words 'like' or 'as'. The word simile comes from the Latin and means 'like', for example, "the moon is like a ghostly galleon".

Situations: some similes to help you with this term are -

• locality, place, position, setting, site, spot

• circumstances, position, predicament, state of affairs

• job, position, post

Slang is highly colloquial language, often considered to have dropped below the point of educated or acceptable expression. Clearly defined social groups often have a ‘language’ of their own, words and phrases that are understood by the group but not always understood by people outside the group.

See also register; formal expression; colloquial expression

Sound effects – FX or those sounds other than dialogue - are used to form a background to speech and can take a variety of forms. In a radio play the effects can almost tell a story in themselves.

Sound text: features

Unusual stress (accent, emphasis) is used when the speaker wants to make a point and stresses a sound or emphasizes the key word or phrase to make that point.

Variation in pitch (inflection, intonation) is a means of keeping the listener interested in what is being said by giving what is said colour or variety.

Loudness (volume) is a device speakers use to show excitement, to gain attention or to register particular emotions.

Tone (harsh, comforting, sarcastic, …) of voice is the way in which the speaker tells the listener how they are feeling when they speak. A harsh tone might indicate anger or frustration, whilst a comforting tone may show concern and a wish to make things better. A sarcastic tone is critical and angry.

Pauses can say as much as words. It has been said that at certain times, silence can be deafening. A ‘pregnant pause’ is a silence that is loaded with meaning.

Speech is more effective when the speaker uses certain qualities of speech effectively:

·         pace: using the speed – fast to slow – the speaker uses

·         volume: the variations from loud to soft

·         emphasis: the stress the speaker place on important words or phrases

·         pause: stopping before or after a word as if thinking or to allow the audience to think

·         emotion: speaking to reflect feeling or the lack of it

      A Statement is a formal account of an event or sequence of events.

A storyboard is a visual representation of the script. It helps people working on the film to ‘see’ what the film will look like when it is completed.

A storyboard is a series of rough sketches of the images in succession in a particular sequence of the film.

Each image is like a still photograph and is called a frame.  It is accompanied by some brief notes, such as the type of shot, the camera angle and the suggested length in time the shot will run for in the film.

It is very similar to a cartoon strip or a photo story, but without the speech balloons.

Symbolism: an object, living or not living, which represents or stands for something else. Very basic examples of a symbol are signs we all recognise:

A synopsis is a summary of a text. In the case of a book cover it would be giving the game away of the synopis on the blurb told the whole story.

A Tale is usually a simple narrative such as a fairy tale.

Tension in a script occurs when the composer creates a situation or condition of suspense or uneasiness to develop their meaning. Tension involves the viewer feeling some of that suspense or uneasiness, usually through their involvement as a viewer with the characters and the events. In a film the use of the camera can reinforce action and the work of the actors during the scene.

Text is anything that conveys meaning. It can be print, visual or sound. Its meaning can be superficial or more significant.

Tragedy comes from the Greek, ’goat song’. Basically a tragedy traces the career and downfall of an individual, and shows in this downfall both the capacities and limitations of human life.

 The protagonist may be superhuman, a monarch, or, in the modern age, an ordinary person. It is impossible to imagine a tragic action involving a group of people, but unless they were seen as in some way outside the rest of society, some of the essential quality of tragedy, which seems to include an element of the scapegoat or sacrifice (implicit in the derivation of the word ‘tragedy’), would be lost.

  Shakespeare’s protagonists are shown to be responsible for the choices that result in their downfall. This free will is obviously a Christian element. The paradoxical interdependence of good and evil in Christian thinking contributes to the special success of tragedy as a genre.

A version of events is a particular person's account of those events and may differ from someone else's account. It can also be a special or different  form of something, for example Blade Runner, The Director's Cut is different to the version originally released in cinemas.

Visual representation is the representation of another text in visual terms. For example, when Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice was filmed as the BBC miniseries and again in 2005, the original print text had to be reinterpreted visually. The Bollywood version, Bride and Prejudice, is another example of a visual representation of the same text.

A yarn is simply a tale or a story and is entertaining and often humourous.