Here are some of the main genres of films

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Action & Adventure Films
Action films usually include high energy, big-budget physical stunts and chases, possibly with rescues, battles, fights, escapes, destructive crises (floods, explosions, natural disasters, fires, etc.), non-stop motion, spectacular rhythm and pacing, and adventurous, often two-dimensional 'good-guy' heroes (or recently, heroines) battling 'bad guys' - all designed for pure audience escapism. Includes the James Bond 'fantasy' spy/espionage series, martial arts films, video-game films, so-called 'blaxploitation' films, and some superhero films. (See Superheroes on Film: History.) A major sub-genre is the disaster film. 

Adventure films are usually exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locales, very similar to or often paired with the action film genre. They can include traditional swashbucklers or pirate films, serialized films, and historical spectacles (similar to the epics film genre), searches or expeditions for lost continents, "jungle" and "desert" epics, treasure hunts, disaster films, or searches for the unknown.

Here are some standard codes and conventions:

• 12/15 certificate, maximising youth audiences

• Young, male, aspirational target audience – secondary female target audience

• Hybridised – often also with Sci Fi, Animation and Romance

• Innocent, often childlike representations

• Graphic violence is tolerated but dumbed down and often encoded with humour

• The narrative commonly involves a quest

• Major Hollywood studio produced and distributed

• High production values including CGI FX

• Fast paced editing

• Classic Hollywood 3 act narrative structure

• Predictable chain of events – narrative cause and effect

• Single stranded, linear, closed narrative

• Dramatic non-diegetic soundtrack

• More narrative action codes than enigma codes

• Clear binary oppositions positioning audiences into a preferred reading

• Star Marketing: Audience identification/expectations e.g. Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford

• Generic Typecasting and Secondary Persona apply (actors are expected to play certain characters)

• Romantic sub-plot (see Propp)

• Humorous dialogue underpinning the narrative

• Relationships with new technology (youth audiences)

• Use of Close up / Insert shots / High Key Lighting

• Dominant representation of gender: male/female action hero encoding a hegemonic cultural stereotype

Comedy Films
Comedies are light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter (with one-liners, jokes, etc.) by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and characters.

Crime Films
Crime (gangster) films are developed around the sinister actions of criminals or mobsters, particularly bankrobbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life. The criminals or gangsters are often counteracted by a detective-protagonist with a who-dun-it plot. Hard-boiled detective films reached their peak during the 40s and 50s (classic film noir), although have continued to the present day. Therefore, crime and gangster films are often categorized as film noir or detective-mystery films, and sometimes as courtroom/crime legal thrillers - because of underlying similarities between these cinematic forms. This category also includes various 'serial killer' films.

Documentary Films

A documentary film is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterised the documentary in terms of "a filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception [that remains] a practice without clear boundaries". Early documentary films, originally called "actuality films", lasted one minute or less. Over time, documentaries have evolved to become longer in length, and to include more categories; some examples being: educational, observational, and docufiction. Documentaries are very informative and are often used within schools, as a resource to teach various principles.

Here are some standard codes and conventions:

• Hand held Camera -  encoding realism and ‘truth’

• Narrative Voice Over -  leading the audience into a preferred reading

• Vox Pops and Interviews with experts / witnesses / participants

• Often a shorter running time than non-fiction feature films

• Intercutting / Parallel Editing linking key scenes

• Use of Archive footage to support filmed scenes

• Surveillance (information) decoded by audience (e.g. about McDonalds in Supersize Me)

• Mediated culture – documentaries select and construct, thus encoding opinion and subjectivity

• Selective editing crucial to constructing meaning

• Often point of view with encoded ideology, preferred meaning

• Use of Establishing Shot and Close Up

• Observational, Interactive, Reflexive, Expository in format

• 3 act structure, closed investigative narrative

• Often single stranded, linear – one subject is often the topic

• Exploration of narrative themes, messages and values

• Different purposes – to entertain, inform, educate, satirise, shock, satisfy, provide voyeuristic pleasure and for propaganda purposes (see Triumph of the Wild and Crown Film Unit documentaries – Fires Were Started, Britain Can Take It)

• Characters are often hyper real, exaggerated stereotypes e.g. Charlton Heston and Michael Moore himself in Bowling for Columbine

• Audience cultural capital needed to deconstruct some of the narrative content – more niche target audiences

• Active and passive consumption

• Mainly niche but sometimes mass audiences, dependent on distribution

• Hegemonic and Pluralistic representation

Drama Films
Dramas are serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction. Usually, they are not focused on special-effects, comedy, or action, Dramatic films are probably the largest film genre, with many subsets. See also melodramas, epics (historical dramas), courtroom dramas, or romantic genres. Dramatic biographical films (or "biopics") are a major sub-genre, as are 'adult' films (with mature subject content).

Here are some standard codes and conventions:

• Dramatic narrative (storyline)

• Ensemble cast (each character – own storyline)

• Expressive lighting techniques dependent on sub genre e.g. high key lighting in Period Drama

• High production value sound/emotive

• Exaggerated, hyper real representations of character – cultural stereotyping for entertainment values

• Scheduled Prime Time

Epics Films
Epics include costume dramas, historical dramas, war films, medieval romps, or 'period pictures' that often cover a large expanse of time set against a vast, panoramic backdrop. Epics often share elements of the elaborate adventure films genre. Epics take an historical or imagined event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting or period, lavish costumes, and accompany everything with grandeur and spectacle, dramatic scope, high production values, and a sweeping musical score. Epics are often a more spectacular, lavish version of a biopic film. Some 'sword and sandal' films (Biblical epics or films occuring during antiquity) qualify as a sub-genre.

Horror Films
Horror films are designed to frighten and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films feature a wide range of styles, from the earliest silent Nosferatu classic, to today's CGI monsters and deranged humans. They are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not always synonymous with the horror genre. There are many sub-genres of horror: slasher, splatter, psychological, survival, teen terror, 'found footage,' serial killers, paranormal/occult, zombies, Satanic, monsters, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. 

Here are some standard codes and conventions:

• Split into sub genres (see below), often hybridised

• Primary target audience – male, 16-24, Mainstreamers

• 15 or 18 Certification (promises of pleasure) – debates on passive consumption

• Uses and Gratifications (active audiences) theory can apply

• Extensive use of Narrative enigmas

• Exploration of Narrative Themes

• Slow pace of Editing, builds tension. Long takes

• Three act narrative structure

• Predictable narrative content (follows format)

• Clear binary oppositions e.g. good v evil

• Use of low key lighting

• Use of CGI, FX

• High production values but many low budget horror films

• Dominant, hegemomic representation of gender: The Female Victim

• Extensive use of close up

• Incidental non-diegetic sound

• Distorted diegetic sound

• Extensive use of narrative off-screen space

• Young/teenage characters

• Use of hand-held camera: audience identification/realism

• Point of view shots

• Low angle shots

Horror Sub Genres

Horror can be split into sub genres:

• The Monster Scare

• Psychological Thrillers

• Slasher Pics

• Zombie Films

Musicals/Dance Films
Musicals / Dance Films are cinematic forms that emphasize and showcase full-scale song and dance routines in a significant way (usually with a musical or dance performance as part of the film narrative, or as an unrealistic "eruption" within the film). Or they are films that are centered on combinations of music, dance, song or choreography. In traditional musicals, cast members are ones who sing. Musicals highlight various musical artists or dancing stars, with lyrics that support the story line, often with an alternative, escapist vision of reality - a search for love, success, wealth, and popularity. This genre has been considered the most escapist of all major film genres. Tremendous film choreography and orchestration often enhances musical numbers.

Sci-Fi Films
Sci-fi films are often quasi-scientific, visionary and imaginative - complete with heroes, aliens, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology, unknown and unknowable forces, and extraordinary monsters ('things or creatures from space'), either created by mad scientists or by nuclear havoc. They are sometimes an offshoot of the more mystical fantasy films (or superhero films), or they share some similarities with action/adventure films. Science fiction often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind and easily overlaps with horror films, particularly when technology or alien life forms become malevolent, as in the "Atomic Age" of sci-fi films in the 1950s. Science-Fiction sub-categories abound: apocalyptic or dystopic, space-opera, futuristic noirs, speculative, etc.

Here are some standard codes and conventions:

• High production values

• Younger target audience although significant older appeal

• Wide/saturated distribution (normally by an American Studio e.g. Warners or Disney). Mainstreamers and Aspirers

• Dedicated, sometimes obsessive fan base

• Convergence and Synergy – computer games, merchandising, forums and blogs, fan sites…

• Emotive, often ‘romanticised’ narratives

• Hyper real, idealised representations

• Saturated primary colours

• High key lighting

• Significant CGI and FX e.g. green screen technology

• Aspirational, escapist characters, often undertaking a quest

• Occasional political narrative themes only understood by an older target audience with significant cultural capital (e.g. about minority groups)

• Reputation for being ideologically traditional e.g. Disney ‘teaching’ gender roles to young target audiences

• Positive narrative outcomes (happy endings)

• Simplistic, linear narrative (e.g. a Hobbit travels across middle earth encountering danger)

• Propps character roles can often apply

• Iconography includes magic, mystical creatures e.g. Elves and Fairies

• Often set in the past (King Arthur) or in an imagined time

• High production value costume design

• Exhibited mainly in multiplex cinemas

• Escapism as key audience appeal

War and Anti-War Films 

They often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, air dogfights, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime.

Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.

Westerns Films
Westerns are the major defining genre of the American film industry - a eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. They are one of the oldest, most enduring genres with very recognizable plots, elements, and characters (six-guns, horses, dusty towns and trails, cowboys, Indians, etc.). They have evolved over time, however, and have often been re-defined, re-invented and expanded, dismissed, re-discovered, and spoofed. Variations have included Italian 'spaghetti' westerns, epic westerns, comic westerns, westerns with outlaws or marshals as the main characters, revenge westerns, and revisionist westerns.

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C) How Media Products Represent People......go to top of page

>>> Lesson Powerpoint- here

MEN

Representations of men have changed over the past two decades with the emergence of the 'new man' or 'metrosexual', a man in touch with his feminine side and interested in romance, fashion, health and fitness.

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However, the main focus is still on the traditional idea of masculinity which is strong, heroic, with the ability to outsmart life's problems and survive against all odds.

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This kind of masculine representation is seen in action-adventure characters such as James Bond or Indiana Jones.

Sometimes this heroic representation of masculinity is challenged in action-adventures. In Skyfall, we see an ageing James Bond, a more vulnerable hero. This is a more realistic representation of masculinity and age.

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WOMEN

Representations of women in the media have developed and changed with time to reflect the cultural and sociological changes in society. However, female stereotypes continue to appear in some media texts.

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Representations of women are often defined by how men see women (termed the 'male gaze'), or by how society expects women to look and behave. Many representations of women concentrate on sexuality and emotions. Others focus on their relationships with their children or romantic partners.

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YOUNG PEOPLE
Young people are often represented negatively in media texts, which can cause controversy and stimulate debate. Positive representations of young people in the media are much less frequent because positive representations are not as dramatic or entertaining.

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The main media texts which offer positive representation of young people are usually situations which allow them to represent themselves, within a specific context. For instance, auditions on talent shows such as Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor or celebrations of their good deeds on charity programmes like Children in Need.

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Are the media portraying "the people" them in a positve or negative way? Is it stereotypical or not? Does it relate to the genre?

Are the media portraying young males or adult males in a positve or negative way? Is it stereotypical or not? Does it relate to the genre?

Are the media portraying young females or adult females in a positve or negative way? Is it stereotypical or not? Does it relate to the genre?

Are the media portraying minorities / religions / differing sexual orientations  in a positve or negative way? Is it stereotypical or not? Does it relate to the genre?

What are the characters portrayed like? What about people with mise en scene?

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D) How Media Products Represent Places......go to top of page

>>> Lesson Powerpoint- here

Media representations play a crucial role in the place image context. Perceptions of places, including countries or tourist destinations, are influenced by the ways in which they are represented by the media. It could be language, colour of skin, sterotypess or key places and national minuments.

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National identity- National identity is based on the features of a specific country - its culture, traditions, language and politics.

Regional identity- also based on geographical area but can be quite broad (someone could be from the North or the South of England) or more specific (they could be Glaswegian or Cornish).

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Representations of national and regional identity often focus on certain stereotypical characteristics and customs associated with the nation or region. For example, that the French are romantic, Italians are the best cooks or the Irish are friendly.

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Stereotypical representations can include the costume or dress of a particular place, for instance in Emmerdale Zak Dingle wears a flat cap and wellies showing he is a farmer from a rural area. Accents and dialects can also be used to represent a particular national or regional identity. The main soaps in the UK feature distinct accents – Coronation Street is set in Manchester,

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E) How Media Products Represent Issues......go to top of page

>>> Lesson Powerpoint- here

Issues are important subjects or topics that people discuss and debate. Issues can include things like education, poverty or body image and can often be controversial - like immigration, LGBT rights or climate change. Media representations of controversial issues can be very influential especially if they are the only opinion on a certain subject that a person reads or hears.

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• Poverty is an issue that is highlighted by the rise in the use of food banks

• The way the media represents body image often comes in for criticism.

• Fashion magazines and some TV programmes tend to represent beauty narrowly - as white, thin and without any imperfections This is an unrealistic representation and can create pressure for young people to conform to an image that may have been created by technological manipulation. Adverts featuring beauty and anti-ageing products are often regarded as unrealistic representations. There have been some challenges to these types of advertising: complaints to the ASA led to two adverts from Lancôme and Maybelline featuring celebrities, Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington, being banned. These adverts were deemed to represent an unrealistic portrayal of the effectiveness of the beauty products and for making unrealistic claims about their products.As a result of this case many advertisements must declare if the image has been digitally altered in post-production, or if implants, hair extensions and other cosmetic enhancements have been used.

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F) How Media Products Represents Events......go to top of page

>>> Lesson Powerpoint- here

Events like war, accidents, terrorist attacks, political or celebrity scandals, sporting occasions or criminal trials can all be represented by different media texts in different ways.

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When analysing how an event is represented, it is important to think about how the representation has been constructed and what might affect it.

Always consider:

• The ideology of the media text: different newspapers have different ideologies or editorial stances that might affect how an event is portrayed. This can be particularly noticeable in political events like elections when some newspapers support certain parties.#

• Codes and Conventions: The mode of address, technical, visual and audio codes, as well as any images used will all affect the representation of an event. The same photo with a different caption can create a very different representation of the same event.

• Mediation:The representation will have been constructed with certain information selected by the media producer. In a gossip magazine there might be an article about a celebrity not looking their best however the context of the photos selected might not be mentioned - they may have been at the gym or be unwell, which would explain why they don’t look perfect. Often the information that has been left out can be as important as what has been included.

• The target Audience: Who the media text is aimed at will affect how certain events are represented. For instance, a quality newspaper and tabloid newspaper will represent the immigration debate in very different ways.

Many people follow events as they unfold on social media. This could be checking for breaking news updates if there has been an accident or terrorist attack, or following a celebrity scandal as it unfolds.

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Like other representations, social media can sometimes only show one side or opinion of an event. For instance, if you were to follow an election on social media but only looked at posts from one person you would get a very narrow representation of that election.

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G) The Use Of Mise En Scene Techniques To Create Meaning For The Audience......go to top of page

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For an overview of Mise En Scene- click here

VIDEO- An Excellent Video On This Topic: click here

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Mise En Scene refers to the composition of everything visually within the physical boundaries of the shot / frame.

The way in which figures and elements are moved around within a frame can provide many effects. Mise-en-scène also includes the positioning and movement of actors on the set, which is called blocking. Mise En scene can also be described as a look or style of a film (for example gothic), a mood or atmosphere in a whole film or an individual scene (for example a threatening feeling). Mise en scene refers to the visual elements in a frame including:

Set design

The look and the feel of the set can help establish audience expectations about the film. Set design is the setting of a scene, the objects (props) and the decor. Props are often to use to provide clues to the audience about characters and storylines. Sometimes props reappear from scene to scene reminding the audience of it significance. Sometimes these props can become motifs in the narrative. Set design can be used to amplify character emotion or the dominant mood of a film, or to establish aspects of the character.

Lighting

The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting have a major effect on the way an image is perceived, including mood, time of day or night, season or atmosphere.

Space & Shot Selection

The representation of space affects the reading of a film. When a character fills a frame the audience can usually be assured that they are a major character central or important to the narrative. Equal space given to two actors within a frame would indicate equal importance in the scene to these characters. Cramming the frame can have a claustrophobic effect

Costume & Make-Up

Costume simply refers to the clothes that characters wear. Using certain colors or designs, costumes in narrative cinema is used to signify characters or to make clear distinctions between characters. Costume often gives important information about characters, including their background, profession, attitudes, personalities, their state of mind or their role in the narrative. For example black or dark clothing often suggest evil (antagonist) while white or light clothing suggests goodness (protagonist). Change in costume can represent an evolution of a character.

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 For example:

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Component            Hospital drama            Gardening programme      Horror movie
Setting                     Hospital ward                  Back garden                           Haunted castle
Props                       Medical equipment        Spade, plants, soil                 Spider webs, candles, stone floors
Costumes                White coats, surgical      Wellington boots, gloves     Black cape, grey dress, rags
Lighting                   Stark and artificial           Warm and natural                Candle light, dark shadows
Characters              Doctors, nurses               Well-known TV gardener     Monster/ghost, hero/heroine, victims (played by actors)

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H) The Use Of Camerwork Techniques Are Used To Create Meaning For The Audience......go to top of page

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In film and Television different camera shots are used and then edited together to create a narrative (story). The idea being that even if your film or programme contains no dialogue, your selected images should still tell a story that makes sense. Try watching something with the sound turned down – you will find that just from the pictures you can still understand a lot of what is going on.

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When creating camera shots, you have to think about FOUR important factors:
The FRAMING of the shot.
The LENGTH of the shot.   (the distance of the camera from the subject)
The ANGLE of the shot.
If there is any MOVEMENT involved.
 

​For an overview of this click here  or for a more detailed overview click here  (good)

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I) The Use Of Lighting Techniques Are Used To Create Meaning For The Audience ......go to top of page

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​For an overview of this click here

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Lighting can define the space within a frame, separate foreground from background, create textures, mold and shape, reveal or conceal. Lighting
can be expressive – setting a mood or a look in a film. An entire film can be lit in an expressive way. Thrillers or Film Noir is often dark and gloomy with low key lighting.
Features of lighting:
• Intensity
• Source
• Direction
• Colour

The colour of lighting can determine the mood of a scene. Red light can emphasise danger or warmth; blue light can emphasise mystery or coolness.

The intensity is how bright the light and how much of it is directed on a specific area, character or object.

Low key lighting exploits shadows creating a sense of threat or suggests romance, mystery or danger. For example if a face is only partly lit with a shaft of light reflecting from the eye the effect is sinister. 

High key is lighting that is bright and can suggest happiness or be reassuring to audiences that all is well. Low key lighting is usually expressive while high key lighting is realistic.

Lighting can be used to emphasise particular elements, objects characters or actions within a frame. Framing with light can draw the audience’s attention to one feature while obscuring others.

The texture of light refers to how hard or soft the light is. Hard light creates clearly defined shadows and crisp textures and edges. Soft light creates diffused illumination, blurs contours and gentler contrasts between light and shade.

The direction of light can have an impact on a scene. For example back lighting from behind an object or character creates a silhouette so the
audience can only see the outline of an object or character or under lighting where the light is positioned below the object or character both these can produce an ominous effect.
 

Three-point lighting
In standard three-point lighting there are three main positions for the lights:
• Key light – the hardest and brightest, focused to one side of subject
• Fill light – softer, more diffuse light that is placed to the other side 
• Backlight – placed behind the subject
 

Day for night- A lighting technique that involves shooting in the daytime to make it look
like moon light night. 

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J) The Use Of Editing Techniques Are Used To Create Meaning For The Audience......go to top of page

​For an overview of this click here

Moving Image and publishing products use a variety of editing techniques to help the audience understand what is happening in the narrative. Edits should be seamless and unnoticeable by the audience

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Terminology

Editing creates the illusion that a film is unfolding naturally, without the intervention of the film-maker. Good editing is invisible with seamless
connecting shots that create the illusion of continuity of time and space.There are numerous editing techniques:
Cut – where one shot is cut to the next. Sudden cuts can produce surprise, horror, and disruption.
Fade - where the image disappears into black and generally represents a brief lapse of time
Dissolve - where a fade coincides with the gradual superimposition of a new image and generally represents a longer lapse of time
Wipe - where one image replaces another proceeded by a divisional line moving across the screen

The fade, dissolve and wipe can be used to indicate the passing or expansion of time. The longer the edit techniques are can indicate more or less time passed.
Shot-reverse shot – is used to represent a conversation. The characters speak to each other appearing on opposite sides of successive frames, each looking in the direction of the other. This is shot over a continuous sound track and edited together.
Graphic match – shots are edited together in relation to how they visually correspond with each other. Visual relationships are significant but
visual/aural relationships in editing are also very important this includes the overlapping sound from one shot to the next with an image depicting the dialogue spoken.
Crosscutting – is cutting back and forth between scenes linking stories or events together or indicating events happening simultaneously.
Timing - can be used to enhance the energy of the action, or to slow it down. Action sequences can take on greater drama if cuts occur within moments of high action. For example if a car is about to crash, the viewer may see several successive and separate views of the same moment. A cut in a moment of relative steadiness can slow down action. A character deep in thought may
be shot from several positions in order to expand the moment and instill
significance into it.
Rhythm of editing is important. Many films have a rhythm throughout their duration. The pacing and rhythm of the editing can dramatically affect single scenes. Editing can increase or decrease the pace of the film. Quick edits is editing brief shots together before cutting to the next shot while slow edits allow shots to continue for a long time before the cut to the next shot. The filmmaker may choose to construct a steady rhythm by making all the shots approximately the same length. An accelerating rhythm may arise from successively shorter shots; a spasmodic, irregular rhythm may be produced by a combination of shots of widely different lengths.

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K) How Do Different Audiences Interpret Thje Product? ......go to top of page

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• What affects how an audience reacts- click here

• Audience Response Theory- click here

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K) How Is Sound Used To Create Meaning For The Audience ......go to top of page

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The importance of sound
Although film is sometimes thought of as a purely visual art-form it also relies heavily upon audio. Even in the days of silent film, movies were usually screened with live performances from musicians who would play in time with the action on screen. With the invention of sound, film-makers in the late 1920’s were suddenly able to add a new dimension to their stories. Actors could be heard to speak, actions could be highlighted with the use of vivid sound effects, and music could be used to give extra emotional life to films. It is now impossible to analyse cinema or to make films without understanding how film-makers use sound.

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Different types of film sound include:

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Diegetic Sound
The word 'diegetic' means to come from the world of a story. It is sound which the characters on screen can hear and can include sound effects, the sounds made by movements and actions of characters, background noise and spoken dialogue.

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Non-diegetic sound
Non-diegetic sound is any sound which does not come directly from the world of the story onscreen. Traditional film music and voice-over narration are typical examples of non-diegetic sound. The characters in the film are unaware of these sounds, because they don't exist in their world.

Music and musical scores
Music plays an important role in cinema. It can make action scenes feel more exciting, happy scenes more joyful and frightening scenes more suspenseful. Most films will have a musical score which will accompany the action on screen. Film scores are non-diegetic and cannot be heard by the characters on screen. Sometimes, however, films will feature diegetic music. If a character is listening to music playing on a radio or if characters are singing or playing a musical instrument, then that music is diegetic.

Sound effects
A sound effect is any sound, other than speech or music, which has been recorded specifically for the film. Sound effects are usually tied to specific actions on-screen and recorded during post-production to enhance a scene.  A director might, for example, ask their sound designer to record high impact punching sounds to make a fist fight feel more exciting.

Dialogue
The term dialogue simply means the words that are spoken by the characters on screen. The amount of dialogue in any given film can vary. An action film may have very little spoken dialogue but a character based drama may have a lot. For film-makers it is important that dialogue is always well recorded and clearly audible. It’s also important to never used dialogue if the story information being discussed can be shown visually.

Foley sound
Foley is the word used to describe replacement sounds recorded in post-production. The technicians who create Foley are called Foley artists. A Foley artist might record the sound of a door being closed if a scene featured that action but the original recording of the scene did not capture that sound.
Foley artists can also enhance or replace an original sound - if a character’s footsteps were not loud enough they might record the sound of their own footsteps and have that audio inserted into the film instead.

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Sound bridge
A sound bridge is a technique in which the sound from a previous scene carries over into the opening of the next one.

In a horror movie, if one scene ended with a character screaming, the director might use a sound bridge to have that scream extend into the opening of the next scene. A sound bridge can also be used to have audio from the next scene begin before the film-maker has cut to it.

Wild track
The term 'wild track' refers to sound that is recorded during a film shoot, but separately from the main production audio and without any accompanying film footage being shot. Examples of wild track might include:

> recording a loud scream which might be heard off-screen during a scene
> re-recording sections of dialogue which may not have been recorded clearly during the day’s filming
The most common use of wild track is to capture 'room noise' or 'atmos' which is short for atmosphere.

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