SOME ANALYTIC TERMS

Cipher: a letter substitution form of hiding messages (HAL = IBM - raise each letter in HAL one letter)

Code: a substitution of a word for another (e.g. whale=submarine)

Diagesis: The world in which the action of the film happens. Occasionally used to mean anything added to the film in post production.

Emic-etcs: An event (the etic) and its interpretation (emic)

Genre: A classification of works of art, generally in film, by text, sub-text and often film style.

Hermeneutics: the breaking of a textual code (as opposed to cryptanalysis). The finding of a "hidden meaning" (subtext) in a work.

Intertextuality: reading between the texts. Generally in films used to describe a reference to another film

Playing against type: the use of an actor who is known for playing specific roles in a role that is completely different and hence unexpected by the audience.

Proxemics: the study of distances between people, objects and so on. Is generally used to discuss the distances between people and sometimes the distance between the camera and the subject or the apparent distance between the audience and the subject.

Sartorial code: the use of clothing as symbol.

Scopophilia: a desire to look at something. Generally differs from voyeurism in that it does not have an overt sexual component.

Sign: something which represents something else, but there is a real connection between the two. The footprint of a dog is a sign of the dog.

Specularization: The attempt by the film make to make a "spectacle" of something. The attempt made to fulfill or satisfy the audiences' scopophilia.

Subtext: a deeper meaning to the story. The theme. These often lie in four areas which include the (1) religious, (2) social structure and allocation of power, (3) science and technology and (4) the psychosexual.

Symbol: something which represents something else arbitrarily. The word "dog" is a symbol for the animal. The flag of a country is a symbol of the country. Symbols can be defined as x stands for y arbitrarily.

Text: The plot or story

Trope/motif: a repeated image in a film which carries meaning (the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.)