Film (Theory) Dictionary
Like a lot of people who watch movies for entertainment, I sometimes notice recurring tropes in filmmaking. As a general rule, I regard anything that makes me hyper-aware that I am watching a film as a profound negative in the experience (there are exceptions, of course). However, some of my objections don’t seem to have a name in the literature, so I have created an annotated glossary of terms that I find useful below. I will add to this post as I deem fit.
Expository dialogue - This is a bad one. If you suddenly realize that a character in the movie is explaining, out loud, to another character, some backstory that is clearly about to be relevant to the story? That is lazy, corner-cutting writing. Nobody talks like that in real life.
Lazy time remapping - Thankfully, this is usually quite brief, but it’s one of those “once you see it” things. Movies are generally shot at 24 frames/second, and played back at that speed, our brains see the still images in the film as one continuous motion. Slow-motion still needs to adhere to that (rough) frame rate, so slow-mo filming is usually captured at 60+ fps and then played back slower. However, you can achieve a janky, crappy version of the effect by taking film shot at 24 fps and playing it back at 16 fps or slower. The problem is that our brains can differentiate between the individual frames at that speed, so the image looks jerky and cheap. Check this video out for a helpful example; notice how 50% speed of 60 fps is still equivalent to 30 fps, so the slow-mo looks pretty good, even on a pretty basic camera. There is no excuse not to have good slow-motion, but it happens ALL THE TIME, even in really high-budget action movies directed by people who should know better.
Too famous for that role - When a very famous actor/actress appears early in the movie for ostensibly a bit part, only to return for a much more important plot twist later. Significant offenders include Gone Baby Gone. TFFTR can (and has) been subverted for great effect, notably in Scream.
Too many Ewoks - A phenomenon wherein a movie contains adorable creatures that seem to exist for the sole purpose of selling merchandise. The name is taken, obviously, from The Return of the Jedi; the denizens of Endor were apparently going to be lizard people, but… merch. Other examples include the Porgs in Episode VIII and the fire spirit in Frozen II.
Trailer spoiler - Movie trailers exist to put butts in chairs, so I understand completely that these advertisements often include many of the film’s best moments, especially visual ones. I have three related beefs with this. First, some trailers give away far too much of the plot of the movie. Often, this is actually fine; not that many movies rely on twist endings or dramatic reveals. But some do! And giving away literally anything like that in a trailer, especially in an age when they can (and are) analyzed frame-by-frame, is unforgivable. Second, and a little less problematic, some trailers include the vast majority of the movie’s best moments/lines. I’m not sure if this is a bigger problem with the trailer or the movie - probably both. Finally, I just personally wish that trailers wouldn’t show quite as much of the biggest visual innovations in films, like in Interstellar here. If you design a grandiose shot for the sake of a big screen, it deserves to be seen on the big screen!