We often talk about whether a film has its first teaser (not a trailer) or if a certain production company has remade a well-known title… But are you really familiar with these terms and do you know them all? It's time for a good refresher.
The world of cinema and its jargon
Every industry has its own concepts and terminology, that much is clear, and we generally don't need to learn those words unless we're fans or work in that field. There is one, however, that is particularly relevant to us even though we don't belong to it: the world of film and television entertainment . The internet and content services have led to us consuming more movies and TV series than ever before in recent years, also changing the way we interact with them.
Before, we simply went to the movies or we just sat on the sofa waiting for the weekly broadcast of a series that we liked. Now, however, we wait for the trailer of the day to be released that we have been waiting for months, we avoid spoilers like crazy on social networks and we even look for lists of remakes of stories that we like to see on the weekend.
This trend has led us to become more familiar than ever with terms that once sounded very strange to us, but which we now use with ease, such as live action, easter egg, or showrunner. But are you sure you know them all? Let's give them the review they deserve and solidify our understanding.
Film and TV terms you should know
We leave you below with an explanation of the most common words that we usually use when talking about movies or series.
- Cliffhanger: This term designates a widely used narrative resource (mainly in series) in which the viewer is left in suspense and expectant, at the end of a chapter, to know what will happen in the next episode. Game of Thrones It has so many that it would be very difficult to list them all, but already in the first episode, with Bran's push through the window of the Ruined Tower at the hands of Jamie Lannister, it is considered a cliffhanger.
- Crossovers: It happens when two characters from different movies or series cross paths on the big or small screen. You have seen many more than you think: Freddy vs. Jason, Alien vs. Predator, batman v superman… Even the Simpsons and Futurama have come to share space in a chapter of the first entitled «Simpsorama».
- easter egg: these are hidden messages that can appear in a movie. Usually these are nods to concepts, stories or even other movies that are expected to be recognized by those who see them. Pixar is known for including quite a few in its animated films in which it makes allusions to other films in its franchise.
- Flashback: narrative resource that breaks with the normal narrative sequence to return to the past.
- Flash forward: rarer than the previous ones, it is a resource that transports us to the future from the present narrative sequence. Lost (Lost) He used them several times.
- jumping the shark o "Jump the shark": it is said when a series has reached a totally unexpected and often forced narrative turn (which sometimes seeks to revive a falling audience) and that hardly convinces viewers.
- Live action: We spoke to you very recently about this term when reviewing Disney's live action remakes. As its own translation indicates, these are images in real action, where people (or animals) of flesh and blood participate, and therefore animation is not used. It is usually applied to films that are remakes of already existing titles in the world of animation, such as Beauty and the Beast.
- Macguffins: it is a resource that appears on the scene and causes the characters to advance in the plot (or get going), but that really does not have much relevance in the story afterwards. Let's say that it serves as an excuse for everything to roll and other moments to be triggered. Examples of this is the Rose necklace in Titanic, the famous briefcase Pulp Fiction, the ring The Lord of the Rings or even Ryan in Save Private Ryan.
- Prequel: They always appear, of course, after a main plot, and they always try to explain the origin of what we saw in said movie or series. For example, Monsters University, released in 2013, is a prequel to Monsters SA (2001), which explains how the friendship between Mike and Sulley was forged.
- Running gag: this term, like Macguffin, is somewhat less well known, but it sure sounds familiar to you. It is a recurring joke/joke/comment in a humorous situation that is repeated almost identically or with minimal variations during a movie or TV series. In Friends, the "How do you do?" ("How's that going?") by Joey or "Oh my god" ("Oh my god!") by Janice are running gags.
- Remake: It would come to be translated as recreation, that is, a new creation from something that exists. In cinema and TV it is used when a new version of an existing film or series is made again.
- Reboot: here the central elements (character, concept, setting) are taken from a story that already exists to build a new one. Mad Max: Fury Road it is considered a reboot of the original film.
- season finale: the last chapter of a season (season).
- season premiere: the first episode of a season.
- Sequel: it is the continuation of a story started in a previous movie or series. Toy Story 2 is a sequel to toy story.
- showrunner: it is a concept that only exists on American television. A figure in charge of executive producer in TV series, above the director of the same. He is usually the creator or scriptwriter too. Let's say he is the "big boss".
- sitcom: It comes from "situation comedy" (situation comedy). It is a TV series, generally with a tighter budget, with a fixed stage, permanent characters and recorded or live laughs. Cheers, Friends, The prince of Bel Air, How I Met Your Mother o The Big Bang Theory they are sitcoms.
- Sneak peak: it is a preview, somewhat longer than a video ad, in which details of the next episode of a series are told. It is usually a fragment of a specific scene.
- Spin-off: when a new story derived from a previous one is created. These usually take a character from a previous movie or series or a subplot to make it the main one in a new proposal. Better call Saul is a spin off of breakingbad, with the particular lawyer Soul Goodman as the protagonist.
- Spoiler: Any content that reveals relevant information about the history of a movie or TV series is considered a spoiler. Currently there are even plugins to avoid them on Twitter, one of the "worst" sources of spoilers that exists.
- Teaser: the difference between a teaser and a trailer is that the former is much shorter than the latter. Therefore, it is not considered an advance but a small "appetizer" waiting, generally, for an official trailer that will come later.
- Trailer: the video trailer of a movie or series. It presents the main idea that we will see in the story. Productions of this type always arouse all kinds of criticism: many people look forward to them because they are a good prelude to what we are going to see, while others hate them (and even avoid them) because they assure that they always end up revealing too much.
- VOD: are the initials of Video on demand. This is content on demand, that is, you can see it whenever and wherever you want. Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime Video… are VOD services.