Film, TV and online video

Unlike static images, which rely solely on composition and fixed visual elements, video media also direct the viewer's attention through rules of notice involve motion, editing and sound.

Motion

The most fundamental distinction between video and still imagery is motion. This falls into two types: movement within the frame and movement of the camera (real or virtual).[1]

When things move within an image, our eyes follow them. This draws our attention, but can have other effects, as well.[2] A character who moves in straight lines might be seen as honest and direct, or unyielding and confrontational; a character who moves in curves could be sneaky, but might also be graceful and collaborative. A character might move in curves to show us that that they’re relaxed and at peace, then later switch to straight lines when things get more urgent and intense.[3]

As well as directing the audience’s attention, movement of the camera can be used to create tension or surprise by waiting to show something. There are four main techniques for moving the camera, and consequently the picture frame:

• Tilt: When the camera swivels up or down. It can be used to intensify the effect of a low-angle or high-angle shot.

• Pan: Where the camera turns horizontally. This is often used to give a sense of scope.

• Zoom: The camera doesn’t move but the lenses change to shrink (zoom out) or enlarge (zoom in) the image, usually resulting in a close-up. This is most often used to focus the audience’s attention on a specific thing.[4]

In each of these cases the camera itself it stationary, but video media makers will often move the camera itself, as well. There are many variations on this kind of shot, depending on how it’s done: on a track, a dolly, a handheld camera, a crane or drone, or specialized technologies like Steadicams. Each is used to achieve particular effects.[5]

These effects can also be combined. This may be for narrative reasons: films often start with a downward tilt that also zooms or moves from a long shot to a close-up, taking us from a wide view of the location to the specific place the action is going to happen. Combining techniques can have an emotional impact, such as the “dolly zoom” (zooming in while moving the camera backward at the same rate) which makes the background seem to recede behind an unmoving figure and distorts their facial features.[6]

Editing

Film and television are constructed as a sequential montage of continuous shots. A shot can be defined as the time that passes between transitions: in professional video, a typical shot is about six seconds.[7] Shots are then edited (juxtaposed) to create scenes.[8]

As with most rules of notice, editing is most often used to clearly show us what’s happening. This may be very simple: a reaction shot is used when two characters are talking to one another to show the conversation moving back and forth. It can also be put to sophisticated purposes, through strategically withholding and providing information. As Alfred Hitchcock famously illustrated, including a shot that shows a bomb is under a table creates tension in subsequent shots, with a much more dramatic final effect than a sudden, unannounced explosion would have.[9]

The meaning of a shot can also be completely changed by the shot that follows it – what’s called the Kuleshov effect, named after the Russian director who pioneered it. Lev Kuleshov demonstrated when audiences watched a shot of an expressionless man followed by a shot of a child in a coffin, they believed the man was sad, while the same shot of the man followed by a shot of a bowl of soup made them think he was hungry.[10]

Sometimes the absence of editing may be a technique of its own: “oner" shots, in which a scene or even a whole work is shot in a single, long, uninterrupted take, leads to a greater feeling of tension or immersion.[11]

Transitions such as cuts, wipes, pans, zooms and fades aren’t just stylistic choices; they’re deliberate cues for viewers to interpret changes in setting, characters, time or action.[12]

Different transitions can also have particular effects, such as:

• Cuts are the most basic transition, with one shot directly following another. They’re usually more or less invisible to the viewer, but not always: a match cut draws attention the transition, by cutting between two images with a strong visual similarity (such as the bone and space station in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey) while jump cuts use visually different compositions to startle the viewer or show the passage of time.[13]
• Cuts to black at the height of a narrative prompt the viewer to imagine the rest of the event, enhancing engagement.[14]
• Dissolves (where the second shot gradually overlays on the first) are often used to highlight movement to a new location or the passing of time.[15]
• Extreme zooms are effective for emphasis or subverting expectations, often used in mockumentary styles to break the "fourth wall."[16]
• Whip-pans, where the camera pans quickly from one subject to another while using a dissolve for a blurring effect, can be startling or disorienting.[17]
• Freeze-and-zoom-in edits linger on a crucial moment, intensifying viewer focus.[18]

In general, simple cuts are used within scenes, while more obtrusive transitions are used to move between scenes, though there are exceptions: while a naturalistic dialogue scene will usually cut between the characters who are talking, it might be shot using whip-pans to give a sense of disorientation or the characters’ growing excitement.

Sound

While often overlooked in visual analysis, audio is a critical component of video media, providing information and emotional cues that are unavailable in still images.[19]

Dialogue and narration communicate information, guide understanding and allow viewers to infer character intentions and plot developments. Young children learn to integrate auditory information with visual cues over time.

Sound effects can provide cues to content, signal changes and effectively attract visual attention to the screen. Sound effects matched to actions can even facilitate infants' imitation and learning. Sound effects and dialogue are most often used to show us what’s happening – though it’s valuable for students to learn that even the most apparently “realistic” sounds, such as those used in nature documentaries, are almost always added in post-production.[20]

Music is a powerful tool to influence mood and emotional responses in viewers, subtly guiding their feelings about a scene such as by using "creeping up on you music" for suspense.[21] Even before a story begins, music can play a big role in establishing the world it will happen in. This is especially true for episodic works like TV shows, commercials or movie series. As TV producer David E. Kelley puts it, the opening theme “sets a mood for the show.“[22]

In video, sound may be used either diegetically (part of the reality of the work – for example when we hear the music a character is listening to) or non-diegetically.[23] Dialogue is most often diegetic, but may sometimes be non-diegetic, like offscreen narration. A sound can also begin as one type and turn into the other – for instance, the diegetic sound of a ticking clock in one scene may continue non-diegetically over the next as a way of creating tension.

[1] Hutson, J. P., Chandran, P., Magliano, J. P., Smith, T. J., & Loschky, L. C. (2022). Narrative comprehension guides eye movements in the absence of motion. Cognitive Science, 46(5), e13131.

[2] Tan, E. S. (2018). A psychology of the film. Palgrave Communications, 4(1).

[3] Block, B. (2001) The Visual Story. Routledge.

[4] Block, B. (2001) The Visual Story. Routledge.

[5] Block, B. (2001) The Visual Story. Routledge.

[6] Rose, A. (2025) How Are Those 'Severance' Elevator Transitions Created? Collider.

[7] Anderson, D. R., & Hanson, K. G. (2010). From blooming, buzzing confusion to media literacy: The early development of television viewing. Developmental review, 30(2), 239-255.7

[8] Garrison, A. (1999) Video Basics and Production Projects for the Classroom. Center for Media Literacy.

[9] Schulz, K. (2024) The Secrets of Suspense. The New Yorker.

[10] (n.d.) Kuleshov Effect: Everything You Need to Know. Nashville Film Institute.

[11] Giardina, C. (2025) How Oners Created Tension in ‘Severance,’ ‘Adolescence’ and ‘The Studio.’ Variety.

[12] Garrison, A. (1999) Video Basics and Production Projects for the Classroom. Center for Media Literacy.

[13] Heckmann, C. (2021) Types of Editing Transitions in Film — The Ultimate Guide.

[14] Alter, K. (2021) 25 Modern Internet Videos That Have Defined the Form. Vulture.

[15] Shorter, R. (2024) The 9 Essential Video Transition Effects. Boords.

[16] Alter, K. (2021) 25 Modern Internet Videos That Have Defined the Form. Vulture.

[17] Lukan, E. (2024) The 9 Essential Video Transition Effects. Synthesia.

[18] Alter, K. (2021) 25 Modern Internet Videos That Have Defined the Form. Vulture.

[19] Anderson, D. R., & Hanson, K. G. (2010). From blooming, buzzing confusion to media literacy: The early development of television viewing. Developmental review, 30(2), 239-255.7

[20] Pollard. D. (2024) The animal sounds in most nature documentaries are made by humans — here’s how they do it and why it matters. ABC News (Australia).

[21] Anderson, D. R., & Hanson, K. G. (2010). From blooming, buzzing confusion to media literacy: The early development of television viewing. Developmental review, 30(2), 239-255.7

[22] Quoted in Burlingame, J. (2023) How the Friends Theme Song Helped Save TVs Main Title Tunes From Going Extinct. Variety.

[23] Hein, E. (2023) Songs in film and television. Ethan teaches you music.