ABSTRACT
Film scholars and practitioners alike have long referred to the cinema as a language, which means that it is a shared system of terms, symbols, and syntax used to communicate thoughts, feelings, and experiences. In the visual language of cinema people have four basic elements: the shot, the shot sequence, the scene, and the dramatic sequence. The shot is the smallest unit of the film language. A sequence is an expressive unit made up of editing together multiple shots to define a unified action or event, or passage of time or place. The term juxtaposition is often used when talking about sequences. A dramatic sequence is made up of a series of scenes that create a larger dramatic unit. Aesthetic considerations concerning the graphic and compositional aspects of shots begin with the frame. The frame has two definitions: physical frame, and compositional frame.
