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Terms and materials: Film

From classic paintings to contemporary works, art continues to inspire filmmakers to develop their craft, explore the power of making images, and look at the world through a different lens.
You may have come across some terms in the previous films that were new to you, or that need some further explanation. Take a look through the glossary below for a few terms in more detail.
Analogue– When director Chris Nolan talks about analogue film, he means making movies with actual film stock (the long strips you often see in rolls or being fed into a movie projector.) This is in opposition to digital filmmaking, which is the process of capturing digital video images onto hard disks or flash drives.

Figurative art – While this term can be used to refer to all pre-modern art, in this case it is specifically describing a type of modern art that still has strong references to the real world and the human figure, despite being abstract in style.
Francis Bacon, Triptych - August 1972, 1972, oil paint on three canvases, 198 x 147 cm each (Tate)

Genre painting– These are small paintings often dealing with subjects from everyday life. Hogarth employed this type of painting when portraying family groups, but would add an element of satire. Turner's cottage scene, on the other hand, is a simple depiction of daily life and tasks.
JMW Turner, Interior of a French Cottage, 1832, gouache and watercolour on paper, 12 x 18 cm (Tate)

Medium– This word has two broad definitions: a medium can be a type of art (like painting, sculpture, or drawing) or it can refer to the materials an artwork is made of.

Oil painting– A popular medium throughout the history of art, oil paint is made by combining coloured pigments with vegetable oil. Because it dries very slowly, the artist can make gradual changes, layer, and blend the paint before it sets.
John Martin, _The Great Day of His Wrath,_ 1851-3, oil paint on canvas, 196 x 303 cm (Tate)

Portrait painting– Portraiture is an art form that goes back all the way to the ancient Egyptians. A portrait is a representation of a particular person, and it can be done in many ways: Turner delineated characters with simple lines, while Hogarth painted honest depictions of figures with flaws and all.
British School 17th century, The Cholmondeley Ladies, c.1600–10, oil paint on wood, 88 x 172 cm (Tate)

Social realism – This term refers to any realist painting (one painted from everyday life in a naturalistic manner) that also carries a visible social or political comment. James Collinson's soldier, for example, returns home to an anxious-looking family who know their source of income has just been lost.
James Collinson, Home Again, 1856, oil paint on canvas, 82 x 115 cm (Tate)

Tone– This term refers to the relative lightness or darkness of colour in a painting, but is also a musical term than can be used to draw parallels between art and music.

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