Film Technology

映画技術

Dictionary entry

Silent Film Intertitle 1900s–1920s / Technique
Dialogue and narration cut into the film as independent text cards — the place where cinema and typography first met.
Technicolor 1922–1950s / Technique
Brought saturated color to cinema by separation negatives and dye transfer, fixing 'color more vivid than reality' in film memory.
Slit-Scan 1968– / Technique
Long exposures through a slit, with camera or subject in motion, stretch space and time into a single image — written into film history by the Stargate sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Bullet Time 1999– / Technique
An arc of still cameras fired at once or in sequence: time nearly stops while the viewpoint alone moves. The Matrix popularized the idea of the virtual camera.
Chroma Key 1930s– / Technique
Keying one color transparent and layering the image onto another — from optical blue-screen work through the BBC's CSO to today's green screens and virtual studios, the foundation of compositing.
Film Leader 1930s– / Style
The countdown head of a print, made for sync and inspection: reversed lettering, punch holes, numbers falling from 8 to 2 — pure function that became the cultural sign for 'the film is starting.'