Movies & TV word list

A person who performs in films or plays.

“Every actor in this house is overacting.”

A woman who performs in films or plays.

“The actress carried that entire movie.”

Filmed with lenses that squeeze a wide image.

“He bought an anamorphic lens for pet videos.”

The technique of filming drawings or models.

“The animation was better than the jokes.”

Using robotic or mechanical figures designed to imitate living creatures or characters.

“The scene felt surprisingly animatronic on screen.”

A character or force that opposes the main character in a story.

“Antagonist sounded easy in the movie-night round until somebody had to spell it without autocorrect.”

A tryout performance for a role.

“His karaoke turn was an audition for nobody.”

A director with a personal signature style.

“He calls himself an auteur.”

A hugely successful film.

“The home videos are a family blockbuster.”

A brief appearance by a famous person.

“Grandma made a cameo and stole the party.”

A device for capturing images.

“The camera adds ten pounds of drama.”

An animated film or drawing.

“Dad laughs hardest at the cartoon.”

Early film stock, or cinema itself.

“He says celluloid to sound fancy at parties.”

The arrangement of dance movements.

“The wedding choreography fell apart in seconds.”

A film archive or theater devoted to preserving and showing important cinema.

“Everyone in the movie-night round knew cinematheque, but spelling it aloud was another story.”

The film professional responsible for camera work, lighting choices, and the visual photography of a production.

“The host repeated cinematographer twice in the movie-night round before anyone wanted to go first.”

The art of filming a motion picture.

“The cinematography carried the movie.”

A devoted lover of cinema.

“The cinephile made us watch the credits.”

A hinged board used on film sets to label takes and help synchronize picture with sound.

“At the movie-night round, clapperboard came up and everyone immediately had an opinion.”

An ending that leaves the story unresolved.

“She ended the story on a cliffhanger and left.”

A film meant to make people laugh.

“Their road trip was an accidental comedy.”

Consistency of details such as props, costumes, positions, and story logic across film shots or scenes.

“Nobody expected continuity to become the most memorable word of the movie-night round.”

Clothing worn to play a character.

“His costume is a hoodie and confidence.”

The final resolution of a plot.

“The denouement took forty minutes.”

The spoken lines in a film.

“Their dinner dialogue needs a rewrite.”

Existing within the fictional world of a film, so the characters can also hear or experience it.

“The scene felt surprisingly diegetic on screen.”

The person who guides a film.

“The director cut the best scene.”

A person who creates documentary films or other factual media.

“Documentarian was the one word everyone remembered after the movie-night round.”

A nonfiction film about real events.

“He narrates his errands like a documentary.”

The structure, theory, and craft of shaping dramatic stories for performance.

“Nobody expected dramaturgy to become the most memorable word of the movie-night round.”

A cast working together as a group.

“Our friend group is an ensemble with no lead.”

One installment of a series.

“One more episode, then bed.”

The process and craft of creating motion pictures.

“The movie-night round paused for a second when filmmaking showed up.”

A list or body of films associated with an actor, director, or other filmmaker.

“The movie-night round table recognized filmography instantly and still could not agree on the spelling.”

A series of related films or shows.

“This franchise has nine films and one idea.”

A category of film or story.

“Her camera roll is its own genre.”

A genre designed to frighten.

“The fridge at 2am is a horror film.”

An innocent young female role.

“She plays the ingenue until the bill comes.”

The lit sign above a theater entrance.

“His name will never fit on a marquee.”

An afternoon showing of a film.

“They hit the matinee to save nine dollars.”

A sequence of short shots edited together.

“Cue the training montage.”

A film or show driven by songs.

“Life with her is a nonstop musical.”

Telling events out of chronological order rather than in a straight timeline.

“The movie used a nonlinear timeline that jumped between decades.”

An early animation device that creates the illusion of motion using spinning illustrated discs.

“Nobody expected phenakistoscope to show up in a movie round.”

Relating to chemical processes involving light, including traditional photographic film development.

“The scene felt surprisingly photochemical on screen.”

The main story of a film.

“The plot left in the first act.”

The first public showing.

“They wore sneakers to the premiere.”

A story set before an existing one.

“The prequel explained nothing anyone asked.”

The display of a film or image onto a screen using a projector or digital system.

“Projection was the one word everyone remembered after the movie-night round.”

Sculpted makeup pieces worn by actors.

“The prosthetics took four hours, the scene took ten seconds.”

The leading character of a story.

“The protagonist made every wrong choice.”

Fireworks and staged explosions.

“The birthday candles counted as pyrotechnics.”

A practice session before a performance.

“His apology clearly had a rehearsal.”

A new version of an older film.

“Nobody asked for that remake.”

A program or collection that looks back at a filmmaker's, actor's, or movement's past work.

“The scene felt surprisingly retrospective on screen.”

An animation technique that traces over live-action footage frame by frame.

“The host read out rotoscoping during the movie-night round, and half the room asked to hear it again.”

A single section of a film.

“Do not make a scene at the snack table.”

An acclaimed American film director.

“He pronounces Scorsese three different ways.”

The written script of a film.

“His screenplay has been rejected twice.”

A writer who creates scripts for films or television.

“Screenwriter sounded easy in the movie-night round until somebody had to spell it without autocorrect.”

The written text of a film or show.

“He went off script at the toast.”

A film continuing an earlier story.

“The sequel made no sense.”

A speech delivered alone on stage or screen.

“He gave a soliloquy about the thermostat.”

The blockbuster American director.

“The ie in Spielberg ended his streak.”

A sequence of drawings used to plan shots and scenes before filming.

“The host read out storyboard during the movie-night round, and half the room asked to hear it again.”

A company or place where films are made.

“The studio cut the only good joke.”

A dangerous feat performed for film.

“That parking job was a stunt.”

Translated text shown on screen.

“He reads every subtitle out loud.”

Anxious excitement about what happens next.

“The suspense of the group order is unbearable.”

Selling a show for repeated broadcast.

“That sitcom lives forever in syndication.”

An American director known for stylish dialogue.

“The Tarantino marathon started at midnight.”

An early optical toy with images on opposite sides of a disc that appear combined when the disc spins.

“Someone confidently said thaumatrope in the movie-night round and immediately got challenged on the spelling.”

A suspense-driven film.

“Checking the oven twice is her thriller.”

A short preview of a film.

“The trailer spoiled the ending.”

Old-time variety stage entertainment.

“Family dinner is basically vaudeville.”

A performer who speaks without moving their lips.

“The ventriloquist's dummy had better comedic timing.”

The bad character in a story.

“The villain had a point.”

The clothing department of a production.

“Wardrobe for this party was a group chat vote.”

A device that creates the illusion of moving images from a sequence of pictures viewed through slits.

“The film-history round got serious when zoetrope appeared.”

An undead creature in horror films.

“He answers before coffee like a zombie.”