How many of you enjoy watching movies, and everything related to cinema? I’m sure only a few don’t like movies. For those who do love them, knowing new words related to movies will surely interest you. That’s exactly why we bring to you this vocabulary article on cinema. Learn French words and use them to perfect your French speaking skills.
A film is not just made like that, a lot goes behind the scenes. We have many people who come together to make a movie a success. Let’s see what names we call them in French.
1. Un film
Meaning: a series of moving pictures, usually shown in a cinema or on television and often telling a story
English: Movie
Example: Son film a remporté le prix du meilleur film d’action l’année dernière. (His film won the best action film award last year.)
2. Une comédie
Meaning: a (type of) film, play, or book that is intentionally funny either in its characters or its action
English: comedy
Example: Mme James et son amie ont regardé la comédie de la pépinière depuis la porte. (Mrs. James and her friend watched the nursery comedy from the door.)
3. Une vedette
Meaning: a very famous, successful, and important person, especially a performer such as a musician, actor, or sports player
English: Star
Example: Amitabh Bachchan est une vedette très connue du cinéma indien. (Amitabh Bachchan is a very famous star of Indian cinema.)
4. un cascadeur
Meaning:a man who performs stunts, especially instead of an actor in a film or television programme
English: stuntman
Example: Le cascadeur doublera pour l’acteur principal pendant les scènes d’action. (The stuntman will double for the main actor during the action scenes.)
5. un film en version originale
Meaning: an original piece of work, such as a movie, etc. is produced by the artist and not a copy
English: original version
Example: La version originale du film a été coupée de plus d’une heure. (The original version of the film was cut by more than an hour.)
6. un film sous-titré
Meaning : movies that have an explanatory, part of a longer title, or the words that appear at the bottom of a movie screen to translate dialogue that’s spoken in a foreign language
English: subtitled movie
Example: Elle adore regarder des films sous-titrés car elle les comprend mieux.. (She loves watching subtitled movies as she understands them better.)
7. un film doublé
Meaning:to change the sounds and speech on a film or television programme, especially to a different language
English: dubbed movie
Example: Mon frère n’a regardé que des films doublés en Inde du Sud. (My brother only watched South Indian dubbed movies.)
8. une bande-annonce
Meaning: an advertisement for a film or a television or radio programme, consisting of short parts taken from it
English: trailer
Example: J’attendais avec impatience le lancement de la bande-annonce du prochain film de Rock. (I was eagerly waiting for the trailer launch of Rock’s upcoming movie.)
9. les générique
Meaning : the list of the names of people and organizations who helped to make a movie or television program which is shown at the beginning or the end of it
English: credits
Example: Il n’y a pas beaucoup de gens qui s’assoient au générique après un film. (There aren’t many people who sit through the credits after a movie.)
10. un metteur en scène
Meaning: a person who is in charge of a film or play and tells the actors how to play their parts
English: director
Example: Le réalisateur exprime son bonheur dans son film. (The director expresses his happiness in his film.)
11. un cinéaste
Meaning :someone who is in charge of making a film
English: filmmaker
Example: C’est le genre de cinéaste qui n’hésite pas à trop sentimentaliser. (He’s the kind of filmmaker who doesn’t hesitate to over-sentimentalize.)
12. un maquilleur
Meaning: someone who is skilled at putting makeup on people, especially someone who does this as their job
English: makeup artist
Example: Elle déteste se faire maquiller par une autre maquilleuse que sa préférée. (She hates getting her makeup done from any other makeup artist than her favourite one.)
13. un plateau de tournage
Meaning: the scenery and props as arranged for shooting a film
English: film set
Example: Le plateau de tournage créé pour Jurassic Park était gigantesque. (The film set created for Jurassic Park was humongous.)
14. les effets spéciaux
Meaning: artificial images, esp. in a film, that appear real but are created by artists and technical experts
English: special effects
Example: J’ai vu Avatar principalement pour ses effets spéciaux. (I saw Avatar mainly for its special effects.)
I hope you enjoyed learning about different words of the movies and Cinema in French. The next time you want to talk about movies use these words in French. For more such vocabulary, keep reading our blog. You can easily learn French online with us. Book an online French lesson with our teachers on Skype. Stay tuned for more interesting blogs on different languages.
