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What's After the Movie?

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What's After the Movie?
Genres Genres, movements and visual styles, from film noir to found footage.

Wipe: Meaning & Definition in Film

An animated line or shape replaces one image with another, lending overt stylistic flair.

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From Optical Mattes to Digital Swipes

The wipe began as a physical matte sliding across an optical printer gate. Akira Kurosawa popularised dynamic axial wipes, later emulated by George Lucas in Star Wars to evoke Saturday-matinee serials.

Wipe: Design Variants

  • Straight-line wipe
  • Clock wipe
  • Iris wipe (circle expands or contracts) Modern editors leverage motion-graphic plug-ins for bespoke wipes—tattoo-ink spreads in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s title sequence transition between nightmare tableaus.

Wipe: Critical Lens

Because wipes announce editorial presence, critics deem them self-conscious; yet in franchises like Star Wars, the device now functions as brand signature, demonstrating how once-novel grammar evolves into nostalgic comfort food.

See the vocabulary at work in real films

Look up any movie for its ratings, cast and crew, box office run and where to watch, or read the full plot with the ending explained.

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More Genre & Style Terms

Entries filed on the same shelf as Wipe, each with the one-line answer first. They are the words that usually come up in the same conversation.

All 330 terms

  • Sketch Show

    A sketch show is a series of short, comedic scenes that has served as a vital training ground for generations of film talent and as a format for feature films.

  • Trap Music

    Trap music is a subgenre of hip-hop characterized by its aggressive, ominous sound, deep 808 sub-bass drums, and intricate hi-hat patterns.

  • Dance film

    Dance films translate kinetic expression into cinematic language, turning choreography into narrative.

  • Cut-In

    A brief cut into a portion of the action to emphasize a character’s gesture or an object’s movement.

  • Jump Cut

    A discontinuous edit advances time abruptly, foregrounding the constructed nature of film.

  • IMAX Film

    IMAX film is a proprietary large‑format system that uses 70 mm film run horizontally to deliver ultra‑high resolution and immersive image quality.