6 Common Mistakes And Confusing Words About Film

Watching movies can be an enjoyable and useful way to learn and practice languages. Here are six common mistakes and confusing words in English related to film. Some of these are specific mistakes that Russian speakers make, but any English learner might find them useful as well.

What's the difference between movie and film? 

In general, these two words mean the same thing. One can say, "I want to watch a good movie", or "I want to watch a good film"; the meaning is the same. However, movie tends to be used more in American English and film tends to be used more in British English.

Film also has a more artistic association.  In this sense, a film can refers to a work with greater artistic value instead of a movie, which may be made primarily for entertainment and profit and not artistic aims. For example:

I am an artist! I don't just make movies, I make films!

Lastly, Film (and the word cinema too, as we will see below) can refer to the art form itself.

Film is a fairly new art form as opposed to music, dance, painting and sculpture, which are thousands of years old.

What's the difference between a horror movie and a horrible movie?

Horror: an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.

Horrible: causing or likely to cause horror; shocking.

These two words are similar in meaning, which causes the confusion, but they have very different meanings with we use them with the words movie or film. A horror movie is a genre of film, a type of movie like comedy, drama, or romance, which is about scary things that makes one feel fear.

Dave doesn't like horror movies that are filled with blood, terror, and violence, because he thinks the real world has enough horror already-- just look at the news!

A horrible movie is a very bad movie that is of low quality and that people think isn’t good.

I can't believe I paid money to see that horrible movie. I just wasted two hours of my life!

What's the difference between a fantastic movie and a fantasy movie?

Fantastic has two meanings, which can lead the confusion here. The first meaning is similar to the world fantasy: imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality. However, the second meaning is "extraordinarily good or attractive." When we use this word with film or movie, it is the second meaning that we use.

The critics and the public thought it was a fantastic movie, and they highly recommend it. It will probably win at least one Academy Award.

Fantasy means "the ability of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable." And we talk about the genre of fantasy when we talk about fantasy films or movies. These are movies that are about things that are not possible in the real world, such as films about fairy tales, dragons or magic.

Some people think fantasy films like "Lord or the Rings" or The Harry Potter series just help us to escape the harshness of reality, but these stories also help us to understand what is really important in life. They are modern fairy tales and myths.

What's the difference between hero and main character? 

Sometimes hero and main character are the same, but this is not always the case. The main character in a film is the leading character of a story. The story is centered around the main character, and it is this character that makes the key decisions in the story. A hero is a certain type of main character that does great and important things, which are usually for good or noble purposes. Heroes can be fictional characters like Hercules, King Arthur, Superman or Batman, who do great actions to save and help the world. A hero could also be a real person that has done great things like Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, or someone else who shows great courage in some way, for example, by running into a burning building to save someone. Thus, almost all movies have main characters, but not all of them have heroes.

Even if the main character of a film isn't someone whom we like and respect, a good film will help us to see the main character’s motivations and understand this person better. 

The film is about a simple lawyer who becomes a hero after showing great courage by fighting for justice against corrupt government officials.

What's the difference between scene and stage?

In Russian these words can both be translated as сцена. However, in English these words have different meanings. Scene is the time and place where the actions of a film (or play) happen.

The first scene of the movie happens in the 1940s, when the main character of the movie arrives in New York City for the first time. The last scene of the movie takes place 50 years later in the countryside, when the main character is an old women. 

A stage is the raised floor or platform usually in a theater on which actors, musicians or speakers perform.

We should have bought better tickets for the show, because our seats were so bad we could hardly see the actors on the stage.

"All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts..."

--William Shakespeare

What's the difference between the words movie theater and cinema?

The general meaning of these expressions are the same: they are both the theater where one goes to watch a movie or film. The difference, like movie and film, is that the first one is usually used in American English and other is usually used British English.

However, the word cinema also refers to the art form of film.

"Cinema is the most prestigious cultural activity in the modern world. It is for us what theatre was in the age of Shakespeare or painting was in the days of Leonardo da Vinci...”

--Alain de Botton and The School of Life

So, cinema can mean both the art form of film and the place where we go to watch a movie or film.

Hopefully, understanding these common mistakes will help you enjoy learning English with film better. What are some other common mistakes about film you make? Feel free to add them in the comments section.