How to use the atlas

The atlas supports three activities: learning the vocabulary, comparing creative alternatives, and describing a specific work. These activities share terms but produce different kinds of records.

Read a term

Every glossary entry has a definition, a practical use, and an original hypothetical example. The example demonstrates one possible application; it is not an instruction to repeat that scene or a claim about a released film. Each chapter also contains distinctions, related chapters, source notes, and proposed visual/data controls.

Use the alphabetical index when you know a term. Use the chapter list when you know the area of a decision. Use the routes below when you know the creative problem but lack the vocabulary.

Browse by creative question

Your question	Start here	Then consider
What kind of work am I making?	Form, format, and genre	Premise and theme
What keeps the story moving?	Story patterns and engines	Structure and time
Why does this person matter?	Character roles	Archetypes and construction
How do these people change?	Arcs and relationships	Television storytelling
What is this world like to inhabit?	World and setting	Production design
What does this scene accomplish?	Scenes and sequences	Perspective and audience
How do I make the scene playable?	Performance and blocking	Shot composition
Where should the camera be?	Shot composition	Movement and lenses
What gives the image its atmosphere?	Lighting and color	Production design
Why does the passage feel slow or rushed?	Editing and pace	Sound and music
How should impossible action be represented?	Animation and effects	References and constraints
What claims is this nonfiction work making?	Documentary	Perspective and audience

Apply vocabulary to a project

Begin with a plain-language intention. “A mechanic discovers someone is still using the abandoned station” is enough to start. Then select the dimensions that materially affect that intention.

Define the event. Who wants what? What occurs? What changes, if anything?
Choose audience access. What does the viewer know before the character, alongside them, or afterward?
Choose performance and space. How do people move, speak, wait, and respond?
Choose presentation. Specify framing, movement, light, sound, and editing independently.
Record the reason. Keep the creative intention beside the technical choice.
Review the result. Observe whether the actual scene supports that intention; do not treat saved settings as proof of an achieved effect.

You do not need to fill every field. An undecided lens is a valid state. A deliberately open character motivation is a valid creative choice. Unknown values should stay unknown rather than become arbitrary numbers.

Combine dimensions instead of choosing one label

Object	Independent dimensions	Example combination
Work	Form, medium, format, genre, tone	Animated short, mystery, melancholic tone
Character	Role, archetype, motivation, flaw, arc	Protagonist, caregiver, seeks belonging, controlling, learns trust
Scene	Activity, function, setting, knowledge change	Meal, negotiation, public canteen, hidden allegiance revealed
Shot	Size, angle, composition, movement, function	Medium close-up, eye level, off-center, slow dolly in, reaction
Sound	Source, story-world status, visibility, perspective	Radio music, diegetic, off-screen, heard through a closed door
Reference	Source, dimension, influence, adaptation	A clip's camera restraint, moderate influence, different blocking

Work at several scales

Atlas relationships diagram — text version

flowchart TD
    W[Film or series] --> SE[Sequence or episode]
    SE --> SC[Scene]
    SC --> SH[Shot]
    SC --> B[Performance and story beats]
    C[Characters and relationships] --> SC
    L[World and locations] --> SC
    R[References and constraints] --> W
    R --> SH

This is a simplified navigation map, not a rigid containment schema. A television series also has seasons; a sequence can cross scene boundaries; sound can span several shots; a performance beat is not the same object as an edit.

Keep four kinds of statement separate

Definition: what a reusable term means in this wiki.
Intention: what you want a creative choice to contribute.
Decision: what is currently selected for a specific project.
Observation: what a reviewer or audience actually noticed in an existing result.

An agent can help select and change decisions. It should not silently redefine a shared term, replace an intention with its own preference, or report an audience response that has not been observed.