Terminology
Pre-production Terms
Storyboard – drawings and captions (like a comic) that explain shots, camera angles, movement, etc.
Mise en Scene – all objects/characters in a scene, including where they’re located, where they move,
lighting, sound, costuming, props, etc.
Shot list – the list of shots needed
Scene – the place where something takes place, in setting or in time
Establishing shot – usually used at the beginning of a video to establish where the scene takes place
Foreground – the front of the scene
Background – the back of the scene
Script Terms
Dialog – what people will say, usually formatted as “Character: Dialog”
Parenthetical – used very sparingly, direction if something needs to be said or done a certain way
Beat – A pause or silence (useful in interviews before and after speaking). Can also use ellipses, “…”
EXT and INT – exterior and interior, used to describe a scene
OS – Off Screen
Into Frame – Describes a character entering the scene from ones side or another
Audio Terms
Voicer Over (V.O.) – Audio of a person speaking that is added during editing.
Pick-up – Doing video or audio again to fix a mistake or “just in case”
Microphone (Mic or Mike) Types:
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Cardioid mic – what most people think of as a microphone, used mostly for single
person speech
Boom mic – microphone on a long stick (a boom) above subject
Shotgun mic – mics that pick up sound mainly from one direction
Lavaliere (Lav) Mic – small wireless microphone (usually with a battery pack attached
elsewhere) attached to speaker
Camera/Video Terms
Shot – one section of filming.
Take – one version of a shot (normally multiple takes if possible)
Clip – a smaller section of a shot.
A-roll and B-roll – it’s common to use multiple shots of a subject using different camera angles to add
interest and as a failsafe for footage
Field of View (FOV) – the angle the camera can see ( < ). Uses shorter lenses for a wide angle, and
longer lenses for a narrower, telephoto view.
Depth of Field – how much of the frame is in focus. Wider angles have more things in focus, narrower
angles have less in focus.
Shot Angles – How close up or far away a shot is. These can be described as:
-
Extreme close-up: one object (eye) filling up the screen
Close-up: one object (face) filling up the screen
Medium close-up: generally focusing chest up
Medium: waist up, also showing some scenery
Medium long: full person
Long: full person plus scenery
Extreme long/distance: focusing on scenery more than person
Camera Angle – tilting the camera can be used to evoke emotion in the audience
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Bird’s eye view: looking directly down, establishes setting (looking down on a scene,
apart from it)
High angle: looking down on something. Makes the character look small and/or
vulnerable
Eye-level angle: most common/comfortable angle
Low Angle: Looking up at something. Makes character look larger/more powerful
Worm’s Eye View: extreme version of low angle
Dutch Angle: Tilted angle, creates confusion, disorientation
Camera Movement
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Panning – camera looking left or right
Tilting – camera looking up or down
Dolly – camera moving closer or further away from the subject
Zooming – camera focus moving closer or further (without camera moving)
Track – camera moving left or right from the subject
Lighting Terms
Fill Light – secondary light source
Key Light – main light source
Back Light – lighting from behind, used in interviews to “pop” a person in front of the background
Ambient Light – using the pre-existing light conditions, such as a window or outdoor lighting
Editing
Cut – instant transition from one clip to another for a transition
Fade – a gradual change at the beginning or end of a clip
Cross Fade – fade to black, then fade to next scene
Dissolve – fade from one scene to another, usually shows passage of time
Freeze Frame – a single frame held for a longer time (like a still photograph)
Cutaway – alternate shot of something related, can add interest/explanation to video
Chromakey – normally called “green screen”, an evenly colored background that can be replaced in
editing with a different background.
White Balance – because different lighting types cast slightly different colors, this corrects the color of
the film so whites look white as opposed to blue-ish or yellowed or even green.
Codec – compression/ decompression. The system (hardware or software) that compresses and
decompresses video and audio – what makes it smaller
File Type/Format – How your audio/video/data is contained.
Common File Formats for video:
.WMV - Windows Media Video (native for Windows)
.FLV/.FV4 – Flash (not useable on Apple)
.MOV - Quicktime (Apple)
.MPEG/.MPG - Moving Picture Experts Group