Lexicon of Filmmaking
Because of the technology, the intricate business, and the craft involved, the film industry has a lingua franca of its own. PREMIERE presents a primer on some of the words and phrases every filmmaker should know.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
"A" Story: The main narrative of a film. Contrasts with "B" story, or subplot, a more minor narrative in the film that fleshes out the whole.
Above the line: The fees paid to a film's producers, actors, writers and director and other creative crew or cast, as well as the fees associated with development and aquiring rights to the material. The term was coined because those people's names usually appear at the top of a production budget, sectioned off from the film's other costs. See also: Below the line
A.D.R.: Automatic Dialogue Replacement. A recording session where an actor re-records dialogue for a given scene until it is improved to the director's specifications while remaining synchronized with the picture. Also known as "looping."
Alan Smithee, Allen Smithee: For many years, it was the pseudonym used by a director who no longer wanted their name affiliated with the film they just made after convincing the Directors Guild of America that he or she had lost creative control to the studio, producer, or other person or entity. In recent years, unique pseudonyms for each case have been favored.
Ambient light, ambient noise: All light and/or noise that is naturally or already occurring without artificial assistance. For example, while filming a street scene at night, ambient light would include only headlights, store window lighting, and street lights, and ambient noise would include all of the traffic noise and the sounds of pedestrians walking and talking.
Anamorphic: a type of lens and cinematography that squeezes a panoramic shot in half so it can fit in a regular frame of film. A similar lens is used on a projector to stretch the anamorphic film back out to screen at its natural width.
Ancillary Rights: A potential goldmine for the right film, this term refers to all of the rights associated with a film other than the right to theatrically distribute it. Ancillary rights include merchandising (the right to sell t-shirts and other themed goodies), home video distribution, TV distribution (network and cable), book spin-offs, and more.
Art director: the person who carries out the Production Designer's vision of how a film's sets and physical spaces should look. The Art Director hires and manages set builders and other art department staff, directs the building of the sets, arranges the look of location shots, and has the prop master provide specific props.
Aspect ratio: For both film and the screen it's shown on, it's the ratio of the height of the picture to the width. The standard aspect ratio for TV's is 1.33:1 (also known as "Academy aperture"), widescreen , including anamorphic widescreen is usually either 1.85:1 or 2.35:1.
B
Backend: Money paid to someone involved in a film after the film hits theaters. It's a gamble for the studio and the person being paid this way. If a film flops, the backend money is paltry or non-existent; but it a film is a hit, the backend could be a fortune.
Backlot: The part of a movie studio where outdoor sets are stored and used.
Barndoors: Flap-like coverings that fit onto studio lights, they control the brightness and resemble the large barn doors that open outward. The term is also used to describe an editing transition, where the picture appears to come apart in the center and the two pieces slide away like doors revealing the next scene.
Below the line: All of a film's costs that are either technical or related to production staff; things like the cost of building sets, props, film stock, and all fees and salaries not agreed on before production begins. See also: Above the line.
Best Boy: An electrician or stage hand, often assistant to the Gaffer or Grip.
Billing: The order and prominence of an actor's name in a film's credits and on all promotional and advertising materials such as posters. Generally, the bigger the star, the larger their name is and the higher it's placed.
Blocking: Mapping out in rehearsal where on a set the actors will move as they act out a scene so that the camera can follow them efficiently when the time comes.
Blue screen or green screen: A special effects trick where actors are filmed on a set that is composed entirely of blue or green walls, ceilings and floors. Then, through editing, the blue and green are stripped away and the actor is superimposed on elaborate or fantastical backgrounds such as deep space or alien planets. This effect has been extensively used in the last decade in films like Sin City, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and other fantasy epics.
C
Call time: The time when an actor or crew member is required to be on set each day.
Call sheet: A production's daily written schedule. Calls sheets list which actors and crew members are required on set at what time, and include an estimate of how long they'll be needed and what scenes will be shot that day.
Casting Director: the person responsible for selecting actors for a film. His or her work usually takes place in preproduction, and involves sorting through head shots, watching auditions, and negotiating with actors' agents.
Cinematography, Cinematographer: Cinematography is the actual composition of the photography involved in shooting a film. A director has the overall vision for a film, but the cinematographer translates that into the way the film looks, from the saturation of the colors to the way the objects in each scene are framed and lit. Cinematographers are also known as the Director of Photography or DP.
Cinéma Vérité: An aesthetic technique in filming that often uses hand-held cameras, natural speech, and a loose narrative to instill a fictional film with a documentary feel. The term is French, and translates to, "true film."
Continuity: A movie's logical flow whereby each scene ultimately makes sense following the previous one, no objects or circumstances are mismatched from shot to shot or scene to scene. An example of Continuity Breakdown is when a character is soaking wet in one shot but dry when in the next shot, or it's raining in one shot and a sunny day in the next.
Cookie: Used in lighting a shot, a cookie is a thick sheet with holes punched in it that allows light to peek through in an interesting pattern.
Coverage: Filming every shot in a movie from a few different angles, distances, and lighting levels so that the director has different versions of every shot to work with when editing the film. Coverage is also a term used when someone reads a script and summarizes it's plot and merits for another, usually more important or busy, person. Directors, producers, and agents often have staff who write Coverage on the many scripts they're sent.
Cover set: An indoor set used when an outdoor set is unavailable, usually because of bad weather or need for repair.
Craft services: the people who make sure the actors and crew are fed and caffeinated. The craft services table is the name for the place where a production's food and drinks are kept.
Cue sheet: The list of cues that a composer works from when writing a film's music. The cue sheet lists exactly when in the film, down to the second, each piece of music should be played.
Cut: A cut is the point at which one shot in a film jumps to the next, created through editing. "Cut!" is also what the director yells when he or she feels a take is complete.
Cutaway: Accomplished through editing, it's a shot inserted into the main action of a scene that shows the reaction of some of the characters or some corollary simultaneous action.
D
Dailies: All of the raw, unedited footage shot in a given day of a film's production, when developed and printed (in the case of film), or assembled (in the case of digital video). Producers, directors and studio executives often watch the previous day's dailies to see how the film looks, sounds, and to measure how good the finished product is shaping up to be. Dailies are also known as Rushes.
Day for Night: A shooting technique where a set or location is lit so that the scene looks like it took place at night even though it you shot it in the daytime. See also: Night for Day.
Denouement: The post-climactic moment in a film, usually near the end, where the plot comes to resolution.
Development: The process of how an idea becomes an actual production. Development includes an idea being pitched, getting the rights to the story when applicable, directors and stars being hired, and a script being written and rewritten. This term often crops up as part of the phrase, "development hell," which is when it takes years or even decades for a movie to move through the system, getting multiple directors, stars, and screenwriters, and sometimes not even resulting in a film actually getting made.
Director: The chief creative talent of any film. Responsible for directing all facets of a film's production and staff, from how to change the script on the fly and what kind of performance is wanted from the actors to how the film should be edited.
Director of Photography: Another name for the Cinematographer. Also informally known as "D.P."
Distributor: The company, often the Studio responsible for production of a film, that releases a film to theaters.
Documentary: A non-fiction film that depicts a real subject as it is without using actors or sets. It may include scripted narration, but all dialogue and action is usually otherwise unscripted.
Dolly: A cart that wheels a camera around for smooth motion shots. A dolly sometimes moves on a track, and some dollys are large enough to carry the director and/or other crew members. There's actually a crew position, the Dolly Grip, whose job it is to push the dolly around.
E
Editing, editor: Editing is the process of putting together different bits of footage to make a cohesive film, and the Editor is the person who does it. The Editor and the director collaborate on which versions of which shots and in which order a film is edited.
Establishing shot: Usually the first thing you see in any given scene, the establishing shot is a general view that gives an idea of where and when the action takes place and what basically is going on.
Eyeline: Which way a character is looking, from what angle, and where in the frame their eyes are. If eyelines are mismatched from shot to shot, an error in continuity occurs.
F
Fade: An editing technique where a scene gradually melts away into a blank screen or a blank screen gradually transitions into the beginning of a scene. Traditionally, fades begin with or result in a black screen, but any other color will also work.
Filter: an attachment that fits over a camera's lens that changes the color, contrast, or brightness of what the camera sees.
First Look: a deal that a studio brokers with a director or screenwriter by which the filmmaker agrees to let the studio have the first choice of making that person's projects. If a studio passes after having a "first look," then the filmmaker can shop the project to other studios.
Follow focus: Constantly adjusting the camera's focus so that the moving subject in a shot is always in sharp focus.
Footage: all of the film shot, so named because it traditionally refers to the length of film used.
Frame, frame rate: Motion picture cameras take a certain number of still photographs each second, and when they are played back they simulate motion. A frame is one of those stills. A "frame rate" is the number of frames, or stills, a camera captures every second. Since the human eye can see less than 20 different images in a second, the standard frame rate is 24 frames per second.
G
Gaffer: the head electrician on a production, supervises a staff of electricians and takes orders from the D.P.
Grip, Key Grip: a stagehand. The "key grip" is the head stagehand.
Green Screen: see Blue Screen
H
Head room: The distance between the top of an actor's head and the top of the frame.
Headshots: Self-promotional photographs of an actor's face, head, and sometimes shoulders. Directors, studio executives, the producers and Casting Director use headshots to get a first, general impression of who they may want to cast.
J
Jump cut: In editing, an intentionally jarring, abrupt cut between two shots that are visually very different.
L
Location, On Location: An actual place, rather than a set, where a scene is filmed. A location can be anything from a real desert, to a city, to a wide open plain. For example, a series of false-fronted buildings along a narrow paved road might be a set, but if the production actually goes to film the winding streets of London, it's "on location."
Line Producer: An experienced, hands-on producer who is on set every day and manages the production's daily expenses and hiring, and tries to make sure everything remains within the budget.
Long Lens: A telephoto camera lens best suited to shooting distant subjects.
Long Shot: A shot, often using a wide angle lens, depicting far-away subjects and the general area around them, as in a landscape.
Lot: A movie studio and all of the areas, indoor and out, where different sets and productions are housed and used.
M
Master Shot: Directors usually shoot a scene from many different angles, but the master shot is the long shot that films the whole scene continuously and encompasses all of the action. Master shots are often intercut with other types of shots, such as medium shots and close-ups, when the film is edited.
Medium Shot: Closer than a long shot, but farther away than a close-up, medium shots are just close enough to depict a whole person standing up.
Montage: An editing technique where a number of short views of a subject are assembled together, often used to accelerate the narrative. For example, in a romantic film, there might be a montage of the couple going on a series of dates to show that their relationship has progressed.
N
Night for Day: The act of shooting a scene set in the daytime at night by tricking the camera with heavy lighting. See also: Day for Night.
P
P & A: Prints and advertising. This is an industry term for the additional costs, usually not figured in a production budget, that covers placing ads and making prints of the film for theaters to screen.
Pan: To turn the camera smoothly from left to right, or right to left, from a fixed position.
Pick-up shot: To go back and re-film a part of a scene when the rest of it is already done to the director's taste.
Platform release: To release a film to small number of strategically chosen cities or theaters and then expand to additional theaters or cities week by week.
Principal Photography: The part of filming, usually the main part, that involves the actors or subjects.
Producer: The person who marshals and is in charge of a film's finances, prospects, and administrative aspects. He or she is with a film from the idea to the theatrical release, often choosing, or helping choose a director, stars, interfacing with the studio, and generally molding the movie to be as successful as possible.
Production, Preproduction, Postproduction: Production encompasses the phase of movie making beginning with construction of the sets, through rehearsal, principal photography and additional photography. Preproduction, which happens before production, includes casting, the hiring of production crew, creating a working budget, and scheduling the actual shooting. Postproduction, which happens after production, includes editing, special effects, and adding music and other additional sounds.
Production Assistant: Also known as a P.A., a crew member who is a sort of jack-of-all-trades working with the director. The P.A. distributes calls sheets, script changes, and other daily written materials, acts as a go-fer, and generally helps around the set.
Production Designer: The person responsible for the physical look of the film from the sets to the locations, also the person who oversees the art director, the art department, and all of the prop personnel.
Prop, Prop Master: Prop is short for "property," and refers to any object, other than a building, that exists on a set as part of what is being filmed. The Prop Master is the crew member in charge of keeping track of all of the props, and making sure the right props in the right numbers are available when they're needed.
R
Running time: the total amount of time it takes to watch a film from beginning to end.
Scale: the minimum amount of money, proscribed by various unions, that a production must pay an actor or crew member, usually defined in dollars per day or week.
S
Script Supervisor: The crew member who takes detailed notes on the script as each scene is filmed so that the different shots match up in the finished film, and continuity is preserved.
Score: All of the music, often interconnected, included in a finished film
Shot list: a compendium of every single shot in a film in list form so that the director, D.P., and various other crew members know each of the many components needed to end up with a complete film.
Storyboard: To illustrate every scene of a film through drawings or basic computer animation in order to previsualize how the movie will look and whether or not the scenes' order makes sense and are cohesive.
T
Tilt: To film something by pointing or tilting the camera from up to down, or from down to up, from a fixed position.
Tracking Shot: Any shot filmed with a camera that moves, usually on a dolly to follow the action.
W
Wrap: To end a day of shooting, or to end the whole production.
Z
Zoom: To change the focal length of a lens — from telephoto to wide angle for example — so that a subject or object being filmed appears larger in the frame.
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