Pre-production
- Script: The written narrative including dialogue and instructions for a video.
- Shot List: Detailed breakdown of every shot planned for filming.
- Location Scouting: The process of finding suitable places to shoot the video.
- Casting Call: The process of auditioning actors for various roles.
- Rehearsal: Practice sessions before the actual shooting begins.
- Production Brief: A document outlining the objectives, target audience, and specifications for a video project.
- Storyboard: A visual representation of the video’s narrative, shot by shot.
- Treatment: A detailed outline or description of the project, including its style and structure.
- Budgeting: Estimating and allocating financial resources for the project.
- Crew Assembly: Gathering the team of technicians and creatives who will work on the video.
Production
- Principal Photography: The phase in which the bulk of the filming is done.
- B-Roll: Secondary footage to provide context and support to the main narrative.
- Boom Mic: A microphone attached to a boom pole, used to capture audio.
- Clapperboard: A tool used to mark the beginning of a scene and assist in syncing audio and video in post-production.
- Dolly Shot: A shot where the camera is mounted on a wheeled apparatus to move smoothly with the action.
- Green Screen: A green backdrop that allows for digital backgrounds to be added in post-production.
- Close-up (CU): A shot framing the subject closely, often just the face or detail.
- Wide Shot (WS): A shot that captures the subject and their surroundings in full.
- Medium Shot (MS): A shot framing a subject from the waist up, balancing detail and context.
- Establishing Shot: A wide shot used at the beginning of a scene to establish setting and context.
Lighting and Sound
- Key Light: The primary source of light on a subject.
- Fill Light: Supplementary lights used to illuminate shadows caused by the key light.
- Backlight: Lighting placed behind the subject to create depth in the image.
- Ambient Sound: Background noises present in a scene’s location.
- Lavalier Mic: A small, clip-on microphone for capturing dialogue.
- Foley Sounds: Custom-made sound effects added in post-production to enhance audio realism.
- Gaffer: The chief electrician in charge of lighting on a film set.
- Boom Operator: The technician responsible for operating the boom microphone.
Post-production
- Editing: The process of selecting, cutting, and assembling footage into the final product.
- Color Correction: Adjusting the colors of footage to ensure consistency and realism.
- Color Grading: The creative process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture.
- Compositing: Combining visual elements from separate sources into single images.
- Voiceover: A recorded narrative added to a video.
- Sound Mixing: Combining various audio tracks into a final soundtrack.
- Special Effects (SFX): Effects added in post-production to create visuals that cannot be achieved during filming.
- Visual Effects (VFX): The integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments that look realistic.
- Exporting: Rendering out the final version of a video into a specific format.
- Aspect Ratio: The proportional relationship between a video’s width and height.
- Bit Rate: The amount of data processed in a given amount of time in a video, affecting quality and file size.
- Codec: A device or program that compresses data to enable faster transmission and decompresses received data.
Technical Specifications
- 4K Resolution: Ultra-high-definition video resolution offering greater detail.
- Frame Rate: The frequency at which consecutive images called frames appear on a display.
- Depth of Field: The range of distance within a shot that appears acceptably sharp.
- Pan: Horizontal movement or rotation of a camera about a vertical axis.
- Tilt: Vertical up or down camera movement.
- Zoom: The effect of moving closer to or further away from the subject.
- Focal Length: The distance between the lens and the image sensor, determining the field of view.
- ISO: Camera sensitivity to light, affecting exposure.
- Aperture: The opening in a lens through which light passes, affecting depth of field and exposure.
- Shutter Speed: The amount of time the camera’s shutter is open, affecting motion blur and exposure.
Video Production Camera Related
- White Balance: Adjusting the camera to compensate for the color temperature of different light sources.
- Dolly: A platform on wheels used to create smooth horizontal camera movements.
- Crane Shot: A shot taken by a camera on a moving crane or jib.
- Gimbal: A pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object on a single axis, used for stabilizing cameras.
- Post-Production: The phase of production occurring after filming or shooting, involving editing, visual effects, and sound design.
- Rendering: The process of generating the final video output from edited clips, effects, and transitions.
- Resolution: The number of pixels contained in each dimension of an image or video.
- Storyboard: A sequence of drawings representing the shots planned for a film or television production.
- Take: A single continuous recorded performance.
- Tracking Shot: A shot where the camera moves alongside the subject it’s recording.
Cinematic Techniques
- Match Cut: A cut from one shot to another where the composition of the two shots are matched by the action or subject.
- Montage: A sequence of shots showing a condensed series of events.
- Cross Dissolve: A transition between two scenes where one fades out as the next fades in.
- J-Cut: Audio from the next scene begins before the visual transition.
- L-Cut: The audio from the current scene continues playing over the beginning of the next scene.
- High-Key Lighting: A lighting scheme in which the light is evenly distributed and shadows are minimal.
- Low-Key Lighting: A lighting scheme that produces stark light and dark contrasts.
- Diegetic Sound: Sound that originates from within a film’s world, such as characters speaking.
- Non-Diegetic Sound: Sound that does not originate from the film’s world, like background music or a narrator’s commentary.
- Foley: The reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to film, video, and other media in post-production.
Equipment and Tools
- Condenser Mic: A microphone that uses a capacitor to convert acoustic signals into electrical signals.
- LED Light: Light-emitting diode lights used in video production for their low heat emission and adjustability.
- Teleprompter: A device displaying scripted speech for subjects to read while looking directly at the camera.
- C-Stand: A versatile piece of equipment used in filmmaking and photography to hold light modifiers.
- Shotgun Mic: A highly directional microphone intended to capture sound from a focused area.
- Slider: A piece of equipment allowing smooth horizontal camera movements.
- Steadicam: A camera stabilization rig that isolates the camera from the operator’s movement.
- Tripod: A three-legged stand used to support a camera or other equipment.
- Video Monitor: An electronic visual display for monitoring video footage.
- Wireless Lavalier Mic: A small microphone that connects to the camera or recording device wirelessly.
Post-Production and Effects
- After Effects: A digital visual effects and motion graphics software by Adobe.
- Colorist: A professional specialising in grading footage to correct color and create visual moods.
- Compressor: A tool used in audio post-production to even out audio levels.
- Data Wrangling: The process of managing and processing digital data.
- De-noiser: Software or a tool used to reduce noise in video footage or audio tracks.
- Dubbing: The process of adding voice tracks in post-production.
- Final Cut Pro: A video editing software program.
- Premiere Pro: Adobe’s professional video editing software.
- Rotoscoping: An animation technique used to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame.
- Timecode: A sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronisation system.
Miscellaneous
- Aspect Ratio: The width-to-height ratio of a film frame, television screen, or image.
- Clipping: Distortion that occurs when the signal level exceeds the maximum limit.
- Dailies: The raw, unedited footage from a day’s shooting.
- Distribution: The process of delivering the finished product to the audience.
- Log Footage: Video footage with a flat color profile, allowing for greater control in post-production color grading.
- Mood Board: A collection of images, materials, and pieces of text intended to evoke or project a particular style or concept.
- Recce: Short for reconnaissance, a pre-shoot visit to a location to assess its suitability for shooting.
- Royalty-Free: Licensing method allowing use of media without paying per use or per volume sold.
- Stock Footage: Pre-recorded video clips that can be used in new productions.
- Wrap: The completion of filming or recording for a project.
Understanding the terminology is a great start, but seeing it applied in a high-stakes environment is where the real learning happens. If you want to see these technical standards in action, explore our work in video production Melbourne to see how we turn definitions into definitive results.