Glossary
Comprehensive glossary of filmmaking terms, concepts, and techniques.
Showing 72 terms
A
4Aerial Shot
A shot captured from an airborne platform: drone, helicopter, or aircraft above the ground.
Ambient Light
The non-directional background light present in an environment from all surrounding sources combined.
Aperture
The adjustable opening in a lens that controls light transmission and depth of field.
Available Light
All light already present in a location, natural or artificial, used without adding film lighting equipment.
B
5Background
The area of the frame behind the main subject, providing context and depth.
Backlighting
Illumination placed behind the subject, separating them from the background and creating edge definition.
Blaxploitation
A cycle of 1970s Black-led genre films aimed at Black urban audiences, blending action, crime, and soul soundtracks.
Bounce
A lighting technique where light is aimed at a reflective surface and the reflected light illuminates the subject.
Bounce Board
A reflective panel that redirects and softens light from a primary source onto a subject.
C
6Camera
The device that captures light and records it as a sequence of still images forming a motion picture.
Catchlight
A specular highlight reflected in a subject's eye from a light source, giving the eyes depth and vitality on camera.
Chiaroscuro
The strong contrast between light and shadow used as a primary expressive tool to create depth and drama.
Close-Up
A shot framed tightly on a subject's face or specific object, filling most of the frame.
Composition
The deliberate arrangement of visual elements within a film frame to guide attention and convey meaning.
Contrast
The difference in luminance between the brightest and darkest areas of an image or scene.
D
5Day-for-Night Shot
A cinematographic technique in which daytime footage is processed or graded to simulate nighttime lighting conditions.
Deep Focus
An optical and aesthetic approach in which a large depth of field keeps foreground, midground, and background simultaneously sharp.
Depth of Field
The range of subject distances in front of and behind the focus point that appear acceptably sharp.
Depth of Focus
The tolerance for image plane displacement behind the lens while maintaining acceptable sharpness.
Director of Photography
The head of the camera and lighting departments, responsible for the visual language of a film.
F
8F-Stop
A numerical scale that indicates a camera lens's aperture setting, controlling the amount of light passing through the lens to the film or sensor.
Fill Light
A secondary light source placed opposite the key to soften shadows and control contrast ratio.
Film Grain
The visible texture in photochemical film images caused by silver halide crystals in the emulsion.
Film Noir
A style of crime cinema with chiaroscuro lighting, moral ambiguity, femme fatales, and cynical narratives.
Fish-Eye Lens
An extreme wide angle lens with very short focal length that produces strong barrel distortion and a curved field of view.
Focus
The optical alignment that renders a subject at a specific distance sharply in the image.
Foreground
The area of the frame closest to the camera, used to create depth, frame the subject, or add visual context.
Frame
A single complete image in a sequence of images that creates the illusion of motion when played back.
G
2Gaffer
The head of the lighting department on a film set, responsible for executing the DP's lighting vision.
Golden Hour
The period after sunrise or before sunset when low sun angle produces warm, directional, soft natural light.
H
2Handheld Shot
A shot captured with the camera held by hand, without a tripod, dolly, or mechanical stabilisation system.
High Angle Shot
A shot where the camera is positioned above the subject, looking down to diminish their perceived power or status.
L
2Lens
An optical device that focuses light onto the sensor, determining field of view, depth, and image character.
Local 600
The International Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600, representing camera department crew on US productions.
M
5Magic Hour
The brief period after sunset or before sunrise when the sky provides soft, diffuse, warm-toned natural light.
Master Shot
A wide single take that covers the full geography and action of a scene from start to finish.
Metaphor
A figure of speech or visual device that describes one thing in terms of another to illuminate a deeper meaning.
Mise-en-Scene
The arrangement of all visual elements within a frame - setting, lighting, costume, blocking, and decor.
Motif
A recurring element that accumulates meaning through repetition across a film.
N
3Naturalism
A filmmaking approach that represents the world as it objectively appears, avoiding stylisation and artifice.
New Hollywood
The American film movement of the late 1960s and 1970s in which young directors gained creative control from studios.
Non-Diegetic Sound
Sound heard only by the audience, not by characters, with no source within the story world.
P
3P.O.V. Shot
A shot that represents what a specific character sees, placing the camera at their eyeline in the direction of their gaze.
Pan
A controlled horizontal rotation of the camera on its vertical axis, used to follow action or reveal space within a scene.
Production Design
The visual world of a film: sets, locations, props, and environments, conceived and overseen by the production designer.
R
4Rack Focus
A deliberate shift of focus from one subject to another within a single shot, drawing the viewer's attention from one plane of depth to another.
Racking Focus
A technique that shifts the focus point from one subject to another during a single unbroken shot.
Rembrandt Lighting
A portrait lighting pattern producing a small triangle of light on the shadow side of the face beneath the eye.
Rim Light
A light placed behind and slightly to the side of a subject to create a bright outline along their edges.
S
10Scene
A dramatic unit set in one location and continuous in time, assembled from multiple shots.
Screenlife
A filmmaking format where the entire narrative plays out through a computer, phone, or tablet screen interface.
Setting
The time and place in which a film's story takes place, shaping character, tone, and visual world.
Shallow Depth of Field
A narrow focus plane that keeps the subject sharp while rendering the background and foreground as soft blur.
Shutter Speed
The duration of time the camera's shutter stays open for each frame, controlling exposure and motion blur.
Slow Motion
A visual effect produced by capturing footage at a higher frame rate than playback, stretching action across more screen time.
Soft Focus
A lens or filter technique that reduces image sharpness and spreads highlights, creating a dreamy, romantic quality.
Sound
All audio elements in a film, including dialogue, music, effects, and ambience, forming the complete audio track.
Static Shot
A shot in which the camera remains completely still, with no pan, tilt, zoom, or physical movement.
Symbolism
The use of objects, images, colors, or events to represent ideas beyond their literal presence in the story.
T
3Three Shot
A shot framing three subjects within the same frame, establishing their spatial relationships simultaneously.
Tilt Shot
A shot where the camera rotates on its horizontal axis, pivoting the lens up or down while the body stays fixed.
Time Lapse
A technique capturing frames at low intervals over a long period, compressing slow processes into fast playback.
W
4Widescreen
Any film format with an aspect ratio significantly wider than the original 1.33:1 Academy standard, typically 1.85:1 or wider.
Western Dolly
A large, heavy-duty camera dolly carrying operators and gear on track or pneumatic tires.
White Balance
A camera setting that calibrates color rendering so white objects appear white under any light source.
Wide Angle Shot
A shot captured with a short focal length lens, producing a broad field of view and exaggerated depth.
Z
2Zoom Shot
A shot where the focal length changes during recording, magnifying or reducing the subject optically.
Zoptic Special Effects
A camera system combining synchronized zoom and dolly movement to create flying illusions.