Glossary
Comprehensive glossary of filmmaking terms, concepts, and techniques.
Showing 40 terms
A
6Action
The verbal cue called by the director to signal performers and crew that filming has begun and the scene should commence.
ADR
Automated Dialogue Replacement: the process of re-recording dialogue in a studio in sync with the picture after production.
Animation
The art and technique of creating the illusion of movement from a sequence of still images, drawings, or computer-generated frames.
Anthology Film
A film composed of multiple separate short stories or segments, often connected by a shared theme, framing device, or genre.
Audio
The sound component of a film, encompassing dialogue, music, sound effects, and ambient atmosphere.
Available Light
All light already present in a location -- natural or artificial -- used without adding any film lighting equipment.
C
8Camera
The device that captures light and records it as a sequence of still images forming a motion picture.
Catharsis
The emotional purging or release that an audience experiences through witnessing a story's dramatic events.
Crew
The collective technical and logistical workforce that builds and operates a film production.
CTB
Colour Temperature Blue — a family of colour correction gels used to raise the colour temperature of a warm light source, converting tungsten output toward daylight balance.
CTB, CTO, CTS
Colour correction gel families used on lights to shift colour temperature: CTB (blue) cools a warm source, CTO (orange) warms a cool source, CTS (straw) adds a subtle warming tint.
CTO
Colour Temperature Orange — a family of colour correction gels used to lower the colour temperature of a cool light source, converting HMI or daylight output toward tungsten balance.
CTS
Colour Temperature Straw — a pale amber colour correction gel that adds a subtle warm tint to a light source without performing a full colour temperature conversion.
Cut
The instantaneous transition between two shots, and the act of editing a film by assembling those transitions.
D
4Day-for-Night Shot
A cinematographic technique in which daytime footage is processed or graded to simulate nighttime lighting conditions.
Dialogue
The spoken words exchanged between characters in a film, written in the screenplay and performed by actors.
Diegetic Sound
Sound that exists within the world of the story and can theoretically be heard by the characters on screen.
Director
The creative authority responsible for translating a screenplay into a finished film.
L
2Location
Any real-world place outside a studio used as a filming environment for a production.
Looping
The process of re-recording dialogue in post-production in sync with the picture; an older term for ADR.
M
2Martini Shot
Film crew slang for the very last shot of the filming day, after which the next shot is 'in a glass' — meaning the crew goes to the bar.
Mixing
The final stage of audio post-production in which all sound elements are balanced and positioned to create the finished soundtrack.
N
2New Hollywood
The American film movement of the late 1960s and 1970s in which a generation of directors gained creative control and made formally adventurous, auteur-driven films.
Non-Diegetic Sound
Sound that exists outside the story world and is audible only to the audience, not to the characters on screen.
P
3Postmodern
A sensibility in film characterised by self-reflexivity, irony, genre mixing, pastiche, and the questioning of unified narratives and stable meaning.
Pre-Production
The planning and preparation phase of filmmaking that precedes principal photography.
Producer
The person responsible for financing, organising, and delivering a film from development through release.
S
4Score
The original music composed specifically for a film, forming the non-diegetic musical layer of the soundtrack.
Sound
All audio elements in a film, including dialogue, music, effects, and ambience, forming the complete audio track.
Soundstage
A large, acoustically treated studio building designed for filming, providing a controlled environment for set construction and shooting.
Soundtrack
The complete audio track of a film, or the commercial album of music from that film released separately.