Glossary
Comprehensive glossary of filmmaking terms, concepts, and techniques.
Showing 52 terms
A
6Anime
Japanese animated film and television, characterised by distinctive visual styles and spanning a vast range of genres and subject matter.
Anthology Film
A film composed of multiple separate short stories or segments, often connected by a shared theme, framing device, or genre.
Anti-Climax
A narrative moment that disappoints built-up dramatic expectation by resolving conflict in a deflating or trivial way.
Apple Box
A standardised wooden box used on set to adjust actor height, support equipment, or serve as an impromptu seat or platform.
Audio
The sound component of a film, encompassing dialogue, music, sound effects, and ambient atmosphere.
Avant-Garde
Experimental filmmaking that pushes beyond conventional narrative and form, prioritising innovation, abstraction, and the exploration of cinema's formal possibilities.
B
3Backlighting
Illumination placed behind the subject, separating them from the background and creating edge definition.
Biopic
A biographical film that dramatises the life of a real person, typically a public figure, historical figure, or celebrity.
Bollywood
The Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, India — the world's most prolific film industry by volume of productions and tickets sold.
C
7Coming-of-Age Film
A film that focuses on the emotional and psychological growth of a young protagonist transitioning from childhood or adolescence to adulthood.
Contrast
The ratio between the brightest and darkest areas of an image, determined by lighting ratios and scene tonal range.
Copy That
Radio communication term used on film sets to confirm that a message has been received and understood.
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
6Day-for-Night Shot
A cinematographic technique in which daytime footage is processed or graded to simulate nighttime lighting conditions.
Denouement
The narrative resolution following the climax, in which consequences are settled and a new equilibrium is established.
Dialogue
The spoken words exchanged between characters in a film, written in the screenplay and performed by actors.
Directing the Eye
The visual techniques a filmmaker uses to control where the audience looks within the frame at any given moment.
Director
The creative authority responsible for translating a screenplay into a finished film.
Dutch Angle
A shot where the camera is tilted on its roll axis, creating a diagonal horizon and sense of unease.
E
3Electronic ViewFinder
A small screen built into or attached to a camera that displays a live electronic image of what the lens is seeing, used for framing and monitoring exposure.
Epilogue
A closing section that follows the main narrative, showing where the characters ended up after the story's events.
Establishing Shot
A wide shot that orients the audience to a new location at the start of a scene.
G
3Gel
Coloured or corrective transparent film placed in front of a light source to change its colour or intensity.
Genre
A category of film defined by shared narrative conventions, visual codes, and audience expectations.
Golden Hour
The period when the sun is low on the horizon, producing warm, directional, long-shadow natural light.
L
2Last Looks
The final check of a performer's hair, makeup, and costume made by the relevant department heads immediately before the camera rolls.
Local 600
The International Cinematographers Guild, the IATSE local union representing directors of photography, camera operators, focus pullers, and other camera department crew in the United States.
M
3Magic 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.
Mise-en-Scène
Everything visible within a film frame — actors, sets, lighting, costume, and camera position — as a unified expressive whole.
P
4Pay or Play
A contract clause guaranteeing that a talent will be paid their full fee whether or not the film is ultimately produced.
Producer
The person responsible for financing, organising, and delivering a film from development through release.
Production Design
The visual world of a film — sets, locations, props, and environments — conceived and overseen by the production designer.
Prologue
An introductory section that precedes the main story, establishing context, tone, or a prior event relevant to the narrative.
S
7Score
The original music composed specifically for a film, forming the non-diegetic musical layer of the soundtrack.
Setting
The time and place in which a film's story takes place, shaping character, tone, and visual world.
Simile
A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using 'like' or 'as' to illuminate a quality or state.
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.
Steadicam
A camera stabilisation system worn by an operator that isolates the camera from body movement, producing smooth fluid shots.
Superimposition
The optical or digital combination of two images so that both are simultaneously visible, one placed over the other.
T
3Technicolor
A proprietary colour film process used in Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1950s, renowned for its rich, saturated colour reproduction.
Three-Point Lighting
The foundational lighting setup using key, fill, and back light to illuminate a subject with dimensional depth.
Treatment
A prose document that outlines a screenplay's story, characters, and structure before the script is written.
U
2Undercranking
Running the camera at a lower frame rate than the playback rate to produce accelerated motion in the final image.
Underexposure
A condition where too little light reached the sensor, causing shadow areas to lose detail and noise to increase.