Video Production & Film Terms Glossary

Film Making Glossary

Dipping your toes into the world of video production can feel like beginning to learn a new language. Industry experts will be using terms and phrases you’ve likely never heard before and you might find yourself politely smiling and nodding along without having the foggiest what they’re talking about. At Picture Lock Films we want you to be with us at every stage of the process and part of that means making sure you understand exactly what we’re talking about! We’ll always try to stay away from the jargon but for some of our work there are no other words to describe what we do. So, we’ve put together a handy jargon busting guide of video production, filming and camera terminology to get you started.

Some handy jargon busting for your shoot:

And Action!

The universally-used word to start an activity or a scene in film. It’s called when both the camera shot has been set, the operator is standing by & ready and the contributors and/or actors are in the correct positions ready to start.

BITC

Burn in time code, these are the digits you might see on a rough-cut film. It helps editors to identify shots and helps with any notes you may have on your film. For example, at 10.01.24 remove this shot as employee not wearing the correct PPE.

B-Roll

B-roll is supplementary and alternative footage that will be intercut with the main action. So, if an interviewee is talking about something such as managing a team, we would shoot some ‘b-roll’ of this activity to illustrate their point.

Cutaway 

Ever wondered how scenes changes look seamless in a video? A cutaway is a transition that creates the right pace from one shot to another, but can also give additional information to your target audience.

Daily Call sheet 

A call sheet (or daily schedule) is used to inform everyone, from the client, cast, contributors and crew as to what the schedule is for the day of the shoot. It includes everything we need to know to ensure a smooth-running day with no surprises. Typically, timings, locations, details and location contact details.

Eye-line

Where the subject is looking. They can be either be looking slightly off camera to the right or left or straight into camera. Often looking straight into camera can be an unusual feeling – especially for some contributors – so we have piece of kit that we can attach to the camera ‘to throw their eye’ so they appear to be looking straight into the camera lens.  

Edit

Where the magic happens – the rough footage, what we call the ‘rushes’ are ingested in so the editor can review and start piecing together all the live action shots, interviews and B-roll to create your video and tell your story.

Fine cut

This is where you sprinkle on the finishing and finer details and add things like music, effects cutaways, GVs, graphics and colour corrections.

General Views (GVs)

These are a type of shot that sets the scene where the action is taking place usually a wide shot/establisher of a location or activity. We often shoot these before any specific filming takes place to set context and also give a sense of time and space.

Handheld

When the camera is used and held by the operator without the use of a tripod to mount the camera on.

Ingest

A term used in tapeless production for the transfer of media (the rushes) from the camera’s memory card into the editing software so the footage can be labelled, managed, viewed and then edited.

Jump-cut

Where two shots are cut together without a cutaway to smooth the edit out. A jump cut can sometimes be used intentionally as an editing motif.

Kelvin

The scale to judge the colour temperature, used within camera exposures or to set the lighting-up correctly.

Long shot

This shot may be used to establish a building or a horizon in film/video making.

Macro

Often used to describe a very close-up shot, sometimes referred to as a BCU. (Big Close-up)

Noddy

A reaction shot can be ‘cheated’ in as a cutaway – a very over used trope in news broadcast reports especially. We try not to use them as we tend have far more interesting shots to cutaway to!

OOV

Out of vision when a subject and their voice is out of vision under a cutaway or over some GVs or B-roll scenes.

Panning

A camera move/ shot where the camera slowly moves horizontally from one fixed point to another. Similar to the motion of a person turning their head from left to right.

Queue

Actually, it’s cue! It’s just another term to start a scene or the action when everyone is ready to start filming.

Rushes

The name used to describe the unedited/raw footage straight from the camera.

Sync-pull

This is a rough assembly of all the rushes, relevant interviews and dialogue that’s needed to build the film/video. From this sync-pull the editor will then start to be fine cut the film/video with cutaways, music etc.

Timecode (t/c)

A sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing system sent from the camera to the rushes. (Also see BITC) You can record in time-of-day time code or use the camera’s pre-set t/c. The timecode, also helps sync-up sound and other cameras if more than one camera has been used on the shoot.

Umbrella

Often required in the UK to protect the camera from getting a soaking.

Voice Over (v.o)

V.O can be added to a video & animation to help explain the information and land the key points. A voice over artist will be booked and sent the script in advance with a brief explanation of the style of the read required. The producer – and often the client – will either attend or listen-in – to the v.o. record to direct the session to ensure the script is delivered as intended.

Wrap

Another well used phrase, it’s when the filming and/or the whole project is completed. “That’s a wrap everyone”.

X-rated

Are some of the best outtakes, when things don’t go as planned on a shoot.

You Tube

Where you can host your finished video. We tend to supply finished videos in h264 1080p, but we can work in any delivery/file specification you require.

Zoom

The technique of changing the focal length of a zoom lens. Allowing the shot to start wide and then zooming-in changing to a close-up shot. Or vice a versa.

Moray and the team at Picture Lock Films are ready and waiting to put your new lingo to the test.  All jokes aside, we’d love to hear from you to discuss your video production needs. It’s our pleasure to listen to your ideas and help you make an informed decision about making a video that suits your business or charity. Simply contact us or request a callback using the request form.