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MEDIA TERMS RELATING

TELEVISION & FILM MEDIA

Submitted byVaishali.A.Shah

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TELEVISION MEDIA

Ad Hoc Network  A group of stations that is formed for a special purpose, such as the showingof a one-time TV program or series. Ad hoc is Latin for "for this."

Adjacency

A commercial or program that immediately follows or precedes another onthe same TV station.

Advanced Television (ATV) The FCC’s name for Digital Television (DTV).

AffidavitA notarized statement from a television station that confirms the commercialactually ran at the time shown on the station's invoice.

Affiliate A TV station, not owned by a network, that grants a network use of specific

time periods for network programs and advertising, for compensation.Remainder of broadcast day is programmed locally.

Alternate Delivery Systems (ADS) TV homes with unwired cable access are referred to as having AlternateDelivery Systems. The four components of ADS are:

• Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS): Satellite service delivered directlyvia household's own small (usually 18") dish; the largest component of ADS.

• Satellite Master Antenna (SMATV): Serves housing complexes and

hotels; signals received via satellite and distributed by coaxial cable.• Microwave Multi Distribution System (MMDS), "WIRELESS

CABLE": Distributes signals by microwave. Home receiver picks upsignal, then distributes via internal wiring.

• Satellite Dish (C-Band/KU Band), "Big Dish": Household receivestransmissions from a satellite(s), via a 1- to 3- meter dish.

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) An AFL-CIO union of broadcasting workers. Headquartered in N.Y., near theoffices of the major networks, it is the primary organization of broadcasttalent, with 30 locals. Performers who appear in TV and radio commercialsare required to be members of this union and/or other unions. However,spokespersons and others who are retained by public relations practitionersfor talk shows and other radio and TV programs are not required to be unionmembers, since they are generally not paid for their services.

Audience Composition  The distribution of a station's audiences by demographic group.

Audience Duplication The extent to which the audience of one station is exposed to that of 

another.

Audience FlowA measure of the change in audience during and between programs.Audience flow shows the percentages of people or households who turn on oroff a program, switch to or from another channel, or remain on the samechannel as the previous program.

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FILM MEDIA

Narrative - An adjective describing a film as being primarily a work of fiction, ora noun that loosely means a fictional story. Documentary - Also an adjective or noun category used to describe a work of nonfiction. Plot - refers to all aspects of the narrative that we see on screen.

Story - refers to all aspects of the narrative that we do not see on screen; theseaspects may include events before, during, or even after the plot of thefilm. In Jaws, for instance, Chief Brody had been a police officer in the city priorto the film’s beginning; this information is part of the story but not part of theplot. Diegesis - refers to the narrative that we see on screen. This term is much

more specific to film, however, and refers to the world that the characters inhabitas much as the plot of the film Point of view - Most people assume film always has a third-person perspective,but even when it does not use a POV shot , film often has a more subjectiveperspective through the use of camera placement, voiceover, and other cinematechniques. Mise-en-scène - refers to everything in the frame of the film, which wouldinclude lighting, set, props, and the staging and movement of actors. The termderives from the theater, where it is used in a similar way.

Setting - like the literary term, this word refers to the time and place of thefilm. The setting for The Usual Suspects, for instance, is New York and LosAngeles at a time contemporary with the film’s year of release (in this case,1995). Set - This term refers to the actual construction in which the actors are filmed.Sets are usually built for a film, as opposed to shooting on location, where ascene is shot in the actual place in which it occurs in the film. Set is also usedgenerally, however, as a designation for the place where a film is being shot. (Soeven in location shooting, the director would be “on the set” of his or her filmevery time he or she went to the place where the crew was shooting for that

day.)

Score: The background music of a film: it’s usually instrumental.

Plot: The story.

Climax: The ‘height’ of the story; what everything has been building up to.

Denouement: Occurs after the climax, the concluding scenes of the film.

Prop - another term borrowed from theater. A prop is generally any object on a

set, though clearly the objects that characters will touch become moreimportant.

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Costumes - what the characters are wearing. Bear in mind that even if acharacter is wearing contemporary clothing (in some cases, the actors’ ownclothing), that clothing is still considered a costume. Lighting - This term refers to the way in which lights are used for a givenfilm. Lighting, in conjunction with the camera, sets the visual look for afilm. The key light is the main light used for a scene; back light refers to asecondary source, usually placed behind the actors; and fill refers to a lightplaced to the side of the actors. This system is called three-point lighting andwas very common in classical Hollywood films. You may also run across theterm low-key lighting, which means that the film was shot often using only thekey light at a very low setting. This low level of lighting creates dark shadows onthe faces of actors and is particularly moody when used with black-and-whitefilm. It is most often associated with film noir but is not exclusive to that genre.

Trailer: These are also known as the Previews (Coming Attractions). They arecalled Trailers because they used to be shown at the end of the Newsreels,

Cartoons and other shorts that would play before a movie.

Legs: A movie is said to have ‘Legs’ if it continues to have great box-office for along period of time.

Product Placement: This is an agreement between a company that producessome sort of consumer product and the film which states that the company willpay the film a certain amount of dollars for the characters in the movie to usetheir products on screen.

Bonus Fact: A film runs through a projector at a rate of 24 frames per second

(fps). The human eye can only capture images 18-20 times a second, so tofacilitate the appearance of motion, film runs through a camera at 24fps.

Blue Screen (Green Screen): You often hear actors talk about working in frontof a Blue Screen. It is just what the name says, a giant Blue (or sometimesGreen) background that the actors work in front of. In the finished film, variousimages will be super-imposed over the screen in such a seamless manner that itwill appear as if the actor was actually performing in that situation.

Angle: The position from which camera photographs action. Camera point of view. High, low.

Beat: A smaller dramatic unit within a scene; a scene within a scene; a changein direction of scene content.

Shot (and close-up v. long shot) - generally, the smallest unit of unbrokenfilm. The camera can move within a shot, but the second that the film makes atransition (see below) to another shot, the previous shot hasended. Alternatively, when used with certain adjectives, shot also refers to thedistance from the camera to the subject, almost always the actor. In a longshot, one can see the entire body of the actor; in a medium shot, one can seethe actor from the waist up; in a close-up, one can see only the actor’s face(there is no such term as the “short shot”). You might also see an extreme

close-up in a film, where you can only see part of the actor’s face (just the eyes,for example).

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 Pan - the movement of a stationary camera on a horizontal axis. A camera on atripod that moves from left to right (following a parade, for instance), would bepanning. Tilt - the movement of a stationary camera on a vertical axis. A camera on atripod that moves up and down (following a plane landing, for instance), wouldbe performing a tilt. Tracking Shot: Where the camera moves in a parallel path with the objectbeing filmed. (Most common when the camera moves along with an actor asthey walk down the street.)

Dolly Shot: The camera moves forward or back on a truck or cart. This isdifferent from a Zoom Shot. With a Dolly, the positions and size of the objects onscreen do not remain consistent.

Pull-back dolly: A technique used to surprise the viewer by withdrawing from ascene to reveal an object or character that was previously out of the frame.

Handheld shot - refers to a shot where the camera is held by the cameraoperator. Hand-held shots are often associated with a certain look, which isshaky, and most people associate the hand-held shot with a kind of documentaryrealism.

Crane shot - A shot taken from a crane. You often see these shots at thebeginning of a scene (using it as an establishing shot) or the end of a scene. The

end of a movie, in fact, often uses a crane shot (though sometimes is even moreextreme).

Point of view (POV) shot A subjective camera angle that becomes theperspective of a character. We look at the world through his or her eyes.

High-angle shot, low-angle shot - These terms refer to camera placement. If a camera is looking down on an actor from a high vantage, it is a high-angleshot; if a camera is placed very low to the ground and looks “up” at actors, it is alow-angle shot. High-angle shots might emphasize that characters are beingoverwhelmed by their circumstances, while low-angle shots might emphasize

that characters are somehow larger than life.

Aerial Shot: A shot taken from a crane, plane, or helicopter. Not necessarily amoving shot.

Take (and short v. long take) - generally, a take refers to the time a shot isbegun to the time it stops. On a film set, a director might have to go throughseveral takes before settling on the shot he or she wants. Frame – Literally, a frame of film refers to the smallest unit of film possible. Filmframes appear on a film strip, which, when projected, creates the illusion of motion. Film is shown at 24 frames per second (or f.p.s., a commonabbreviation).

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• Shot/reverse shot - After an establishing shot, the shot-reverse shotrefers to the close-ups used when two characters are inconversation. (Because we have already used an establishing shot, wenow know where the characters are in relation to one another.)

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Match-on-action - connects two shots cut together by having a characterfinish an action in the second shot begun in the first shot. For instance, if a character lights a match in the first shot, the same character will draw itup to a cigarette in the second.

 • Eyeline match - The directions that actors look affect the way we

perceive their spatial relationships to one another. Eyeline matches areimportant for establishing who a character is talking to or what a characteris looking at. For instance, if a character is talking to two people on eitherside of him or her, then the character will look to the left of the camera toconnote that he or she is talking to the person in that direction.

 

• The 180-degree rule - This term refers to the rule that once a spatialrelationship has been confirmed with the establishing shot, no close-upwill cross the imaginary line drawn between those two actors until a newline (or axis) has been established, usually through another establishingshot.

 Zoom-in, Zoom-out - using certain lenses, the camera can move more closelyinto a subject (the zoom-in) or pull back (the zoom-out). The zoom-in issometimes called a push-in, and the zoom-out is sometimes called the pull-back. Sound - everything we hear from the audio track of the film. 

Music - any music that comes from the audio track. Music might be diegetic (asong on the radio of a car a character is driving) or nondiegetic (scary musicwhen a villain appears on screen). Diegetic sound - sound that other characters would be able to hear. A song ona radio, for instance, as a character drives down the highway, would be adiegetic sound, as would someone coughing audibly during a scene. It isimportant to note that diegetic sound is a sound that characters could hear, evenif they are not present when that sound occurs. The sound of a radio playing inan apartment, for instance, is a diegetic sound, even if no character is present inthe apartment during the scene.

 Nondiegetic sound - sound that characters cannot hear. The two mostcommon types of nondiegetic sound are voiceovers, which is a character’snarration that plays over any given scene, and nondiegetic music, which is musicused to inflect the mood of a given scene Ambient sound - This term generally refers to any sounds that are used toestablish location. The ambient sound of a scene in a park, for instance, mightinclude birds chirping, children laughing, or a dog barking.

The Credits: Something interesting to watch when you see a film are thecredits. Often part of an actor or actress' contract is how they will receive credit

for the film, or what their ‘Billing’ will be. If they have Top Billing, you will seetheir name (alone) before the title (it is even negotiated out as to how big the

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type will be on the movie poster and how long their name will appear onscreen).If there is more than one major star in a picture, then there will usually be EqualBilling agreed to. This places both stars names above the title. If one star is‘larger’ than the other, their name may appear first onscreen and they will begiven the top left position on the poster. If the stars are of equal stature, thepositioning of their names may change throughout regions of the country (Withequal billing Star A may get the top billed position West of the Mississippi Riverwhile Star B will receive the top billed position in all points east.) Although it maysound extreme, this is just one of the many concession that a studio will offer toan actor to get them to choose one of their movies next.

Complication: The section of a story in which a conflict begins and grows inclarity, intensity, and importance.

Composition (visual): A harmonious arrangement of two or more elements, oneof which dominates all others in interest.

Coverage: The camera angles a director needs for dramatizing values in a sceneand for effective editing. For example, a full shot, over-shoulder shots, closeups.

Cutaway: A cut to a person or action that is not the central focus of attention,perhaps to a spectator. Sometimes used by editors to delete unwanted footage.

Exposition: Inf ormation that the audience needs to know to understand a story.Introduction of a conflict, character(s), theme(s)

Identification: The viewer's emotional involvement with (usually) theprotagonist in drama; the viewer becomes the protagonist (IDin acting).

Internal Conflict: A psychological conflict within the central character. Theprimary struggle is between different aspects of a single personality.

Leitmotif :A motif or theme associated with specific person, situation, or idea;usually reprised for dramatic effect. Leitmotif is some intentionally repeatedelement (sound, shot, dialogue, music, etc.) that helps unify a film by remindingthe viewer of its earlier appearance.

Polyphony: The combination of two or more melodic lines (horizontal vectors),which, when played together, forms a harmonic whole (Vertical vectors).

Progression: The traditional climbing action of drama, a growth in dramatictension. Increasingly close camera angels represent camera progression.

Primary Motion: (Event) motion in front of the camera.

Reaction Shot: A shot that shows a character "reacting" rather than acting. Thereaction shot is usually a close-up of the emotional reaction registered on theface of the person most affected by the dialogue or action.

Rhythm: In visual composition, the pleasing repetition of images. In drama:repetition of phrases, actions, or musical themes for increased dramatic effect.

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Screen Direction: The consistent pattern of movement from angle to angle: leftto right or right to left.

Style: A director's personal pattern of treating material, including staging of camera and performers, script elements, and music.

Secondary Motion: Camera motion, including pan, tilt, pedestrian, crane orboom, dolly, truck, arc and zoom.

Scene A clearly identifiable, organic part of an event. It is a small structural(action) or thematic (story) unit, usually consisting of several shots.

Sequence: The sum of several scenes (or shots) that compose an organicwhole.

Stock Characters: Minor characters whose actions are completely predictableor typical of their job or profession.

Subjective Time: The duration we feel; also called psychological time. Aqualitative measure.

Timing: The control of objective and subjective time.

Visualization: The mental visual image of an event in a single shot.(see Conceptualization)

Action match cut Cut made between two different angels of the same actionusing the subject's movement as the transition.

Aspect ratio The size of a screen format expressed as the ratio of the width inrelation to the height. Films made for television are photographed at a ratio of 1.33:1.

Attack (sound) The beginning portion of any sound.

Camera motivation A shot or a camera movement must be motivated withinthe terms of the scene or story if it is not look alien and imposed. (see POV).

Complementary shot A shot compositionally designed to intercut with another.

Continuity Consistency of physical detail between shots intended to match.

Contrast ratio Ratio of lightest to darkest areas in an image.

Controlling point of view The psychological perspective (a character's or thestoryteller's) from which a particular scene is shown.

CS Close shot.

CU Closeup.

DP Director of photography.

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Dissolve The gradual merging of the end of one shot with the beginning of thenext, produced by superimposing a fade-out onto a fade-in of equal length or byimposing one scene over another.

Dynamic composition Pictorial composition as it changes within a moving shot.

Establishing shot A shot that establishes a scene's geographical and humancontents.

Eye-line shot A shot that shows us what a character is seeing.

Ext. Exterior.

External composition The composition between two images at the point of cutting between them.

FG Foreground.

Final cut A film in its finished form. A guarantee of final cut assures thefilmmaker of producer that the film will not be tampered with after they approveit.

Flash forward Moving temporarily forward in time, the cinematic equivalent of the future tense. This quickly becomes a new form of present.

Flashback Moving temporarily backwards in time; a cinematic past tense thatsoon becomes an ongoing present.

FO Fade out.

Genre A kind or type of film (horror, sitcom, drama, etc.)

Headroom Compositional space left above heads.

High angle Camera mounted high, looking down.

High contrast Image with large range of brightness.

Insert A close shot of detail to be inserted in a shot containing more

comprehensive action.

Int. Interior.

LA Low angle. Camera looking up at subject.

Line of tension Invisible dramatic axis, or line of awareness, that can be drawnbetween protagonists and important elements in a scene.

Master shot Shot that shows most or all of the scene and most or all of thecharacters.

MCS Medium close shot.

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MLS Medium long shot.

MS Medium shot.

Overlap cut Any cut in which picture and sound transitions are staggered

instead of level-cut.

Rising action The plot developments, including complication and conflict, thatlead to a plot's climax.

Rushes Unedited raw footage as it appears after shooting.

Scene axis The invisible line in a scene representing the scene's dramaticpolarization. Coverage is shot from one side of this line to preserve consistentscreen directions for all participants. Complex scenes involving multiplecharacters and physical regrouping may have more than one axis (Crossing theline).

Scene breakdown A crossplot that displays the locations, characters, and scriptpages necessary to each scene.

SFX Sound effects.

Shooting ratio The ratio of material shot for a scene in relation to its eventualedited length. 8:1 is a not unusual ratio for dramatic film.

Shooting script Screenplay with scenes numbered and amended to showintended camera coverage and editing.

Single shot A shot containing only one character.

Slow Motion The effect of slowed action created by exposing frames in thecamera at greater-than-normal speed and then projecting that footage at normalspeed (twenty-four frames per second).

Split page format A script format that places action on the left hand side of thepage and its accompanying sound on the right.

Storyboard Series of key images sketched to suggest what a series of shots will

look like.

Theme A dominant idea made concrete through its representation by thecharacters, action, and imagery of the film.

Three-shot/3S Shot containing three people.

Treatment Usually a synopsis in present tense, short story form of a screenplaysummarizing dialogue and describing only what an audience would see and hear.Can also be a puff piece designed to sell the script rather than givecomprehensive information about content.

Two-shot/2S Shot of two people.

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VO Voice over.

WA Wide angle.

Whip pan Very fast panning movement.

White balance Video camera setup procedure in which circuitry is adjusted tothe color temperature of the lighting source so that a white object is rendered aswhite on screen.

WS Wide shot. See -- LS (long shot)

XLS Extra long shot.

Zoom ratio The ratio of the longest to the widest focal lengths. (A 10 to 100 mmzoom would be a 10:1 zoom).

Director: The director is responsible for the storytelling (with the writer),creative decisions and acting of the film.

Assistant Director: The assistant director (AD) manages the shootingschedule and logistics of the production, among other tasks. There are severaltypes of AD, each with different responsibilities.

Casting Director: The casting director finds actors to fill the parts in the script. This normally requires that actors audition.

Location Manager:  The location manager finds and manages film locations.

Most pictures are shot in the controllable environment of a studio soundstage but occasionally, outdoor sequences call for filming on location.Production Manager: The production manager manages the productionbudget and production schedule. They also report, on behalf of the productionoffice, to the studio executives or financiers of the film.

Director of Photography: The director of photography (DoP) isthe cinematographer who supervises the photography of the entire film.

Director of Audiography: The director of audiography (DoA) isthe audiographer who supervises the audiography of the entire film. Forproductions in the Western world this role is also known as either sound

designer or supervising sound editor.

Production Sound Mixer: The production sound mixer is the head of the sounddepartment during the production stage of filmmaking. They record and mix theaudio on set - dialogue, presence and sound effects in mono and ambience instereo [3][4]. They work with the boom operator, Director, DoA, DoP, and First AD.Sound Designer: The sound designer creates the aural conception of the film[5],working with the supervising sound editor. On some productions the sounddesigner plays the role of a director of audiography.

Composer: The composer creates new music for the film (usually not until post-production).

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Production Designer: The production designer creates the visual conception of the film, working with the art director.

Art Director: The art director manages the art department, whichmakes production sets.

Costume Designer: The costume designer creates the clothing for thecharacters in the film working closely with the actors, as well as otherdepartments. The make up and hair designer works closely with the costumedesigner in addition to create a certain look for a character.

Storyboard Artist: The storyboard artist creates visual images to help thedirector and production designer communicate their ideas to the productionteam.

Choreographer: The choreographer creates and coordinates the movement

and dance - typically for musicals. Some films also credit a fight choreographer.