glossary of film technical terms -...
TRANSCRIPT
TERM DEFINITION
16:9 See Widescreen (TV)
24p Refers to 24 frames-per-second, progressive scan, the frame rate of sound motion
picture film, and one of the rates allowed for transmission in the DVB and ATSC
television standards so that they can show film without needing any frame-rate
change.
3:2 Pull-down Method used to map the 24 fps of motion picture film onto the 30 fps (60 fields) of 525-
line NTSC TV.
A & S ACTION AND SOUND. See MUTE AND TRACK
A and B CUT NEGATIVE A CUT NEGATIVE film made by A and B CUTTING for printing by A and B PRINTING.
A and B CUTTING A method of assembling negative film for printing in two (or more, ie. C, D, E etc.)
separate rolls to permit special effects, such as dissolves, in 16mm and 35mm film, or
to hide splices in 16mm film. Scenes are cut with alternating BLACK SPACING. Also
called CHECKERBOARD cutting in the USA.
A and B PRINT A print made by A & B PRINTING from an A and B CUT NEGATIVE (called
CHECKERBOARD print in the USA).
A and B PRINTING The technique of printing A and B CUT NEGATIVES. The rolls are printed in sequence
with the two starts synchronized to produce the final edited print. See also MULTI-ROLL
PRINTING.
A and B ROLL (PROJECTION) A dual film projection technique where image film with no soundtrack is projected in
projector while another uses sound track on film. See also DOUBLE HEADED.
A and B ROLLS (C, D and so
on)
The rolls of cut negative used for A and B PRINTING /MULTIROLL PRINTING/MULTI-
ROLL PRINTING.
A and B WINDING/S The two forms, or geometries, of winding used for rolls of 16mm, or other single side
perforated film. A WIND film unwinds clockwise with the perforations nearest the
observer, B WIND film unwinds clockwise with the perforation away from the observer.
Standard SMPTE 75M.
A or B TYPE Terms used to indicate the geometry of a 16mm film: in A type films the image is
correct when viewed through the emulsion, in B type it is correct when viewed through
the base.
A/B See A and B CUTTING
Glossary of Film Technical Terms
A/D or ADC Analogue to digital conversion (of signals) = Digitisation or quantisation.
ACADEMY The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, AMPAS (USA), also a general terms
for the set of standards that define the camera and projection gate or mask dimensions
for the ACADEMY FORMAT
ACADEMY APERTURE GATE aperture of a 35mm motion picture camera or projector with dimension as
specified in the ACADEMY FORMAT.
ACADEMY CURVE A standard sound equalisation curve for pre-1975 OPTICAL SOUNDTRACKS, first
standardised in 1938.
ACADEMY FORMAT AMPAS defined standard for camera and projector masks for screen picture with an
ASPECT RATIO of nominally1:1.37.
ACADEMY GATE/MASK Dimensions of (not identical) camera and projector GATE as defined by the ACADEMY
FORMAT.
ACADEMY LEADER LEADER on a film print with synchronising marks and information as specified by the
AMPAS. See also COUNT-DOWN LEADER.
ACCESS Procedure of locating and supplying archive film for display in a suitable format for
users' needs
ACETATE Loose term for CELLULOSE ACETATE film BASE, which may encompass both
TRIACETATE and DIACETATE.
ACID DYES Dyes used for tinting film emulsions in aqueous solution, in which the negative ion
(anion) is the colour-forming group.
ACTION AND SOUND Same as MUTE AND TRACK
ACTIVE PICTURE The area of a TV frame that carries picture information. Outside the active area there
are other lines and field blanking.
ACUTANCE Term used to describe the edge definition at a density change in a film image.
ACVL Association of Cinema and Video Laboratories (USA).
ADDITIVE COLOUR Colour created by adding together light of different colours (usually Red Green and
Blue) so that each component adds to the perceived colour. See also SUBTRACTIVE
COLOUR.
ADDITIVE SYNTHESIS
(COLOUR)
The creation of colour by adding together light of different colours (usually Red Green
and Blue). See also SUBTRACTIVE SYNTHESIS.
ADR Automated Dialogue Replacement: the process of re-recording a dialogue track after
filming (US term). See POST-SYNC.
ADVANCE The separation, usually defined by the number of frames, between a point on the film
sound track and the corresponding picture image for correct synchronization. See also
OFFSET.
AERIAL IMAGE An optical virtual image in space rather than a real image on a screen
ALIASING In digital imagery, where smooth curves are reproduced as jagged steps due to an
insufficiently high sampling rate. See also CONTOURING.
ALIENS A colloquial term for ALIAS effects, including ringing, contouring and jaggy edges.
AMPAS See ACADEMY.
ANAGLYPH Stereoscopic projection where both left and right eye positive images are reproduced in
different colours, usually red and cyan, on a single frame and single film strip, and
viewed by complementary coloured filters.
ANALYSER Video display equipment for grading a film negative that produces an image that
simulates a film print, and gives printer exposure values for the red, green and blue
elements.
ANALYSIS Process of separately producing records of red, green and blue light corresponding to
these components in a scene.
ANAMORPHIC (film image) A cinematographic image with lateral (usually) compression produced by an
anamorphic lens, designed to be projected using an anamorphic lens.
ANAMORPHIC (optical system) An optical lens system with different vertical and horizontal magnifications, used for
anamorphic photography, or projection.
ANAMORPHIC (video image) A 16:9 video image compressed laterally into a 4:3 format, designed to be displayed
uncompressed on a widescreen (16:9) television.
ANILINE DYES Dye chemicals produced from aniline, invented originally from coal in the 19th century.
ANIMATION The presentation of a sequence of images, usually created as artwork or from model
photography, in rapid succession to create the illusion of movement. See also STOP
MOTION.
ANSWER PRINT The first print of a film submitted for approval by a laboratory to a client/customer.
ANTI-HALATION Coating or layer on film to reduce HALATION. See BACKING
AP ANSWER PRINT (abbreviation used primarily in US)
APERTURE (1) The opening of an optical lens system that controls the light transmitted
APERTURE (2) The opening of a camera, printer or projector that defines the image shape and size.
See also GATE.
APPLICATION The process of black and white re-development of only the soundtrack area of a colour
print film using VISCOUS PROCESSING so that a silver-based image, suitable for the
photocells of conventional sound readers, is produced. See also TRACK APPLICATOR,
CYAN TRACK, RED READER.
AR ASPECT RATIO
ARCHIVAL That which an archive has chosen to preserve. Often used to mean suitable for long-
term preservation
ARCHIVE (verb) Long-term storage of information.
ARTEFACT or ARTIFACT Unwanted effects which are a direct result of some technical limitation. Term commonly
used in the context of digital imagery.
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT Light generated by any light source except the sun.
ASA American Standards Association, also, colloquially, a film speed nomenclature system.
See DIN.
ASC American Society of Cinematographers.
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange – an archaic 7bit computer
character set.
ASPECT RATIO Ratio of width to height (height as unity) of a image. May be applied to camera
aperture, mask or gate, or to a display by film projection, or any video or data screen
display.
ASSEMBLER A technician who prepares film for a laboratory process such as PRINTING or
GRADING/TIMING
ATMOSPHERE (sound) A recording of background sound of a scene for use in the sound mixing process.
AUDIO Sound - used to describe any sound recording or playing equipment, the entire chain,
or the sound itself.
AUTO A & B See AUTO-OPTICAL
AUTO-CONFORM/ING Where an EDL file is used to carry out a conform in an on-line edit suite or workstation.
AUTO-OPTICAL A method of printing DISSOLVE (and other) effects from a single roll of negative film
on an automatic optical printer.
AUTO-SELECTIVE PRINTING See AUTO-OPTICAL (US term).
AVERAGE GRADIENT A measure of the average slope of the CHARACTERISTIC CURVE of a photographic
emulsion between two defined points, not confined to just the straight line portion of
the curve (as with GAMMA). Normally used as the abbreviation AG.
AZIMUTH (1) The angle between the slit of a photographic sound head and the film path direction.
AZIMUTH (2) The angle between the magnetic head and the film or tape path direction (video tape).
BACK FOCUS Distance from a lens to its image plane.
BACK PROJECTION Image projection onto the rear of a translucent screen, also a special effect using the
technique.
BACKING Anti-halation backing, or any coating on the back or base of a film, sometimes referred
to as REMJET.
BAFTA British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
BALANCE Term used to describe the "neutrality" of a colour film or TV image.
BALANCE STRIPE MAGNETIC STRIPE applied to a film on the opposite edge of a film with a magnetic
sound track to ensure uniform winding.
BANDWIDTH The amount of data or video information that can be passed in a given time.
BASE The transparent support on which the photographic emulsion of a film is coated.
BASE SIDE The BASE side of a piece of film (see also CELL SIDE)
BASE SCRATCH See CELL SCRATCH
BASIC DYES Dyes used for toning film using mordant dyeing technique, in which the colour resides
in the positive ion (cation)
BATCH NUMBER Coating batch code for photographic film.
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation.
BEAM SPLITTER Camera or printer device for separating light or images into two or three beams
(usually R,G, & B).
BH PERFORATIONS Bell and Howell Perforations: Type of perforation shape used in 35mm negative and
duplicating film stocks. Sometimes referred to as NEGATIVE PERFORATIONS. See also
KS PERFORATIONS.
BELL & HOWELL TAPE Punched paper tape for controlling a film printer (has a non-standard punched tape
code).
BEST FIT CONTRAST The gradient of the straight line which "best fits" the DLogE (characteristic curve) of a
film stock, expressed as the density rise for a LogE increase of 1.00. Sometimes called
beta. A measure of film CONTRAST used mostly for colour intermediate films.
BETACAM A family of Sony analogue component VTR systems using a half-inch cassette.
BIDIRECTIONAL (PRINTER) Film printer capable of printing both forwards and backwards.
BILATERAL SOUND TRACK Photographic sound track with a modulation symmetrical about its centre axis. See also
UNILATERAL SOUNDTRACK.
BILATERAL SOUND TRACK,
SINGLE
One single bilateral sound track image.
BILATERAL SOUND TRACK,
TRIPLE
Three parallel bilateral sound tracks.
BILATERAL SOUND TRACK,
DOUBLE
Two parallel bilateral sound tracks.
BINARY Mathematical representation of a number to base 2, ie with only two states, 1 and 0;
on and off; or high and low - the basis of all digital systems and computing.
BINDER The material carrying the metallic oxides in a magnetic coating
BIPACK Two separate sensitized films running in contact, usually emulsion to emulsion, in a
camera, printer or other device, intended for the exposure of one through the other.
Normally for the production of two separate colour records (a two strip), one the
inverted image of the other. Also DU-PACK (DuPont).
BIT Binary digIT = bit. One bit can define two levels or states, on or off, black or white, 0
or 1 etc.
BITC Burnt-in Timecode. Timecode that is displayed as part of the video image to which it
refers.
BKS British Kinematographic Society: original title before the change to BKSTS
BKSTS British Kinematographic, Sound and Television Society
BLACK Incapable of reflecting or transmitting any visible light - a subjective term
BLACK AND WHITE Common term for a greyscale image
BLACK LEADER Film with opaque black film base used for leaders or used for A and B CUTTING. (Term
more common in US). See BLACK SPACING, SLUG
BLACK SPACING Film with opaque black film base used for leaders or used for A and B CUTTING. (Term
more common in UK). See BLACK LEADER, SLUG.
BLEACH (1) To remove or decolourize the silver image, usually by conversion back to silver salts
BLEACH (2) To remove the visible colour of a dye
BLEACH (3) A solution used to bleach a film image
BLIP Loose term for a SYNC PULSE, a short sound on an optical or magnetic track to be
synchronised with a SYNC MARK on a film.
BLOOP A triangular patch (or a punched hole, or hand-painted triangle) used to suppress the
noise of a splice in an optical sound track
BLOOPING The act of blooping, especially using blooping ink
BLOOPING INK A dense, fast drying dye for use in making a bloop
BLOW-UP Optical enlargement of a film image from one gauge to another (for example 16mm to
35mm)
BLU-RAY Blu-ray Disc (official abbreviation BD) is an optical disc storage medium designed to
supersede the DVD format.
BLUE (1) One of the three additive primaries
BLUE (2) See LAVENDER. A less common, but still widely used name for EASTMAN Fine Grain
Duplicating Film 1365 (Nitrate Base).
BLUE BACKING/BLUE SCREEN
NEGATIVE
Negative of an action shot against a blue background, as a MASK for combination
printing by MATTE or TRAVELLING MATTE. See also GREEN SCREEN.
BLUE BACKING/BLUE SCREEN
SHOT
Action shot against a blue background, as a MASK for MATTE, TRAVELLING MATTE, or
CHROMAKEY effects work. See also GREEN SCREEN.
BREAK-DOWN Separation of a roll of camera original negative film into it's constituent scenes
BRIGHTNESS The luminance of a surface emitting or reflecting light, measured in candelas/sq m
BRITTLENESS Subjective term for fragility and tendency to break of a film, a result of, for instance,
the loss of plasticizer or water
BS British Standard, unit of photographic speed in BS units
BSI British Standards Institute
BURN-IN (1) To produce white titles on already exposed film by overexposure or double exposure,
usually through A and B ROLL PRINTING
BURN-IN (2) To add time code numerals to a video tape
BUS An internal pathway for sending digital signals from one part of a system to another.
BUTT SPLICE Film JOIN where ends are not overlapped,but butted, usually taped.
BUTT WELD Film JOIN in polyester film where ends are butted together and heat welded.
BUZZ TRACK (1) A test film to determine whether the scanning slit of a projector is correctly aligned
BUZZ TRACK (2) A sound track recorded with local sounds to fill in a gap in a sound track
BYTE A unit of digital data consisting of 8 bits (binary digits). Used as a measure of file size
or storage capacity. Multiples are denoted Kilobyte (kB), Megabyte (MB), Gigabyte
(GB),Terabyte (TB), Petabyte (PB), Exabyte (EB). However software and computer
industries currently use multiples expressed in powers of 2 rather than 10, so that 1
KB is 210 Bytes (= 1024 Bytes), 1 GB is 210 KB (= 1024 KB), and so on, while disk
drive manufacturers tend to describe storage capacity in powers of 10, so 1 KB = 1000
Bytes. Thus a 100GB drive has the capacity for 93 GB of files.
CAMERA LOG Record sheet with details of scenes shot on a roll of original negative
CAMERA ORIGINAL (FILM) The original film element exposed in the camera, either a negative, or a reversal
positive original
CANCELLATION The result of correctly printing an optical negative soundtrack so that distortion caused
by image spread in the original is cancelled.
CANDELA The SI unit of luminous intensity. Defined as the luminous intensity in a given direction
of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 × 1012 Hz and that
has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 W per steradian. Used in lighting and
cinema applications to measure luminance as candela per square metre. See also FOOT-
LAMBERT.
CAPSTAN A smooth or toothed drive spindle for film or tape
CARBON ARC Type of lamp using an electric arc between two carbon electrodes to produce an
intense light, commonly used in film projectors until the late 1960s. See also XENON
ARC.
CARTRIDGE Container holding a roll of film or a continous film loop
CASSETTE (1) A light tight container for a roll of film for attachment to a daylight operating film
processor
CASSETTE (2) An audio tape cartridge, or a video tape cartridge
CC FILTER Optically flat Colour Correction filters made of gelatin in RGBCMY and intervals of 0.05
Density (Kodak term)
CCD CHARGE COUPLED DEVICE - a linear or two dimensional array of light sensitive
elements. Light is converted to an electrical charge proportional to the brightness
falling on each cell.
CCIR Consultative Committee for International Radio, standardising body body for television
and radio
CEL Transparent foreground used for animation filming
CELL SCRATCH Scratch on the BASE or CELL side of film (also BASE SCRATCH)
CELL SIDE The BASE side of a piece of film (cell = celluloid, though not used exclusively for
cellulose nitrate)
CELLULOID Trade name for cellulose nitrate, occasionally used for all film
CELLULOSE ACETATE Acetate ester of cellulose used as a BASE for film. See also ACETATE.
CELLULOSE NITRATE Plastic formed from nitrated cellulose used as a BASE for film until the early 1950s.
See also NITRATE.
CHANGEOVER CUES Visible marks in the corner of the frame to indicate an iminent reel change over
between film projectors or telecine. See CUE DOTS.
CHARACTERISTIC CURVE A graph of Log E and Density for a particular film stock
CHARGE COUPLED DEVICE CCD - a type of image sensor used in cameras and scanners
CHECKER-BOARD CUTTING see A and B CUTTING (US term)
CHEMICAL TONING see TONING
CHEQUERBOARD (UK) /
CHECKERBOARD (USA)
A & B roll printing to avoid images of splices, or to create simple effects such as
dissolves. The term is also used (in USA) to describe an A & B PRINT.
CHROMA Television signal component carying colour, also used loosely to mean colour saturation
CHROMA SUBSAMPLING The process of reducing the data rate of a digital video stream by limiting the number
of colour information samples compared to the luma or signal. Denoted by a ratio
indicating the relative number of samples of luminance, and of two adjacent rows of
colour pixels. E.g. 4:2:2 (Rec. 601) or 4:2:0 (MPEG-2).
CHROMAKEY Video special effect combining images with a blue (usually) background with other
images. Similar to travelling matte
CHROMINANCE The colour part of a video signal relating to the hue and saturation (not
brightness/luminance) of an image.
CHROMOGENIC Production of colour by a chemical process, as in the development of colour film and in
certain toning processes
CIE International Commission on Illumination. Developed the first mathematically defined
colour space.
CINCH MARKS Scratches caused by excessive tension during the winding up of film
CINCHING Pulling the end of film to tighten the wind of loosely wound film - generally causes
cinch marks
CINE Colloquial term for any motion picture practice or equipment
CINEMASCOPE Trade name for an anamorphic widescreen film system
CINEMATOGRAPHY General term for motion picture fim technology
CINEX STRIP A short test print in which a frame from each scene has been exposed with a test
exposure. Originally referred to the test printer used to make this test, now used for
the test print strip itself.
CLAPPER Hinged arms clapped together and filmed by camera to establish film/sound
synchronisation
CLAW Device to pull film through the camera or printer gate intermittently
CLEARING BATH Aqueous solution used in film development to ensure staining reduced to a minimum.
The precise chemistry depends on the process
CLIP A general term for any section of a film sequence or scene.
Clone An exact copy, indistinguishable from the original (used of digital files or video).
CMY Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, the subtractive primaries, also print grading lights (in
Technicolor). Also frequently referred to as YCM.
COCKLE Term to describe the bucking of film caused by uneven shrinkage, resulting in an
uneven wind. See SPOKING.
COLLIMATED Of light in a parallel beam, produced by condensing lenses
COLORIMETRY The measurement of colour in numerical terms
COLOUR A general term for the subjective sensation of viewing different wavelengths of visible
light. USA COLOR
COLOUR ANALYSER see Analyser, colour grading electronic video device
COLOUR BALANCE Term used to describe the "neutrality" of a colour film or TV image or it's departure
from neutral, see also BALANCE
COLOUR CONTRAST The subjective effect of the intensities of two colors. Numerically the log of this ratio
COLOUR CORRECTION Adjustment (by grading) of an off balance print or image to a correct balance
COLOUR DEVELOPER Aqueous solution of a colour developing agent to produce dyes in film emulsions
chromagenically
COLOUR FILTER A transparent filter (often gelatin or glass) for selectively absorbing light wavelengths
COLOUR MODEL An theoretical model of how colours can be represented by different colour
components, such as Red, Green and Blue (RGB). See also COLOUR SPACE.
COLOUR PRINT A photographic colour positive normally intended for projection
COLOUR REVERSAL
INTERMEDIATE
An integral masked intermediate colour negative made from a colour negative on
Eastman Colour Reversal Intermediate Film
COLOUR ROLL A term used in silent film making, pre 1930. A roll of negative cut and joined in a
convenient reel that can be printed to make prints that will all be tinted or toned the
same colour. These are not necessarily in the right sequence. A similar technique was
used for negatives requiring all the same printer exposure (but no name seems to have
survived for these rolls).
COLOUR SEPARATIONS Black and white, monochrome film negatives or positives made through tricolor filters
that represent R,G or B records of a scene
COLOUR SPACE A system for describing colour numerically, based on a COLOUR MODEL, typically to
define the colour range used by cameras, display systems, film and so on. See also
CIE, RGB, XYZ.
COLOUR SYSTEM Trade name, manufacturer's or traditional name of a colour film process or technique.
COLOUR TEMPERATURE A method of describing the colour of a light source, by comparing with the temperature
in Kelvin units of a black body radiator
COLOURISATION The addition of colour to a black and white film.
COMBINED Adjective describing any film element that has both picture and optical sound track.
See also COMPOSITE and MARRIED.
COMBINED PRINT A film print that has both picture and optical sound track. (This term is the one
commonly used in the UK). See also COMPOSITE and MARRIED.
COMMAG Composite Magnetic (print or positive). A magnetic sound track and picture combined
together on the same film.
COMMENTARY TRACK A sound track used in the production process with commentary only, commonly used in
newsreel and documentary production. See SPEECH TRACK, DIALOGUE TRACK.
COMOPT Combined Optical (print), An optical sound track and picture combined together on the
same film.
COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS Colours which when ADDITIVELY mixed form a neutral colour (white, grey, black). The
complementary colours of Red, Green and Blue are Cyan, Magenta and Yellow
respectively, and vice versa.
COMPONENT VIDEO A video signal in which the picture information is conveyed in three separate channels,
e.g. RGB or YCbCr (ie. one luminance and two chrominance channels)
COMPOSITE (film) Adjective describing any film element that has both picture and optical sound track.
See also COMBINED and MARRIED.
COMPOSITE VIDEO A system in which three colour omponents co-exist in a single signal. E.g. PAL and
NTSC.
COMPOSITE PRINT A film print that has both picture and optical sound track. See also COMBINED and
MARRIED.
COMPOSITING Combining images by techniques such as layering, keying, or matting.
COMPRESSION (data) The process of encoding data in such a way as to reduce the number of bits originally
needed. Typically used to reduce the data rate of a digital video stream.
COMPRESSION RATIO The ratio of the compressed size to the uncompressed size of digital data.
CONCATENATION The linking together of systems or data in a linear or sequential manner.
CONDENSER LENS A lens, or lens system, able to collimate light, ie. generate a parallel beam
CONFORMED NEGATIVE A CUT NEGATIVE, as opposed to an OVERCUT NEGATIVE
CONFORM (verb) To assemble picture and sound elements to a prepared schedule or EDL in order to
create an edited film or video production. May also refer to the process of making a
CUT NEGATIVE by visually matching the cuts and joins of the CUTTING COPY. See also
MATCHING.
CONSERVATION (film) The processes necessary to ensure the physical survival of the film with minimum
degradation
CONSERVATION MASTER Term for a duplicate made primarily for long term archival storage. See
PRESERVATION MASTER
CONTACT PRINTING Printing a film by exposing the raw stock in direct contact with the original.
CONTINUOUS PRINTING Printing film by continuous, rather than intermittent, transport of the original and the
print. See also STEP PRINTING.
CONTINUOUS PROJECTION Projection by continuous film transport, typically using a mirror or prism system.
CONTOURS/ CONTOURING An unwanted artefact similar to "posterisation" occurring in digital video images when
insufficient bit depths or inaccurate processing are used. See also ALIASING.
CONTRAST Relationship between light (highlight) and dark (shadow) areas of a picture, described
as high, low or a number (numerically the log of this ratio)
CONTROL STRIP See SENSITOMETRIC STRIP.
CONTROL TRACK (video) A linear track recorded onto video tape as a reference for the running speed of a VTR.
CONTROL TRACK (film) A magnetic sound track on a film controlling the distibution of other magnetic tracks to
loudspeakers
CORE A cylinder used as a centre for winding film, usually plastic, originally wood
CORNER PINNING A TRACKING technique for controlling the position and rotation of video/data images by
using the corners to define a fixed image position.
COUNT-DOWN LEADER General term for a leader at the HEAD of a film with synchronising marks and count-
down numbers. See ACADEMY LEADER.
COUNTER Device for measuring the length of a film, normally by counting sprocket holes.
COUPLER/DYE COUPLER A chemical that combines with oxidised developing agent to form a dye. (See also
CHROMOGENIC)
CP FILTER Colour Printing filters, for use in uncollimated light, in primary colours and increments
of 0.025 or 0.05D
CRAWLING TITLES Titles or credits travelling horizontally across the screen
CREDITS Acknowledgements in the titles, normally at beginning or end of a film
CREEPING SYNC A progressive error in synchronization between picture and sound
CRI See COLOUR REVERSAL INTERMEDIATE
CROPPING Cutting off the top or sides of a frame to change the aspect ratio
CROSS MODULATION TEST A test to determine the optimum printing exposure of variable area sound tracks to
achieve CANCELLATION
CROSSOVER (TEST) Sensitometric test when converting printing conditions from one batch of film to
another
CU Close Up
CUE A signal or mark on a film to actuate an event. See PRINTER CUE.
CUE DOTS Visible marks in the corner of the frame to indicate an iminent reel change over
between film projectors or telecine. See CHANGEOVER CUES.
CUT A change from one scene to another
CUT NEGATIVE A roll of negative cut and joined to MATCH / CONFORM with the editors requirements
(usually by matching / conforming with the CUTTING COPY or a video version or an
EDL, so as to produce a final print).
CUTS Unused film scenes - See OUT-TAKES
CUTS AND TRIMS Portions of scenes left behind after the utilised part is cut into a production, often
stored after negative cutting. May, or may not, include OUT-TAKES. See also TRIMS.,
TRIMS AND OUTS.
CUTTING COPY Laboratory term for the editors cut film, joined by splices and sometimes with
crayoned instructions for transitions, effects and other lab work, ready for NEGATIVE
CUTTING/MATCHING.
CUTTING FRAMES Extra frames at start and end of scenes to allow latitude in subsequent fine editing,
particularly in animation
CYAN Subtractive primary colour. See MAGENTA/YELLOW.
CYAN TRACK A soundtrack on colour film formed from cyan dye rather than silver, introduced in
2004 to remove the need to re-develop the soundtrack area. Suitable only for RED
READER sound heads. See also APPLICATION.
D LOG E CURVE See CHARACTERISTIC CURVE
D, M & E Dialogue, music and effects: a soundtrack consisting of these elements. See also M &
E.
D-1 A standard for component digital SD (Rec. 601) video. It uses4:2:2 standard using 8-
bit sampling. The tape is 19 mm (3/4 inch) wide and allows up to 94 minutes to be
recorded on a cassette.
D-2 A standard for composite digital SD video. The tape is 19 mm (3/4 inch) wide and
allows up to 208 minutes to be recorded on a cassette. Neither cassettes nor recording
formats are compatible with D-1.
D-3 A standard for composite digital SD video. It uses uncompressed NTSC or PAL
encoding sampled at 8 bits. The tape is 1/2 inch wide and allows up to 248 minutes to
be recorded on a cassette.
D-5 A standard for component digital SD (Rec. 601) video using the same cassette as D3
but recording component signals sampled to ITU-R BT.601 recommendations at 10-bit
resolution and recorded uncompressed.
D-5 HD A standard for component digital HD (Rec. 709) video at 720 or 1080 lines per frame.
Uses the same 1/2 inch wide tape as D3 and allows up to 124 minutes to be recorded
on a cassette. Uses motion-JPEG compression to achieve HD datarates comparable to
D-5 SD.
D-6 A standard for component digital HD (Rec. 709) video at 1080 lines per frame. It uses
19 mm (3/4 inch) tape. Used in the Philips/Thomson Voodoo Media Recorder.
D-7 A standard for component digital SD (Rec. 601) video. Uses a 6.35 mm tape. Video is
compressed with DV motion-JPEG to 25 Mb/s or 50 Mb/s data rates. As used by
Panasonic in its DVCPRO and DVCPRO50 formats.
D-9 A standard for component digital SD (Rec. 601) video. Uses a 1/2 inch VHS-type tape
cassette. Video is compressed with DV motion-JPEG to a 50 Mb/s data rate. Also called
DIGITAL-S by its creator, JVC.
D-10 A standard for component digital SD (Rec. 601) video. Uses a 1/2 inch beta-type tape
cassette. Video is compressed with motion-JPEG to a 50 Mb/s data rate. As used by
Sony in its MPEG IMX format.
D-11 A standard for component digital HD (Rec. 709) video at 1080 lines per frame. Uses a
1/2 inch Beta-type tape cassette. Video is 3:1:1 chroma subsampled and compressed
with motion-JPEG compression to 140 Mbit/s. As used by Sony in its HDCAM format.
D-12 A standard for component digital HD (Rec. 709) video at 720 or 1080 lines per frame.
Uses a 6.35 mm tape cassette. Video is 4:2:2 chroma subsampled and compressed
with DV motion-JPEG compression to 100 Mbit/s. As used by Panasonic in its DVCPRO
HD format.
DAILIES First print from a camera negative, often made quickly, or overnight, ready to be
viewed the following morning. (USA term). See also RUSHES.
DAT Digital Audio Tape
DATA RECORDER Machine designed to record and replay data on tape or disc.
DATE CODE Manufacturer's code on the film edges to indicate date of manufacture. See also EDGE
CODE, STOCK NUMBERS.
DAYLIGHT A colour balance of 5,400K , for "daylight" colour film
D-CINEMA DIGITAL CINEMA: Digital distribution and projection of cinema material. Commonly
taken to mean cinema comlying with DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives)
recommendations. See also E-Cinema.
DCI Digital Cinema Initiatives: an initiative by the US major motion picture studios to
establish an architecture for digital cinema.
DCDM DIGITAL CINEMA DISTRIBUTION MASTER: the set of master files whose function is to
provide an interchange standard for Digital Cinema presentations. The DCDM is a
series of uncompressed TIFF files, associated uncompressed BWAV sound tracks and
subtitling files. None of the files are compressed or encrypted.
DCP DIGITAL CINEMA PACKAGE: a set of files conforming to DCI specifications which
contain all the elements needed (images, sound, subtitles etc.) for the projection of a
film. The images in a DCP are compressed using JPEG2000 encoding, and it may be
ENCRYPTED.
DCT (compression) Discrete Cosine Transform - widely-used as the first stage of compression of digital
video pictures.
DENSITOMETER A device for measuring the density of film
DENSITY A measure of the "blackness" of film. D=Log1/Transmission
DEPTH OF FIELD Range of object distances from a camera, at a specific aperture, over which the image
is acceptably sharp
DEPTH OF FOCUS Range of image distances from a camera film plane, at a specific aperture, over which
the image is acceptably sharp
DESENSITIZATION Treatment of film to reduce the photographic speed or contrast, usually by a chemical
solution.
DEVELOP The process of using chemicals to turn a latent image on a film into a visible image.
DEVELOPER The aqueous solution of developing agent used to develop a latent image
DIACETATE Loose term for CELLULOSE ACETATE film base in which approximately two out of every
three hydroxyl groups of cellulose have been replaced by acetate groups. Used in early
versions of safety film before TRIACETATE base was developed.
DIALOGUE TRACK A sound track used in the production process with voice only, i.e. no music or effects.
See SPEECH TRACK, COMMENTARY TRACK.
DIAPHRAGM Iris device for controlling light transmission by a lens.
DIAPOSITIVE A "direct" positive. A camera original film image processed by reversal processing to
make a positive image. Term mostly used by French and German manufacturers. See
also REVERSAL.
DICHROIC The property of certain crystals or solutions to transmit and reflect band s of different
wavelength. In practice a glass filter selectively reflecting, and transmitting
wavelengths of light, especially used in beam splitters.
DIFFUSE (Of light) Scattered, non specular.
DIFFUSER Translucent glass or filter to diffuse a specular beam of light
DIGITAL BETACAM A development of the original analogue Betacam video tape recorder which records
digitally on a similar cassette format. Colloquially known as Digibeta.
DIGITAL CINEMA See D-CINEMA
DIGITAL CINEMA
DISTRIBUTION MASTER
See DCDM
DIGITAL CINEMA PACKAGE See DCP
DIGITAL FILM NEGATIVE A film negative made from digital files by a film recorder.
DIGITAL FILM RECORDING A film record produced from digital data.
DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE Any digital video or data file made by scanning a film, or by digital capture, for the
purpose of post-production. May be re-recorded back to film, or used to create a digital
projection or other display format.
DIGITAL-S See D-9
DIGITAL SOURCE MASTER See DSM
DIGITISER A device which converts an analogue input to a digital representation, e.g. analogue to
digital converters (ADCs).
DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung, the German standards organisation, also, colloquially,
a film speed nomenclature system
DIRECT POSITIVE (1) A camera original film image processed by reversal processing to make a positive
image, i.e. a DIAPOSITIVE or REVERSAL positive.
DIRECT POSITIVE/PRINT (2) A print made on a "direct process film stock", such as Eastman MP Direct Film, by
printing from another positive. Direct films produce a monochrome positive images
when processed in a negative/positive (i.e. not a reversal film process). Quality is
lower than normal duplication techniques and the process is used for making quck low
quality access print. See also SLASH PRINT, WORK PRINT, DIRTY DUPE, SLOP PRINT.
DIRTY DUPE Duplicate copy of a WORK PRINT, often made for a sound editor (US term). See SLASH
DUPE, SLOP PRINT.
DISSOLVE A gradual transition from one scene to another.
DLP Texas Instruments Inc Digital Light Processing - name given to systems which use
DMDs (Digital Micromirror Devices) as the light modulator. DLP Cinema is a digital
image projection system
DOLBY The company Dolby Laboratories, Inc. or one of its noise reduction systems.
DOPE SHEET Sheet of instructions for shooting scenes, or a record of scenes shot. See STORY
BOARD.
DOUBLE BILATERAL SOUND
TRACK
Two parallel BILATERAL SOUND TRACKS
DOUBLE COATED FILM Film coated with emulsion on both side of the film base
DOUBLE EXPOSURE Two separate exposures on the same film
DOUBLE HEADED Two reel projection method, with the film image on one reel, sound on separate
magnetic sprocketed film. Also used to describe the two elements needed for the
projection - the print and a magnetic track. (UK term for DOUBLE SYSTEM).
DOUBLE REEL A roll of film, a unit of film as part of a film programme, usually about 2000ft
DOUBLE SYSTEM US term for DOUBLE HEADED. Also known as DUAL SYSTEM.
DOUBLE-SIDED SOUND TRACK A optical photographic sound film with two tracks, one in one direction, one in the
other. See UP AND DOWN tracks.
DOWSER Device for blocking the projector light from the film, originally to prevent nitrate film
igniting.
DROP-FRAME / TIMECODE A method of compensating for the fact that the 525/60 line/field format used with
NTSC coding system does not run at exactly 60 fields per second but 59.94, or 29.97
frames per second - a difference of 1:1000.
DROPOUT Short loss of signal in a magnetic recording, due to loss of head contact or faulty tape.
DRUM (sound film) A large diameter cylinder around which optical sound film passes in order to ensure
speed stability.
DRUM (video) A precision cylinder in which the record and playback heads are mounted.
DRY RUN A trial camera take without film. See also WALK THROUGH.
DSM DIGITAL SOURCE MASTER: the original material from which a DIGITAL CINEMA
production is derived. Unlike the DCDM and DCP, this is not defined by any standards.
DTS In cinema, refers to a system developed by DTS Inc. in which the sound is recorded on
a separate CD format disc, with an optical timecode on the film to maintain
synchronisation.
DTV Digital Television, any or all digital TV systems
DUALATERAL SOUND TRACK An optical photographic sound track with two identically oriented unilateral variable
area tracks side by side
DUB/DUBB (1) The process of recording a sounds, speech, effects etc, in synchonicity with a running
film in order to create a film sound track. (DUBB sometimes used in UK, DUB has
become the more common spelling generally)
DUB/DUBB (2) A speech track created by studio dubbing.
DUB/DUBB (3) The process of creating a speech track in a different language to the original. See
LANGUAGE DUBB
DUFAYCOLOR An ADDITIVE colour film process in which the film stock was exposed through a red,
green and blue mosaic RESEAU printed on the BASE side.
DUPE/S A loose term for any duplicate film element.
DUPLEX SOUND TRACK A photographic sound track with two identical unilateral mirror image variable area
tracks side by side
DUPLICATE A general term for a copy or reproduction of a film element, often used loosely to
mean a duplicate negative.
DUPLICATE NEGATIVE A copy of an original camera negative made by a number of possible routes, though
typically via a DUPLICATING POSITIVE. Often used to refer to a b/w negative rather
than a colour INTERNEGATIVE.
DUPLICATE POSITIVE A general term for a positive copy of a positive made by a number of possible routes.
DUPLICATING POSITIVE A black and white intermediate positive made from a black and white negative
specifically intended for further generation of a duplicate negative. See MASTER
POSITIVE. Often referred to a a FINE GRAIN or FINE GRAIN POSITIVE.
DUPLICATION The procedure of making a duplicate film element
DUPLITIZED US term (originally Kodak in origin) for double coated film used for two-colour print
making.
DV A digital video tape format using component digital video using motion-JPEG
compression at data rates of 25, 50, or 100 Mb/s. It uses 6.35 mm (quarter-inch) wide
tape to record 525/60 or 625/50 video for the consumer (DV) and professional
markets (Panasonic’s DVCPRO and Sony’s DVCAM). A co-operation between Hitachi,
JVC, Sony, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Philips, Sanyo, Sharp, Thomson and Toshiba,
DVC Digital Video Cassette. Original name for the consumer DV format.
DVCAM Sony’s development of DV using a 15 micron track on a metal oxide tape.
DVCPRO Panasonic’s development of DV using a 18 micron track on 6.35mm (1/4 inch) metal
particle tape. Video is compressed with DV motion-JPEG to 25 Mb/s data rate. Has
SMPTE designation D-7.
DVCPRO 50 Panasonic’s variant of DVCPRO to give enhanced chroma resolution using a 50 Mb/s
data rate. Has SMPTE designation D-7.
DVCPRO HD Panasonic’s variant of DVCPRO for use with HDTV. Has SMPTE designation D-12.
DVD DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony,
Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact
Discs while having the same dimensions.
DVD-RAM Re-recordable DVD. This is a rewritable DVD format with capacities of 2.6 or 5.6 GB.
Also used in some camcorders.
DVD-VIDEO A DVD optical disc format with MPEG-2 video compression for recording video on a CD-
sized disk, with multi-channel audio, subtitles and copy protection capability.
DVE Acronym for Digital Video Effects (systems).
DVTR Acronym Digital Video Tape Recorder IncludesD1, D2 and D3, Digital
Betacam(Digibeta), DV etc etc etc
E.I. Exposure Index, roughly equivalent to ASA speed rating, originally used at a time when
the ASA value for cine film had not been standardized. Currently defined by Kodak as:
A measurement of film speed that can be used with an exposure meter to determine
the aperture needed for specific lighting conditions. Exposure index figures are
applicable to meters marked for ISO or ASA speeds
EBU European Broadcasting Union.
E-CINEMA A term generally used to describe digital cinema which does not comply with DCI
specifications, usually employing lower-specification projection.
EDGE CODE Manufacturer's markings on the film edges, often used to mean the date of
manufacture symbols used by Kodak. Also DATE CODE, STOCK NUMBERS.
EDGE NUMBER Incremental numbers (and letters) placed along a film edge (usually 1ft apart).
EDIT The process of decision and action in assembling the sequence of a film or video
programme
EDIT SYNC See LEVEL SYNC
EDL Edit Decision List. A list of the decisions which describe a series of edits. Normally
refers to a timecode-based file automatically generated by editing software, using
widely adopted standards such as CMX 3400 and 3600.
EFFECTS TRACK A sound track, film or tape, containing special sound effects only. See also SOUND
EFFECTS.
ELEMENT The individual components of a film, video or data post-production procedure; e.g.
original negative, dupe negative, print etc. Occassionally applied to separate scenes of
a production.
ELEVATOR Mechanical device to allow film to be loaded or unloaded from a processor without
stopping the transport
EMULSION The light sensitive layer coated onto film base, consisting of a suspension of silver salts
in gelatin.
ENCRYPTION The manipulation of data to prevent interpretation by all but those for whom the data
is intended. Used in DIGITAL CINEMA to protect the DCP from piracy.
END OUT A reel of film or tape wound so that the end is on the outside of the reel. See also TAIL
OUT.
END-TO PAPER SECTION Method of indicating to a printer operator the section of film to be printed, a paper
marker is placed in the roll. See also PAPER-TO-PAPER.
ENG Electronic News Gathering: a term to describe the capturing of news material on video
rather than film.
ERASE Procedure of removing a previous recording from a tape or magnetic stripe
ESTAR Kodak trade name for their polyester film base
ETHERNET Standard covering the physical and data link layers of local area networks (LANs)
EUREKA EU95 Historical proposal for a European 1250 line PAL compatible HDTV broadcasting system
EVEN SYNC See LEVEL SYNC
EXCHANGE, FILM A regional centre used for distrbution, repair and checking of cinema release prints
EXCITER LAMP Lamp used as light source in a photographic sound reproducer in, for instance, a
projector.
EXPOSURE The process of subjecting film to a light image. Precisely: The total light energy falling
on film, Intensity x time, usually expressed as Log to base 10 of lux x sec
EXPOSURE METER Device for estimating the correct aperture to achieve optimum exposure, also called a
light meter
f-NUMBER Relative aperture of a lens opening, focal length divided by diaphragm diameter,
usually expressed by the notation f/R where R is the ratio or f-number.
FADE (of dye) Gradual loss of saturation (and sometimes hue) with time
FADE (special effect) A gradual reduction of exposure of film or video to black. See FADE-IN, FADE-OUT.
FADE-IN A gradual reduction of exposure of film or video to black
FADE-OUT A gradual increase of exposure of film or video from black to an image
FADER Shutter mechanism for producing fade-ins or fade-outs during printing
FALL OFF Unevenness in brightness, usually of a projected image towards the edges.
FIAF Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film
FIBRE CHANNEL A technology for transmitting data between computer devices at data rates of up to 10
Gbps. Commonly uses optical fibre, but data may also be transmitted via coaxial or
twisted pair cables.
FIELD SEQUENCE A television frame or picture which uses interlaced scanning, comprising two fields.
Each successive frame of component video repeats a complete pattern of two fields
and so can be edited to frame boundaries.
FILM A light sensitive emulsion coated on a flexible base
FILM BASE A flexible support on which a photographic emulsion is coated. See also CELL SIDE
FILM RECORDING A film made from a video or data file. Can refer to the original recorded negative or or
to a print made from this. This term should always be qualified by the addition of FILM
RECORDED NEGATIVE or PRINT FROM FILM RECORDED NEGATIVE. See also RE-
RECORDING.
FILM SPEED Sensitivity of film to light, determined numerically by various national standard
methods such as ASA, DIN, BS
FILMSTRIP A length of film with still images, used, for example, as a slideshow.
FILTER Transparent material that selectively absorbs wavelengths and alters the colour of light
FILTER PACK A collection of filters used together; usually in film printers.
FINAL MIX A sound track (on any medium -film, tape, magnetic stripe etc) which has been created
by mixing several different sound tracks, eg music, effects, foley, speech, over-
commentary etc.
FINE CUT A final edit, usually a refinement of a ROUGH CUT.
FINE GRAIN Kodak term for almost all their black and white films made since 1950, as in Eastman
Fine Grain Negative, Eastman Fine Grain Positive Films, Eastman Fine Grain Release
Print Films etc. Also used colloquially to mean FINE GRAIN POSITIVE.
FINE GRAIN POSITIVE A general term for an black and white intermediate positive made from a black and
white negative, usually on a filmstock with a gamma of 0.7. See DUPLICATING
POSITIVE.
FIRETRAP A device to prevent burning nitrate film in a projector (or a vault) from igniting other
film
FIREWIRE A standard high-speed serial digital interface.
FLARE Scatter of light in an optical system that produces non image forming exposure and
reduces contrast
FLASH FRAME A single overexposed negative frame of film, accidental or intentional as a marker
when printed
FLASHING The technique of giving print or duplicating film a low overall exposure to reduce
contrast. Also known as LATENSIFICATION. See also PRE-FLASHING.
FLAT Low in contrast
FLATBED VIEWER General term for a film editing machine. See MOVIOLA, STEENBECK, KEM.
FLICKER Random or regular variations in screen brightness
FLOAT A periodic vertical instability of a projected image, the result of mechanical
imprecisions in camera, printer etc.
FLOOD TRACK A photographic sound track exposed across the entire area as a test of a sound camera
or a processor to show the maximum width of the track.
FLOP-OVER (1) Optical special effect in which the printed image is reversed from right to left.
FLOP-OVER (2) Where a piece of film is cut into a reel the wrong way round to correct film geometry,
or to reverse the image.
FLUTING Film distortion or cockle where edges are stretched more than centre, also called
edgewave
FLUTTER A rapid periodic frequency variation in sound reproduction.
FOCAL LENGTH Distance from lens centre to the point at which an image at infinity is focussed
FOCAL PLANE The plane at 90 degrees to the lens axis at the position at which the image is formed
FOCUS Position or state of the most well-defined image produced by a lens
FOG LEVEL The lowest density of a film material where no exposure has occurred
FOG (verb) Expose film to non image forming light, usually accidentally.
FOLEY Incidental sound effects, doors, leathers queaks, footsteps recorded separately and
post dubbed (after Jack Foley). Also Foley Artist.
FOOT Imperial measure of length, widely used in film industry. 1 ft = 0.3048 m.
FOOT-LAMBERT A unit of luminance, commonly used in the US in lighting and cinema applications. See
also CANDELA. 1 fL =3.426 candela per square meter.
FOOTAGE NUMBERS See EDGE NUMBER.
FORCED DEVELOPMENT Development for longer than the usual time to gain speed, usually at the expense of
graininess.
FORMAT In film, the combination of gauge, dimensions, perforations etc. Also may refer fo
video recording format or digital file format.
FPM Feet per minute, used to descibe film transport speeds in the UK and USA, eg film
processors.
FPS Frames per second.
FRAME An individual picture image on a film.
FRAME COUNTER Device for counting frames as a film passes through machinery or on an inspection
bench.
FRAME LINE The space between one frame and the next.
FRAME RATE The number of frames exposed, or projected, per second.
FRAMESTORE A solid state video storage, to store complete frames or pictures as separate files.
FRAMING Adjusting the frame position in a projector or printer gate to include all the frame or
crop as required. See also OUT OF RACK, RACKING.
FREEZE FRAME Optical printing effect when one frame is repeatedly printed so that the image appears
stationary.
FRINGE/FRINGING A defect due to poor registration of component images.
FRONT END General term for all work up to the answer print stage of a film production.
FRONT PROJECTION Image projection onto the front of a screen, also a film background effect using this
technique.
FX See SOUND EFFECTS.
GAMMA (film) The gradient, expressed as ratio of density rise for a LogE change of 1.00, of the
straight line portion of the DLogE (characteristic curve ) of a film stock. A measure of
film CONTRAST used mostly for monochrome films with long straight line curves.
GAMMA (television) The relationship between Log luminance on a monitor to the original scene
GAMMA (video and data) The exponent of the power function used in the gamma correction of a signal (gamma
encoding). Also used for the exponent of the inverse power fuction used to obtain a
linear light value from a gamma corrected signal (gamma decoding).
GAMMA CORRECTION The process of transforming a linear light intensity signal by a power function to
achieve perceptually uniformity.
GAMUT The set of colours which can be represented in a particular COLOUR SPACE or by a
particular output device.
GATE The aperture through which a film is exposed or projected; in cameras, printers and
projectors
GAUGE Width of film, usually in millimeters
GB See BYTE
GEL Loose colloquial term for a flexible filter
GELATIN Flexible protein matrix used to carry the light sensitive salts and coated onto the film
base
GENERATION LOSS Degradation of picture quality resulting from successive printing, transfers or dubbing
of film or video
GEOMETRY A general term for the relationship between the image and the physical arrangement of
perforations and emulsion and direction of transport, usually for 16mm film (see A or B
type)
GRADER The technician responsible for the quality and balance of a film print. See also TIMER
(US term).
GRADING The process of controlling and adjusting the overall density and colour balance of a film
print. See also TIMING (US term).
GRAIN The physical structure of a film image, seen as clumps of silver or dye
GRAININESS The subjective visual effect of grain in film
GRATICULE A cross pattern on a glass plate to assist alignment in some optical equipment, eg
printers
GREEN One of the three additive primaries
GREEN FILM Film fresh from processing which may be difficult to project smoothly
GREEN SCREEN NEGATIVE Action shot against a green background, for combination printing by CHROMAKEY or
TRAVELLING MATTE. See also BLUE SCREEN NEGATIVE.
GREEN SCREEN SHOT Action shot against a green background, as a MASK for MATTE, TRAVELLING MATTE, or
CHROMAKEY effects work. See also BLUE SCREEN.
GREY SCALE A scale of neutral grey images (usually printed on film or card) used as test material
for measuring photographic response.
GUI Graphical User Interface. A means of operating a system through the use of interactive
graphics displayed on a screen.
GUIDE TRACK A speech track made as a guide to actors recording the speech later in a studio,
originally widely used for post dubbing, later only used where background noise is
high.
H & D CURVE See CHARACTERISTIC CURVE. 'Hurter and Driffield'. An old term only used in UK.
HALATION Images caused by the scatter or internal reflection of light within a film
HALF FRAME A frame dimension on 35mm film of 21 x 8mm. (Used in a few rare cameras, implies
half Academy, 21 x 16mm). (NOT the same as the half frame in still cameras).
HALF-TONE Describes an image where the tonal differentiation is created by dots, vignettes or
ruled lines of different sizes.
HALIDE A metal salt of a halogen (fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine).
HANDLE/S A term for the extra frames at head and tail of each scene in an OVERCUT NEGATIVE.
HARDENING BATH/HARDENER A solution of chemicals for hardening film emulsion.
HASH MARKS Cue marks scratched onto release prints in place of 'proper' CUE DOTS
HD Abbreviated version of HDTV.
HDCAM An HD video recording system from Sony developed from Digital Betacam using 8 bit
DCT compression at a data rate of 144 Mb/s. Standardised by SMPTE as D-11.
HDCAM SR Sony's development of HDCAM which is capable of 10 bit 4:4:4 recording at a video
bitrate of 440 Mb/s. Commonly used for television programme delivery for a time.
HD-SDI High Definition Serial Digital Interface: for the transimission of uncompressed digital
video signals within television facilities. See also SDI.
HDTV High Definition Television. A television standard (or set of standards) for High
Definition, generally accepted as720-line and upward, with a picture aspect ratio of
16:9. 720x1280 and 1080x1920 are the most common.
HEAD OUT A reel of film or tape wound so that the HEAD is on the outside, ie opposite of TAIL
OUT.
HEAD (magnetic recording) Any device that senses or transduces a signal, tape, sound etc.; a transducer
HEAD, OF FILM The front end of a reel film. See also TAIL.
HEAT FILTER A filter, usually glass, for absorbing heat (or infra red radiation).
HI ARC Type of CARBON ARC lamp operating at a highcurrent density.
HI CON High contrast film used for producing high contrast images (US term). See also
PROCESS FILM.
HIGH BAND A term used to denote a video tape system capable of broadcast quality, such as High
Band U-MATIC.
HIGH KEY A scene in which almost all the tones are high in brightness, opposite of LOW KEY
HIGH MAGENTA SOUNDTRACK A type of re-developed silver soundtrack on a colour print produced from a track
negative designed for a CYAN TRACK, used as an interim measure during the change
over to cyan tracks and RED READERS.
HIGH SPEED PHOTOGRAPHY The use photography at faster than the conventional frame rate in order to slow down
the action. See also SLOW MOTION.
HIGHLIGHT The brightest part of a scene or it's reproduced image
HOLD FRAME See FREEZE FRAME
HOLD TAKE Negative of a scene to be held for later possible use, not selected for rush printing
HORSE A horizontal spindle holding one or several rolls of film
HOT SPOT The bright area of an unevenly illuminated image on, e.g., a projection screen, tv
monitor, film print.
HUB (film) See CORE
HUB (data) Device for connecting more than one network or storage device together.
HUE The visible character of a colour as defined by it's position on the visible spectrum or
CIE chromaticity diagram
HYPERSENSITIVITY Increasing the speed of camera film by preflashing or chemical methods
HYPO A common term for Sodium thiosulphate, the chemical most commonly used for fixing
in photochemical developrnent.
HYPO ELIMINATOR A solution for removing residual fixing agent from film emulsions, to increase the life of
the silver image
ILA Image Light Amplifier. Technology developed by Hughes-JVC for video projection.
Images are displayed on a CRT with infrared phosphors. The infrared image controls
the reflection of the projector light. Also D-ILA.
IMAX Wide-screen motion picture system, employing 70mm film with a 15 perforation
70x46mm frame, run horizontally through camera and projector.
IMBIBITION A mechanical printing method where an image is formed from dye transferred from
one film to another, as used in the Dye Transfer Technicolor system.
IMMERSION GATE A printer, telecine or scanner gate where the original film and unexposed stock, are
immersed with a liquid in to minimise scratches. The liquid is chosen to have a similar
refractive index to the film BASE. See also LIQUID GATE, WET GATE.
IN See INTERNEGATIVE (1)
IN RACK Term for 35mm (usually) film meaning that the frames are correclty spaced a complete
frame apart, that is, each frame in 35mm film is exactly 4 perforations from the next.
See also OUT OF RACK.
INCOMING SCENE The second scene in a DISSOLVE. See also OUTGOING SCENE.
INFRA-RED Electomagnetic radiation beyond the red end of the visible spectrum, generally
experienced as heat. See also ULTRA-VIOLET.
INTEGRAL TRIPACK See TRIPACK
INTERCUTTING Editing the same or similar scene into several different positions in a story or
sequence.
INTER-DUPE A duplicate colour negative derived from an inter-positive. A term used locally by
Technicolor (probably).
INTERLABORATORY SURVEY A regular survey which used to be carried out by Kodak of world motion picture
laboratory processing quality and consistency.
INTERLACE/INTERLACED
VIDEO
A technique, developed originally for analogue television, of doubling the perceived
frame rate of an image. Each frame is constructed from two fields, one comprising the
odd lines and the other the even lines of the image.
INTERMEDIATE (1) General term for colour film master positives and negatives on a integrally masked
film, but also widely used to mean any intermediate step between a camera original
and the final print.
INTERMEDIATE (2) (For colour flm) Any element made on an Kodak Eastman or Fuji Colour Intermediate
Film (AVERAGE GRADIENT 1.00). Could be an interpositive or an internegative - the
same stock is used for both.
INTERMITTENT (film) Mechanism where a film is moved one frame at a time into the gate of, e.g., a
projector and there held stationary.
INTERNATIONAL
TRACK/VERSION
Term sometimes used to refer to a version of a film which has yet to have commentary
or subtitles of a particular language added. This term has also been used with other
meanings, such as to refer to a version of a film which includes scenes of a nature not
deemed suitable for a local audience.
INTERNEGATIVE (1) A duplicate colour negative film made from a colour interpositive using a colour film
with an AVERAGE GRADIENT of 1.00. (e.g.Eastman Colour Intermediate Film).
INTERNEGATIVE (2) A colour negative prepared from a reversal camera original or a print, using a colour
film stock with an AVERAGE GRADIENT of 0.6 (e.g.Eastman Colour Internegative Film
or a camera negative film). (Less common usage than INTERNEGATIVE(1), and
possibly only in UK).
INTERPOLATION (spatial -
digital imagery)
Estimating a value of a pixel from those of its near neighbours. Used for repositioning,
re-sizing a digital image for effect, to change picture format, or to insert lost detail.
INTERPOLATION (temporal -
digital imagery)
Interpolation between the same point in space on successive frames. Used to provide
motion smoothing, speed changes, effects, or repair defects.
INTERPOSITIVE (1) A general term for any positive element used as an intermediate stage, ie not the final
print.
INTERPOSITIVE (2) often
abreviated to IP
A colour positive made from a colour negative using a colour film with an AVERAGE
GRADIENT of 1.00. (e.g.Eastman or Fuji Colour Intermediate Film) as an intermediate
stage in making a duplicate negative/internegative.
INTERTITLE Titles or captions cut between scenes in silent movies. These were often shot on high
contrast print film stocks or LITH film to make negatives, which were then printed to
make positives. The positive was then usually printed again to make "negative" images
which were then used as prints to be cut into the final film print.
INTERTITLE NEGATIVE The camera negative of an intertitles. Silent period intertitle prints were usually
negative images. This confusing term is often applied to the print from the original
camera negative, which was cut into the picture negative to mage a white on black
intertitle screen image. Rarely seen as usually discarded.
IP See INTERPOSITIVE (2)
IPS Inches per second
IRIS A device used to vary the opening of a lens diaphragm.
IRIS WIPE A wipe effect in the form of a increasing or diminishing circle, ie iris in, or iris out.
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network - allows data to be transmitted over the public
telephone network as two channels at 64 Kb/s.
ITU-R International Telecommunications Union, Radiocommunications Sector. A treaty
organisation that obtains international agreement on standards for radio and television
broadcasting. The ITU-R BT series deals with television. Two important ITU-R
recommendations are ITU-R Rec. BT.601 and ITU-R Rec. BT.709 dealing with SD and
HDTV respectively. Colloquially these are referenced as Rec. 601 and Rec. 709.
Java A general purpose programming language developed by Sun Microsystems and in use
on the World Wide Web.
JOG A facility to move a film or video one frame at a time, or by small increments.
JOIN A splice or edit between two pieces of film or tape. See SPLICE.
JOINING TAPE Adhesive tape used in making BUTT SPLICES/TAPE SPLICES in film or TAPE.
JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group (ISO/ITU-T). JPEG is a standard for the data
compression (by a factor of bwtween 2 and 100) of still pictures and uses three levels
of processing: baseline (most widely used), extended, and lossless encoding.
JUMBO ROLL The widest roll of coated film or tape in the manufacturing process before slitting and
perforating
JUMP CUT A sharp edit, or a loss of a section of scene, resulting in a jump in the action.
JUNK Discarded film, usually with images, i.e. grading tests, printing errors used where the
content is not relevant term typically used in film laboratories).
KELVIN The SI unit of thermodynamic temperature. Used to describe colour temperature. Unit
'k'.
KEM Type of FLATBED film editor manufactured by KEM in Germany.
KEY NUMBERS See EDGE NUMBERS, FOOTAGE NUMBERS.
KEYCODE A machine-readable bar-code printed along the edge of camera negative film giving
key numbers, film type, and offset from a zero-frame reference mark in perforations,
used for editing and conforming.
KEYSTONE DISTORTION Image distortion on projection when the projector axis is not at 90 degrees to the
screen
KINEMACOLOR A two-colour additive process in which the action is filmed through a rotating filter so
that successive frames are exposed through red and green filters in turn. On
projection, the print was similarly projected through a rotating colour filter.
KINESCOPE A television image recorded on film. Term used in USA - see TELERECORDING.
KODACOLOR A term used by Eastman Kodak for various colour film types, but most commonly
associated with KODACOLOR LENTICULAR film.
KS PERFORATIONS Kodak Standard Perforations: Type of perforation shape used in 35mm print film. See
also BH PERFORATIONS.
LACE To thread up a projector, printer, tape recorder or any equipment with film or tape.
LACQUER A coating material to protect film or hide scratches, a varnish or other material.
LAD Laboratory Aim Density, a density value used to control the production of intermediate
film materials, digital negatives, and projection prints.
LAMBERT See FOOT-LAMBERT, CANDELA.
LANGUAGE DUB/LANGUAGE
DUBB
A speech track in a different language to the original.
LAP DISSOLVE Overlapping Dissolve, where two film images overlap as one fades in and the other
fades out.
LATENSIFICATION (1) See FLASHING.
LATENSIFICATION (2) The intensification of an under-exposed latent image by controlled fogging before
development.
LATENT IMAGE The undeveloped invisible image on photographic film prior to development.
LAVENDER Colloquial name for the Kodak film stock, EASTMAN Fine Grain Duplicating Film 1365
(Nitrate Base),which had a pale blue base, introduced in 1936 for making black and
white positives (master positives) and for producing duplicate negatives. Commonly
used for any monochrome intermediate master positive of the period.
LEADER The length of film prior to the content, giving identification, protection, count-down and
other information.
LENS Optical device for generating an image in a camera, printer or projector.
LENS APERTURE The opening of a lens , expressed as f NUMBER.
LENTICULAR A type of b/w film with rows of cylindrical lenses embossed in the surface of the film
base which form small b/w images of a striped colour filter positioned in front of the
camera lens. When projected though a similar projection filter, the original colours of
the scene are created additively. KODACOLOR lenticular film is the most common type.
LEVEL SYNC Refers to when the synchronisation marks on separate film picture and soundrack
elements do not have any sound ADVANCE offset. See also PRINTING SYNC.
LIGHT BOX An illuminated panel for viewing film or control strips.
LIGHT VALVE A device to vary to quantity of light reaching a target, as used in, for instance, a
printer or an optical sound camera (especially in VARIABLE DENSITY recording).
LINE FILM Old term for orthochromatic or lithographic film processed to a high contrast for titles
or intertitles.
Linear (editing) The process of editing footage that can only be accessed or played in the sequence
recorded.
LINING UP Setting up any apparatus, such as a camera, before use.
LIP SYNC Exact correspondence between picture and sound recording, also refers to
simultaneous recording technique.
LIQUID GATE A PRINTER, TELECINE, or SCANNER GATE where the original film, or both the original
film and unexposed stock, are immersed or coated with a liquid in to minimise
scratches. The liquid is chosen to have a similar refractive index to the film BASE.
LITH FILM Lithographic film. Very high contrast sheet film used for titles, given a special
development to achieve high densities. Was very occasionally used for high contrast
masks and titles negatives in cinematograph gauges.
LIVE ACTION Shots of real action rather than, for instance, animation.
LONG FOCUS LENS Lens with a focal length longer than standard for the format. See TELEPHOTO.
LONG SHOT (LS) Scene showing a general view, from a distance.
LOOP Film joined to make a continuous band, for testing purposes, or printing multiple
copies, hence loop printer, loop cabinet etc.
LOUDSPEAKER Transducer converting electrical signals to sound.
LOW BAND A video tape recording system not reaching TV broadcast standards.
LOW KEY Scenes in which most subject tones are dark.
LOW-PASS FILTER Device to attenuate high frequency sound
LUMA Signal carrying gamma corrected luminance information, symbol Y'. Used in
combination with colour difference signals, e.g. CB and CR . The transformation of
R'G'B' signals to luma and colour difference signals is defined in ITU standards, and is
different for SD and HD signals.
LUMEN The SI unit of luminous flux.
LUMINANCE Measure of brightness, linearly proportional to intensity, symbol Y. The CIE Y
tristimulus component. In video and computer technology luminance is usually gamma
corrected to produce luma Y'. See Y, YUV etc.
LUX The SI unit of illumination, equal to one LUMEN per sq m
M & E See MUSIC AND EFFECTS.
M AND D See MASTERS AND DUPES.
M AND T See MUTE AND TRACK.
MAGAZINE Light proof container for film.
MAGENTA Subtractive primary colour. See CYAN/YELLOW.
MAGNETIC SOUND TRACK /
MAG TRACK
Magnetic sound recording film, consisting of perforated film coated with metal oxide.
MAGNETIC STRIPE A magnetic track applied to the soundtrack area of a film, either during manufacture or
after processing, to allow the recording of a MAGNETIC SOUNDTRACK. See also
BALANCE TRACK.
MAGOPT A motion picture film print with both optical and magnetic sound tracks (usually of the
same track) on the one film.
MAIN TITLE The front (usually) section of a film with titles and credits.
MAKE-UP Assembly of the various elements of a film for printing (a Technicolor term?)
MALTESE CROSS Mechanism for producing intermittent movement in a camera or projector.
MARRIED PRINT A film print with picture and synchronised sound, See COMBINED PRINT & COMPOSITE
PRINT. (This term is the prefered BKSTS term.)
MARRYING-UP Assemly and preparation of film elements for printing to make a married print.
MASK (1) A film element whose image is used to modify the image on another film element
(usually the original negative when combined in register, see OVERLAY). Used for
MATTE effects, and contrast and saturation changes for restoration.
MASK (2) A frame to restrict the dimensions of an aperture in a camera, printer or projector.
MASK (INNER) A mask MASK (2) located behind the camera (or printer) lens, used to create vignettes
or shaped images.
MASKING (COLOUR) Using a mask MASK (1) to modify colour saturation or hue of a film image (e.g. for
correcting fading).
MASKING (CONTRAST) Using a mask MASK(1) to alter the contrast of a film (e.g. for correcting fading).
MASKING (INTEGRAL) An image created during processing from unused coloured couplers within the dye
layers of an integral tripack colour film to correct unwanted dye absorbtions. This
causes the typical orange coloured base, and can only be used on negatives or
intermediates and not print films.
MASKING (PRINTING) A general term for using a MASK (1) to combine (usually in contact) with another film
element negative to make a new element.
MASKING (PROJECTION) A black border to a screen that limits the area of the projected image
MASTER (1) A general term used by, for instance, archives to indicate the best image quality
element available (of a title) and therefore conserved more carefully and with greater
restrictions on use than other elements.
MASTER (2) A general term for a film element used as the start of a special sequence of printing.
MASTER (3) A specific term used in some circumstances for a camera reversal colour film used for
printing and never itself projected, e.g. Ektachrome Commercial Film. (UK laboratory
term) See REVERSAL MASTER.
MASTER AND DUPES M & D. All the elements of a feature film (UK term)
MASTER POSITIVE An intermediate positive made from a negative specifically intended for further
generation of a duplicate negative. May be used in some circumstances to refer to b/w
films only.
MATCH DISSOLVE A dissolve where an object is unchanged but the background changes.
MATCHED NEGATIVE Alternative name for a CUT NEGATIVE.
MATCHING The process of making a CUT NEGATIVE by visually matching the cuts and joins of the
CUTTING COPY. A cut negatives is sometimes then called a MATCHED NEGATIVE. (UK
terms) See CONFORM.
MATRIX (pl MATRICES) Film (usually positive separation records) with images (usually in relief gelatin) on
specialized "wash-off" film stocks, processed in specialized tanning developers, and
used in the dye transfer imbibition print processes, in particular Technicolor.
MATT A surface with a diffuse (non specular) reflection
MATTE A completely opaque high contrast MASK (1) image used as an OVERLAY to prevent
any exposure in the masked area in order to create special effects (e.g travelling matte
and green or blue screen shots). Usually made on a special high contrast and high
density film stock.
MATTE BOX A lens shade to hold filters or to obscure a part of the image area.
METADATA Data about data. E.g. Data about the video and audio but not the video or audio
essence itself, used for labelling, finding data, classification, record keeping. Metadata
on analogue systems includes time code, frame numbers etc
MICROFILM Photographic record of documents, newspapers etc. usually on unperforated 35 or
16mm film made for storage and access.
MICRON 1 µm, 0.001mm or 10-6
m
MIRED MIcro REciprocal Degree. A unit of colour temperature.
MIX /MIXING General term applied to combining elements of sound or picture.
MIX (1) An audio track mixed from more than one element, or the process of doing this. See
PRE-MIX, FINAL MIX.
MIX (2) Another term for DISSOLVE (UK term).
MLS Medium Long Shot
MODULATION (sound track) The variation in area or density in an OPTICAL SOUND TRACK.
MODULATION TRANSFER
FUNCTION
MTF: a measure of performance of an optical system, based on its ability to reproduce
a pattern of black and white bars at different spatial frequencies.
MOIRÉ Visual interference patterns formed by combinations of rasters, mosaics, or half tones.
MONOCHROMATIC LIGHT Light of effectively one wavelength eg as produced by sodium discharge lamp.
MONOCHROME An image created from a single colour, usually taken to mean a black and white image.
MORDANT DYE TONING Old method of replacing silver images with basic dyes mordanted with silver salts.
MOSAIC A pattern of red,green,and blue filters on film to create an additive colour system (eg
DUFAYCOLOR)
MOTOR CUE See CUE DOT.
MOVIOLA A film editing machine. Trade name, widely used for all editors. See FLATBED VIEWER.
MP3 Colloquial term for MPEG 1 Layer 3 audio compression standard.
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group. This an international working group on standards for
compression, decompression, and coding moving picture. Commonly used standards
are MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4.
MPEG-7 A multimedia content description standard (a metadata standard, rather than an
encoding standard).
MULTIPLEXER Device to enable images from several sources to be transferred to film or video.
MULTI-ROLL PRINTING A and B, or more, roll printing. See A and B PRINTING.
MULTI-TRACK Magnetic recorder/recording having four or more parallel tracks on 35mm magnetic
film.
MUSIC AND EFFECTS M & E. A sound track without the speech or commentary, usually refers to a magnetic
tape.
MUSIC-TRACK Audio track of music only.
MUTE(1) A general term for a film which has no sound (though not usually applied to pre-sound
era films where the term SILENT is used).
MUTE (2) In a film laboratory this refers to a reel of negative film without its associated sound
track. (UK term)
MUTE AND TRACK Often marked on cans, means both original negative (MUTE (2)) and optical track
negative are present. (UK term) See also ACTION AND SOUND, PICTURE AND TRACK.
MYLAR 3M Trade name for their polyester film base
MYLAR TAPE SPLICING TAPE (US term).
NAS Network-attached storage. Computer data storage connected to a network providing
data access to various clients on the network.
ND / ND FILTER See NEUTRAL DENSITY
NEGATIVE Film image in reverse tones, high densities correspond to high brightness.
NEGATIVE CUTTING The process of cutting and splicing together negative film to make a programme, using
visual matching or frame numbers located manually or automatically.
NEGATIVE DIRT White marks on a print from dirt and scratches on the negative from which it was
made. (Common in US) See PRINTED-IN, SCRATCHES or SPARKLE.
NEGATIVE MATCHING The process of cutting and splicing together negative film to match an editors CUTTING
COPY usually by visual frame matching
NEGATIVE PERFORATIONS See BH PERFORATIONS.
NEG-POS Refers to a film procduction process employing NEGATIVE and POSITIVE copies, rather
than REVERSAL technology.
NEUTRAL DENSITY Grey neutral colour transparent filter used to reduce exposure.
NEWSREEL A regular cinema magazine news programme
NEWTON'S RINGS Optical interference patterns caused by two surfaces in less than perfect contact.
Sometimes seen as a printing defect in film.
NG No Good, a laboratory term meaning faulty, must be redone.
NITRATE Common term for film using cellulose nitrate as the BASE.
NOISE Non image irregular level fluctuations of an image or sound signal. All analogue video
signals contain random noise, and film "noise" can be from film grain. Digital noise may
be high frequency information and is difficult to tell apart from the wanted signal, and
therefore complicates the compression process.
NON-DROP-FRAME Timecode that does not use DROP FRAME.
NON-LINEAR EDITING File-based system where editing can be performed in a non-linear sequence - not the
sequence of the original material. See also OFF-LINE EDITING.
NOTCH Shallow notch cut along the edge of a film to trigger the change of printing exposure in
a film printing machine.
NTSC National Television System Committee. Generally used to refer to the composite video
encoding standard mostly used in North America and Japan. NTSC systems use
525/59.94 scanning, although this is not part of the standard.
NUMBER BOARD See SLATE.
OFF-LINE EDITING Editing using low resolution copies of the source material in order to produce an EDL to
which the full quality originals can then be conformed.
OFF-SCALE Outside the range of printing lights of a normal printer.
OFFSET (For sound film) The separation, usually defined by the number of frames, between a
point on the film sound track and the corresponding picture image for correct
synchronization. See also ADVANCE.
OHP OverHead Projector
ON-LINE EDITING Production of the complete, final edit performed at full programme quality. May be
based on an EDL made OFF-LINE.
OPEN REEL A tape transport system with separate feed and take up, not enclosed in a cassette.
See also REEL TO REEL.
OPTICAL AXIS Axis from centre of the lens at right angles to the lens plane.
OPTICAL PRINTING Printing of film with a printer that uses a camera to capture the image from a projector
via a lens. Allows for special effects and manipulation such as resizing, See also
CONTACT PRINTING.
OPTICAL SOUND RECORDING An optical sound track negative produced in an optical SOUND CAMERA.
OPTICAL SOUND TRACK Photographic sound track produced on a film by the modulation of a light beam,
printed to make a positive image, and read by a photosensitive device. See also
SOUND NEGATIVE.
OPTICAL TRACK NEGATIVE A negative optical film sound track recorded on an optical film SOUND CAMERA, either
directly from microphones (pre-1955 approx), or later from MAGNETIC TRACKS, or
most recently from a digital system. See SOUIND NEGATIVE, more commonly used in
UK.
OPTICAL TRACK POSITIVE A positive optical film sound track, printed from a OPTICAL TRACK NEGATIVE. See
SOUND POSITIVE, more commonly used in UK.
OPTICALS General term for special effects made on an optical printer.
ORIGINAL The film element exposed in the camera, the first generation of image.
ORTHO / ORTHOCHROMATIC Film sensitive to Blue and Green light only.
OUT OF CONTROL A term for a film process or control strip whose density readings are outside control
limits.
OUT OF FRAME Term to indicate where adjacent frames in 35mm (usually) film are not separated by
the correct number of perforations at a SPLICE so that the frame position changes.
Also used when the projected image is not correctly positioned vertically on the screen
so that the FRAME LINE is visible. (US term).
OUT OF RACK Term to indicate where adjacent frames in 35mm (usually) film are not separated by
the correct number of perforations at a SPLICE so that the frame position changes.
Also used when the projected image is not correctly positioned vertically on the screen
so that the FRAME LINE is visible. (UK term) See also IN RACK.
OUT OF SYNC Sound and picture not correctly synchronised.
OUT-GOING SCENE The first scene of a dissolve. See also INCOMING SCENE.
OUT-TAKE Alternative shots of scenes that were not used in the final edit .
OVERCRANKING Filming at a slightly higher speed than normal to slow action down, derives from the
era of hand-cranked cameras, but still in use.
OVERCUT (negative) A cut negative where each scene is a fixed number of frames longer at both the
beginning(head) and the end (tail), usually by 4 to 20 frames. A technique used to
avoid handling damage during negative cutting, and/or to avoid splices on 16mm or
Technicsope negatives being printed as images. The extras frames, called HANDLES
are either not printed or, in digital post-production, removed from the frame sequence.
OVERLAP Extending the sound track into the next scene/reel to improve continuity.
OVERLAY (1) A film element used as one of a pair of film elements used in OVERLAY PRINTING.
OVERLAY (2) The foreground image or cel of an animation (not a film element).
OVERLAY PRINTING Superimposing one film image on another, so as to print two films together as if they
were a single image. The overlay could be a MASK, a MATTE or TITLE NEGATIVE.
OVERLENGTH Adjective describing an OVERCUT negative with HANDLES.
OVERMODULATE When the optical sound input signal is too great an amplitude for the for the system to
handle.
PAL Phase Alternate Line. A composite video encoding standard mostly used in Europe.
Most PAL systems use 625/50 scanning although this is not part of the standard.
PAN To swivel a camera horizontally during filming.
PAN / PANCHROMATIC Of a film stock, sensitive to all wavelengths in the visible spectrum
PANEL (PRINTER) A film printer with the film path on a flat panel layout, often bidirectional.
PANORAMA A wide image, also a trade name of several wide screen systems of the 1950's and
60's.
PAPER-TO END SECTION Method of indicating to a printer operator the section of film to be printed, by placing a
paper marker in the reel.
PAPER-TO-PAPER SECTION Method of indicating to a printer operator the section of film to be printed, by placing
two paper markers in the reel.
PARTICLE TRANSFER ROLLER Device/roller with a special tacky coating that removes dust particles from film.
Commonly called PTR.
PATCH A transparent piece of film used to repair a tear or break.
PET Polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic used for film base, usuallly referred to as
polyester.
PEEL ROLL / PEELED ROLL A roll created by winding a number of separate lengths of film onto a single roll without
joining together.
PEG ANIMATION Animation shot by locating the sequences of artwork on registration pins.
PEG BAR The registration pins used for peg animation.
PERCHLOROETHYLENE/PERC Solvent used for cleaning film and for WET GATE.
PERFORATED SCREEN A cinema projection screen perforated with small holes so that the sound from
loudspeakers placed behind the screen is unimpeded.
PERFORATIONS The holes in film to permit transport. See also BH PERFORATIONS, KS PERFORATIONS,
SPROCKET HOLES.
PERSISTENCE OF VISION A characteristic of the human visual system whereby a rapid series of intermittent
images is perceived as continuous.
PHOSPHOR A substance emitting light when irradiated by an electron beam, used in cathode ray
television screens.
PHOTOGRAPHIC SOUND See OPTICAL SOUND
PHOTOCHEMISTRY Chemical reactions which proceed with the absorption of light, thus used to describe
the underlying principle of pre-digital photography.
PHOTOMETER Instrument for measuring luminous intensity, at printer gates, screens, or for exposure
determination
PHOTOMETRIC FILTER Filter for raising or lowering the colour temperature of light suitable for the film in use.
The effect is measured using the MIRED scale.
PICTURE AND TRACK Master mute negative and matching negative sound track. See also ACTION AND
SOUND, MUTE AND TRACK.
PILOT PIN See PIN.
PILOT TONE A tone recorded on audio tape in a system which synchronises camera with an audio
tape recorder.
PIN / REGISTER PIN Camera, printer or scanner device which engages in a film perforation in the gate in
order to fix the film position during exposure.
PINHOLE A defect on a negative in the form of a small clear (low density) spot, usually the result
of faulty processing or manufacture.
PITCH (FILM) The distance between successive points on a film, eg sprocket to sprocket
PIXEL (or PEL) A shortened version of ‘Picture cell’ or ‘Picture element’. The name given to one sample
(or set of colour samples) of picture information. The smallest element on a RASTER
display. A picture cell with specified colour and/or intensity
PIXELATION The effect where individual pixels or larger blocks of the same colour are apparent to a
viewer. Can be caused for instance by poor reception of a digital video stream.
PIXILATION An animation technique in which the illusion of continuous, real movement of three-
dimensional objects, often people, is broken and/or made to move unevenly or jerkily
through the use of stop-action cinematography (single frame animation) or by printing
only selected frames from the continuously-exposed negative.
PLATE A still photograph used as a background in special effects.
PLATEN A surface used to support animation cels and materials.
POINT See PRINTER POINT
POLYESTER Polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic used for film base.
POSITIVE An image in which the light (less opaque) areas correspond to light areas in the
subject, and the dark (more opaque) areas correspond to the shadow areas in the
subject
POST PRODUCTION A general term generally used to cover any of the production process of a film or a
television programme subsequent to the original shooting and sound recording.
POST SYNC Post Synchronisation: the process of recording dialogue after filming and synchronising
it with the original photography (UK term). See ADR.
POSTERIZATION Banding or lack of continuous tones in an image. A gradual or smooth tonal transition
in an original image appears as an abrupt change from one tone to another.
PREBATH The first solution of a process, usually a solution for softening REM JET backing on
colour film.
PRE-FLASHING FLASHING of print stocks to reduce contrast.
PRE-HARDENER/HARDENER A hardening solution used as a first process to prepare for a high temperature film
process.
PRE-MIX (1) The process of playing all sound material from different souces (for instance FOLEY,
SFX, MUSIC, ATMOSPHERE, VOICE-OVER) synchronously as a roughly mixed single
track to assess the sound mixing needed.
PRE-MIX (2) The sound element resulting from the PRE-MIX process.
PRE-RECORDED Sound material for a programme that is already recorded.
PRE-ROLL The time taken by camera, projector, telecine to get up to speed. The process of
getting up to speed.
PRESERVATION (FILM) The practices necessary to ensure permanent accessibility to the image content of a
film.
PRESERVATION MASTER see CONSERVATION MASTER
PRESSURE PLATE That part of a printer, camera or projector that holds the film flat in the gate
PREVIEW A first look, also a special presentation of a feature film prior to premiere or release.
PRIMARY COLOURS Three colours capable of mixing additively or combining subtractively to reproduce all
other colours. See ADDITIVE COLOUR/SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR.
PRIME LENS A photographic lens whose focal length is fixed.
PRINT (1) A photographic copy of a film with a positive image, usually made from a negative, and
usually intended for projection.
PRINT (2) Loose term for the process of making a copy of a film using a film printer
PRINTED-IN Description of image defects such as SCRATCHES or SPARKLE copied during printing
from a previous generation. See NEGATIVE DIRT.
PRINTER A device for exposing an image on one film onto another.
PRINTER CUE Mark on a film to trigger the change of printing exposure in a film printing machine.
See also RF CUE.
PRINTER LIGHT See PRINTER POINT
PRINTER POINT A unit of printing light control. In modern printers one point is 0.025LogE, and
nominally covers a 50 point scale
PRINTER TAPE Paper tape with punched holes to indicate printing lights and cues. See PUNCHED TAPE.
PRINTING SYNC Refers to when the synchronisation marks on separate film picture and soundrack
elements have a sound ADVANCE offset. See also LEVEL SYNC.
PRINT-THROUGH (1) A test procedure of printing a control strip on to print stock and measuring the
sensitometric response.
PRINT-THROUGH (2) Unwanted transfer of signal on a magnetic tape from adjacent windings.
PROCESS / PROCESSING The photochemical procedure incorporating the development of the latent image and
the subsequent stabilisation stages.
PROCESS FILM High contrast film used for producing high contrast images. See also HI CON.
PROCESS SHOT Loose term for a special effect of separate background and foreground shots combined.
PROCESSOR Equipment for processing, washing and drying film.
PRODUCTION AUDIO Sync sound, or any other sort of wild track or room tone recorded at the shoot. The
term is used in sound editing to distinguish between added backgrounds and effects,
and those from the actual shoot. (US term)
PRODUCTION DUPE Duplicate negative made for multiple release printing. (UK term)
PROGRESSIVE SCAN A method of displaying or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each
frame are drawn in sequence. See also INTERLACED VIDEO.
PROJECTOR Apparatus for presenting motion picture images on a screen.
PROTECTION MASTER (1) Black and white positives representing the red, green and blue elements of the image,
made by printing from camera original colour negatives as long term protection or
insurance against loss damage or fading of the original negative. Usually made on
specialized panchromatic separation film processed to a Gamma of 1.00. See
SEPARATION MASTER.
PROTECTION MASTER (2) Black and white positives representing the red, green and blue elements of the image,
made by printing from colour separation negatives (either from camera original
separation negatives from a three-strip camera, or from a sequential frame colour
negative, or from any other separation negatives). Usually made by printing onto a
print film stock developed to a gamma of 1.00.
PROTECTION MASTER (3) General term for a master copy made as a long term protection or insurance against
loss damage or fading of the original.
PSF A method of constructing a video frame from two interlaced fields formed from the odd
and even lines of the same original frame (often written pSf, as in 24pSf)
PTR see PARTICLE TRANSFER ROLLER.
PULL-BACK A technique in printing film in which the master is partly rewound in order to reprint a
section of film.
PULL-DOWN The operation of moving film from one frame to another in a camera, printer or
projector.
PUNCHED TAPE Paper tape with punched holes to indicate printing lights and cues. See PRINTER TAPE.
PUSH-PULL TRACK Optical sound track consisting of two tracks of opposite phase, either two half width
tracks within the normal track area, or two full width tracks. Used as a noise reduction
technique in recording and post-production.
QUADRAPHONIC A four channel sound system.
RACK Term for the alignment from frame to frame of 35mm film, see also IN RACK
RACKING See FRAMING.
RAID Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. A storage technology that provides increased
reliability and performance by combining multiple disk drive components into a logical
unit.
RAIN A multitude of short vertical scratches on film,usually caused by CINCHING.
RASTER The scanned line structure of a TV screen.
RAW STOCK Colloquial term for unexposed film.
RB Same as NG, No Good. Used mostly by Technicolor
REAL TIME Keeping pace with the events in the "real" world. At normal speed.
REAR PROJECTION Projection onto the rear of a screen, viewed from the front.
REC. 601, REC. 709 ITU-R Recommendations BT.601 and BT.709 for SD and HDTV television. See ITU.
RECIPROCITY LAW The inverse relationship between the intensity and duration of exposure that
determines the reaction of light-sensitive material in a photographic emulstion.
RECIPROCITY LAW FAILURE A divergence from the RECIPROCITY LAW by photographic emulsions at very high or
low intensities.
RE-COMBINED NEGATIVE (or
POSITIVE)
A colour negative (or positive) made by printing colour separations or protection
masters through R, G & B filters in register onto TRIPACK colour intermediate film
stock.
RECONSTRUCTION The editorial procedure of reassembling a version of a film production to an
authoritative original version.
RED One of the three additive primaries.
RED MASTER (1) A local term for a conservation master where the silver image is replaced by silver
sulphide to increase longevity, OR a duplicating stock made by Kodak in the 1930's
with a brownish image.
RED MASTER (2) B/w pan duplicating film stock made by Kodak in the 1930's with a brownish image due
to the development process at that time.
RED READER Optical soundtrack reader on a film projector using a red LED light source suitable for
reading CYAN TRACKS.
REDUCTION Mixing multitrack master sound tapes to make a single tape for production.
REDUCTION PRINTING Reducing the image size by OPTICAL PRINTING, eg 35mm to 16mm.
REEL A flanged hub holding film.
REEL A roll of film, a unit of film as part of a film programme, conventionally about 1000
ft/300 m for 35mm film, or more commonly in projection, 2000 ft/ 600 m.
REEL TO REEL Separate supply and take up reels, of a film or tape path, see also OPEN REEL.
REFRACTION Deflection of a light path when passing from one medium to another.
REGION CODING DVDs and Blu-ray discs can be region-coded so as only to play in a particular region
(as defined in the player). DVD and BD regions are different.
REGISTER PINS See PINS.
REGISTER/REGISTRATION To cause two or more images to align exactly.
REHALOGENATION A process of reforming the SILVER HALIDES after DEVELOPING to silver, used in some
colour film processes.
RELEASE PRINT Film print made for cinema presentation.
REM JET A removable BACKING on film intended to minimise halation. Short for "removable jet
black carbon".
RE-RECORDING (1) Any film element made from a video or data file. Can refer to a negative or to the print
made from a negative. See also FILM RECORDING
RE-RECORDING (2) Any film sound track element made on a optical sound recording camera, usually from
a magnentic original. See also SOUND RECORDING .
RESEAU The mosaic of R,G,and B filters printed on DUFAYCOLOR film.
RESOLUTION The ability of a reproduction system to resolve details. A measure of the finest detail
that can be seen, or resolved, in an image.
RESOLUTION INDEPENDENT A term used to describe the notion of equipment that can operate at more than one
resolution. Many television devices are designed to operate at a single resolution.
Computers can handle files of almost any size so, when used to handle images, are
called ‘resolution independent’.
RESOLVING POWER Resolution of a reproduction system expressed numerically, sometimes in lines per mm
RESTORATION The process of compensating for loss, damage and degradation by returning a work of
art, an image or artefact to close to it's original content.
RETAKE To photograph a scene again, usually due to an error the first time.
RETARD ACTION Special effect of slowing action by repeat printing of frames (US term).
RETICULATION Distortion, cracks and wrinkles on film emulsion caused by sharp temperature changes
during processing
REVERSAL (FILM) Film designed for REVERSAL PROCESSING.
REVERSAL EXPOSURE The exposure of film during REVERSAL PROCESSING in order to "reverse" the image,
and produce a positive .
REVERSAL MASTER A camera reversal colour film used for printing and not intended for projection.
REVERSAL PRINT A positive film image made from a REVERSAL film exposed in a camera or by the
process of printing from another positive image using REVERSAL film or DIRECT film.
REVERSAL PROCESS A film process that produces a positive image directly, using two developer stages.
REVERSE ACTION An optical effect when the action runs backwards.
RF CUE/RF TAB Metal foil reflective to radio frequency attached to the edge of a film used as film
PRINTER CUE.
RGB (1) A COLOUR MODEL based on Red, Green and Blue light.
RGB (2) Abbreviation for the red, green and blue signals, the primary colours for both analysis
and synthesis of television images (and the analysis process of modern colour films).
Video signals should be written as R', G', and B' to indicate that they are GAMMA
corrected.
RGB (3) The Red, Green and Blue PRINTER POINTS used when GRADING (TIMING) a scene.
ROCK AND ROLL Moving a sound track and picture backwards and forwards in sync to locate edit points.
See also SCRUB.
ROLL A loose term for a reel or length of film, usually a term used for film on a core rather
than a spool.
ROLLING TITLE Title or captions moving from bottom to top on the screen .
ROPING Film damage indentations caused by film running off a sprocket drive, also called RUN-
OFF.
ROSTRUM CAMMERA A camera mounted vertically over a platen or graphics, for complex titles or animation.
ROTARY PRINTER A continuous motion contact printer.
ROUGH CUT A first edit that may later be refined by a FINE CUT.
RUBBER NUMBERS Edge or footage numbers applied after processing by a letterpress printing process.
RUN OFF See ROPING.
RUN OUT Any piece of film after the tail leader as a protection for the reel.
RUN UP Length of film on the front of a reel to allow the projector to reach a stable speed.
RUNSPEED Speed at which a film is intended to be played, generally in frames per second. See
also SPEED.
RUSHES First print from a camera negative, often made quickly, or overnight, ready to be
viewed the following morning. (UK term, see DAILIES, US term).
RUSHES REPORT Written report from a grader for the cameraman, describing the negative and rushes
quality.
SAFE AREA The area of picture or frame into which it is safe to place picture, graphics or text so
that it will not be masked on viewing. In TV production, the area of the picture
expected to be shown on most domestic cathode ray TV screens.
SAFELIGHT A light source with a filter to protect a film from fogging but allow the operator to see.
SAFETY BASE Any non cellulose nitrate film base.
SAMPLE PRINT A print made as a sample of a bulk production of release prints.
SAMPLING Sampling is the process of defining the levels into which analogue variables are
separated in order to convert them into digital data. In the case of images pixel
resolution defines unit of area, and bit depth defines the units of luminance. Several
standards exist for television e.g. 625/50 and 525/60 television is ITUR BT.601, and
ITU-R BT.709 specifies sampling for some HD formats. There are no standards for
data.
SAN Storage Area Network. A "network" that allows applications direct access to shared
storage. A SAN is not networking in the conventional sense.
SANDWICHING Two image films in register with a print raw stock in a contact printer.
SATURATION (COLOUR) The spectral purity of a colour, the degree of difference between grey and a colour.
SCANNER Device for capturing an image as a digital signal. Film scanners may differ from
TELECINE machines in having higher resolution and bit depth, slower scanning speed,
and no ability to perform adjustments to settings during a scan, although the
technologies are converging.
SCAVENGER A processing solution for removing damaging chemicals from a film emulsion
SCRATCH Abrasion of film, either of the base material or the gelatin emulsion.
SCREEN (FILM) The white or silver surface on which a picture is projected for viewing.
SCROLLING The continuous movement of text or graphics across a screen.
SCRUB Moving a sound track and picture backwards and forwards in sync to locate edit points.
See also ROCK AND ROLL.
SD Short form for SDTV.
SDI See SERIAL DIGITAL INTERFACE.
SDTV Standard Definition Television. A digital television system in which the quality is
approximately equivalent to that of analogue 525/60 and 625/50 NTSC and PAL
systems.
SE SUCCESSIVE EXPOSURE
SECOND NEGATIVE A negative take that is not rush printed.
SECTION PRINT A print of a part of a roll of film.
SENSITOMETER Device for exposing a film SENSITOMETRIC STRIP to a precise set of levels.
SENSITOMETRIC STRIP Strip of film exposed to precise set of levels for exposure and processing control. See
also STEP WEDGE, CONTROL STRIP.
SENSITOMETRY Study of the effect of light on film, the relationship between exposure and density
SEPARATION (1) The procedure of using a tricolor filter to make a SEPARATION NEGATIVE or POSITIVE.
SEPARATION (2) A general term for a photographic record of red, green or blue components of a scene
– sometimes termed Blue, Green or Red separations or, in Technicolor terminology,
Yellow, Magenta or Cyan Negative or Positives.
SEPARATION MASTER See PROTECTION MASTER, SEPARATION POSITIVE
SEPARATION NEGATIVE A negative photographic record of red, green or blue components of a scene –
individually termed Blue, Green or Red separations (or in Technicolor terminology,
Yellow, Magenta or Cyan Negatives). May also refer to two-colour separations, e.g.
Blue/Cyan and Orange.
SEPARATION POSITIVE A positive photographic record of red, green or blue components of a scene –
individually termed Blue, Green or Red separations (or in Technicolor terminology,
Yellow, Magenta or Cyan Positives or PROTECTION MASTERS).
SEPMAG A print projection system in which the sound is held on a separate magnetic film
element. Normally projected using DOUBLE HEADED projection or telecine. (UK term)
SEPOPT Separate Optical, a term for separate optical sound track and negative or print. See
also SEPPIC.
SEPPIC Separate Picture, a term used to describe a film held as two separate elements, picture
and sound. This terms seems to be unrelated to SEPMAG, SEPOPT, COMMAG etc. (Not
a common term). See also M & T (Mute and Track), and A & S (Action and Sound).
SEQUENTIAL FRAME Used principally for animation in Technicolor, where the red, green and blue element of
each frame is recorded in sequence on a single b/w film (rather than on three separate
rolls of film as in live action photography). Also applies to colour systems such as
KINEMACOLOR. Also referred to as SUCCESSIVE FRAME. SUCCESSIVE EXPOSURE.
SERIAL DIGITAL INTERFACE A family of SMPTE standards for digital video interfaces. Commonly used for Rec. 601
component digital signals carried on 75 Ω coaxial cables with BNC connectors.
SERVER (FILE) A computer system which serves information such as programs and files to users on
the network. A single computer may have several server programs running
concurrently.
SERVER (VIDEO) A storage system that provides audio and video storage for a network of clients,
usually based on digital disk storage.
SET An artificial scene constructed in a studio or stage.
SFX Either SOUND EFFECTS or SPECIAL EFFECTS.
SHOOT Colloquial term for operating a camera.
SHORT END A piece of film left at the end of a roll, often removed before processing to use for
short scenes.
SHOT A single operation of a camera. See TAKE.
SHOW PRINT / SHOW COPY A selected carefully produced print, or a corrected answer print.
SHRINKAGE (FILM) Reduction of dimensions of a film due to ageing.
SHUTTER The part of a camera which controls the length of exposure.
SHUTTLE Play a film or video forward and backwards to search, often at an accelerated pace.
SI International System of Units based on the metric system.
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO The relationship between unwanted noise and wanted signal. In video, noise has a
grain-like appearance. Usually expressed in dB.
SILENT (1) An adjective describing a film element (or a silent film programme) that has no
associated audio track.
SILENT (2) A film made with no soundtrack, usually pre-1930.
SILVER A lustrous white, ductile, malleable metallic element (Ag) which photochemical
photography and cinematography rely on. Light sensitive silver salts are used for
image capture in photographic film.
SILVER HALIDE A compound formed from silver and one of the halogens (generally chlorine, bromine
or iodine) used as the light sensitive constituent of photographic emulsions.
SINGLE SYSTEM The recording film and sound directly onto a single film, either with an optical
soundtrack or, where the film has a MAGNETIC STRIPE, a magnetic soundtrack.
SKIP FRAME Optical effect in which frames are omitted regularly in order to speed up the action.
SKIVINGS Fine slivers of film created by the slitting process during the manufacture of film, or
after processing.
SLASH DUPE Black and white (usually) dupe neg made cheaply as a rough record. Or a black and
white diapositive made from a CUTTING COPY on Eastman MP Direct film, or a colour
print on a colour reversal film.
SLASH PRINT Any quickly and cheaply made print, often on Eastman MP Direct Film, see DIRECT
PRINT.
SLATE A board, usually black, marked with scene and shot details, filmed at the beginning (or
occasionally at the end) of a TAKE.
SLIDE A transparent still film image used for projection.
SLIT / SLITTING Cutting film during manufacture or after processing to produce the final film width
SLO-MO Colloquial term for SLOW MOTION.
SLOP PRINT Duplicate copy of a WORK PRINT, often made for a sound editor (US term). See SLASH
PRINT, DIRTY DUPE.
SLOPE Steepness of a curve or graph, as in the CHARACTERISTIC CURVE for a film, where the
slope is equivalent to GAMMA.
SLOW MOTION Operating a camera faster than normal in order to slow down motion. Generally not as
fast as HIGH SPEED PHOTOGRAPHY.
SLUG Section of clear film cut into a negative to correct synchronization problems, or to
replace missing picture frames. May also refer to BLACK LEADER/SPACING.
SMPE Society of Motion Picture Engineers, original name, USA
SMPTE Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, USA
SNOW Random noise interference on a TV screen. Occasionally used also for severe SPARKLE
on film.
SOFT EDGE A diffuse edge to detail, or to a matte or wipe edge, (may be intentional or not).
SOFT FOCUS Blurred image produced by a soft focus lens, producing a veiled effect.
SOLARISATION A positive image in which the tone is partly reversed, ie. light areas made dark, either
deliberately or by accident .
SOUND ADVANCE See ADVANCE.
SOUND CAMERA (1) Device to record a sound signal on to film in order to produce an OPTICAL
SOUNDTRACK negative.
SOUND CAMERA (2) Colloquial term for a film camera capable of recording picture and sound together.
SOUND EFFECTS SFX or FX. Effects produced for a film or TV production, often artificially created in a
sound effects studio. See also EFFECTS TRACK.
SOUND GATE The part of a printer where a negative optical track is exposed onto the print stock.
SOUND HEAD The the optical or magnetic sound track reader on a reproducer or projector.
SOUND NEGATIVE A negative optical film sound track recorded on an optical film SOUND CAMERA, either
directly from microphones (pre-1955 approx), or later from MAGNETIC TRACKS, or
most recently from a digital system. See OPTICAL TRACK NEGATIVE, more commonly
used in US.
SOUND POSITIVE / PRINT (1) A positive optical film sound track, printed from a SOUND NEGATIVE. See OPTICAL
TRACK POSITIVE, more commonly used in US.
SOUND POSITIVE / PRINT (2) Loose term for a film print with both picture and sound track, easily confused with
SOUND POSITIVE/PRINT (1).
SOUND PROJECTOR Film projector with a SOUND HEAD (commonly used for amateur film projectors).
SOUND TRACK (1) A general term for any optical sound image, or magnetic track, magnetic stripe on a
film.
SOUND TRACK (2) A general term for the sound content of a film.
SOUND-ON-FILM General term for a combined image and sound on a film, usually a print. Also used in
early years of sound film as a contrast to Vitaphone and other systems that were
"Sound on disc"
SPACING Film, usually black, opaque white or clear, inserted into a roll for any reason.
Occasionally JUNK film, i.e.discarded film with images, is used.
SPARKLE Transient white marks on a positive film caused by dust on the negative it was printed
from. See NEGATIVE DIRT.
SPECIAL EFFECTS General term for an illusion or distortion of time or reality, in film or video.
SPECTRUM In optics, the continuous range of visible wavelengths of light.
SPEECH TRACK A sound track used in the production process with voice only, ie no music or effects.
See also DIALOGUE TRACK, COMMENTARY TRACK.
SPEED (FILM) General term for the RUNSPEED in frames per second, or feet/metres per second of
cameras, printers and projectors.
SPEED (SENSITIVITY) Numerical value defining the sensitivity to light of a film emulsion.
SPLICE A join in a length of film (or MAGNETIC TRACK of TAPE).
SPLICING TAPE Adhesive tape used in making BUTT SPLICES/TAPE SPLICES in film or TAPE. See also
MYLAR TAPE.
SPLIT SCREEN Optical effect of two or more separate images within a single frame
SPOKING Distortion in a roll of film so that the roll appears angular, not round, usually caused by
differential shrinkage between EMULSION and BASE.
SPOOL Flanged film roll holder for projection.
SPOOL (Verb) To wind up onto a reel, core or spool.
SPROCKET A tooth or a toothed drum or wheel used to drive or transport PERFORATED film.
SPROCKET HOLES The perforations in film and MAGNETIC TRACKS.
SQUEEGEE Flexible wiper blade for wiping away liquid.
SQUEEZED Loose term for an image with ANAMORPHIC compession.
ST SOUND TRACK.
STAR FILTER Filters that produces star pattern effects on images of light sources
STARBURST An effect of a rotating star increasing in size inserted as a short transition between
scenes
STATIC High electrostatic voltages, the result of friction, that fog or expose unprocessed film.
STATIC MARKS/TREES Images, often treelike or spidery, caused by static electricity.
STEENBECK Type of FLATBED film editor manufactured by STEENBECK in Germany.
STEP PRINTING Film printing frame by frame using an intermittent mechanism whereby each frame is
held stationary in the printer gate during exposure. See also CONTINUOUS PRINTING.
STEP WEDGE Loose term for SENSITOMETRIC STRIP.
STEREO Colloquial term for stereophonic or stereoscopic.
STEREOPHONIC Of sound reproduction involving at least two channels giving the impression of direction
and spatial distribution.
STEREOSCOPIC Of image reproduction where pairs of images presented separately to the viewer's left
and right eye give the illusion of three dimensional depth.
STEREOSCOPIC PAIR Two images that correspond to the left and right eye images for a stereoscopic
reproduction system. For film, these may be together on a single film, or on two
separate film reels.
STILL FRAME See FREEZE FRAME.
STOCK A general term for any any cinematographic film, often unexposed.
STOCK NUMBERS Term for data on the edge of a film, usually codes for the type of film. Also used to
mean EDGE NUMBERS.
STOCK SHOT A library shot commonly used and reused.
STOP FRAME See FREEZE FRAME.
STOP MOTION ANIMATION technique in which a camera is operated manually one frame at a time.
STORY BOARD A series of still pictures or cartoons representing each scene of a film or video.
STRETCH PRINTING Optical printing effect in which frames are repeated regularly in order to slow the
action down
STRIPE See MAGNETIC STRIPE.
STRIPING The process of applying a MAGNETIC STRIPE to film.
SUBBING LAYER A coating applied to the BASE of film during manufacture to allow the emulsion layer to
adhere. Sometimes refers to other layers, such as antistatic layers, in a film.
SUBSTRATE Alternative term for SUBBING LAYER, also used for any film BASE material.
SUBTITLE A title at the bottom of a motion picture frame usually to translate the sound track
language, or for the hard of hearing.
SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR Colour created by mixing together dyes, paints etc. of different colours (usually Cyan,
Magenta and Yellow) so that each colour absorbs (subtracts) some parts of the
SPECTRUM. See also ADDITIVE COLOUR.
SUBTRACTIVE SYNTHESIS
(COLOUR)
The creation of colour by mixing together dyes, paints etc. of different colours (usually
Cyan, Magenta and Yellow) so that each colour absorbs (subtracts) some parts of the
SPECTRUM. See also ADDITIVE SYNTHESIS.
SUCCESSIVE EXPOSURE As SEQUENTIAL FRAME (US term). Abbreviation SE.
SUCCESSIVE FRAME See SEQUENTIAL FRAME.
SURROUND SOUND A general term for sound reproduction in which the listener is surrounded by sound
from at least four channels.
SWEETENING A general term for improving sound quality and matching it precisely to a film image.
SYNC See SYNCHRONISATION.
SYNC MARK A mark, usually X, on one film frame to indicate synchronisity with a similar mark or a
SYNC PULSE/BLIP on a soundtrack.
SYNC PULSE A short sound on an optical or magnetic track to be synchronised with a SYNC MARK
on a film. See BLIP.
SYNCHRONISATION The process of aligning any separate sound track with a picture image.
SYNCHRONISER Device for running two or more film and/or sound track films at once and at the same
rate.
SYNTHESIS (PRINTING) The process of reproducing a colour image from the ANALYSIS records.
TABLE 3 Table 3 of the ATSC Digital Television Standard A/53, Annex A, summarises the many
picture formats allowed for Digital TV transmission in the USA. Any one of these may
be compressed and transmitted. An DTV receiver must be able to display pictures from
any of these formats. There are 23 different formats in the table with some 18 for
HDTV.
TABS Colloquial term for RF CUES.
TAIL The end of a roll of film. See also HEAD.
TAIL OUT A reel of film or tape wound so that the end is on the outside of the reel. See also END
OUT, HEAD OUT.
TAKE A scene filmed in a single shot without stopping the camera. There may be multiple
takes filmed for any scene. See SHOT
TAKE-UP The part of a piece of film or tape equipment which winds up the film/tape into a roll.
TAPE (1) Unperforated magnetic sound or video recording material.
TAPE (2) See JOINING TAPE/SPLICING TAPE.
TAPE SPLICE SPLICE made with SPLICING TAPE.
TAPE-TO-FILM RECORDING A film record produced from a video tape (Analogue or Digital).
TELECINE Equipment for (or the act of) transferring film (and soundtracks) to video, originally
used for direct TV broadcast, more recently for recording on videotape. Often
abbreviated to TK.
TELEPHOTO LENS A camera lens with a long focal length.
TELERECORDING (1) A method of capturing a TV or video image on film by filming a monitor (with a fast
pull-down camera). UK term, see KINESCOPE, US term.
TELERECORDING (2) A print from a TELERECORDING NEGATIVE.
TELERECORDING NEGATIVE A film negative made by TELERECORDING.
TEMP DUB A temporary audio mix made before the final mix often using temporary music, effects
and narration, etc. (US term)
TEST FILM Specially made film with images for testing, for instance, projector, printer, scanner,
film characteristics.
THAW A return to action after a freeze frame effect.
THREAD See LACE.
THREE PERF / 3-PERF System in which 35mm film is exposed in a camera with 3-perf PULL-DOWN, that is
where the film is advanced by three instead of the usual four perforations for each
frame, and with a wide ASPECT RATIO, so that 25% less film is used.
THREE STRIP A colour system using three separate colour separation negative elements, ie Red,
Green and Blue records on separate black and white films. Notably used in the
Technicolor three strip system.
THREE-COLOUR Any colour system using either three ADDITIVE or three SUBTRACTIVE colour
elements.
THROW Distance from a projector lens to the screen.
TIME LAPSE Film or video recording with a controlled delay between frames, used to greatly speed
up the action.
TIMER See GRADER, (US term).
TIMING See GRADING. (US term).
TINT /TINTING /TINTED Black and white print film coloured by dyeing the film base or the gelatin with colour
dye. See also TONE.
TITLE NEGATIVE A negative film element with titles. May be conventional images, computer graphics,
effects negatives, or an OVERLAY to be used with a background picture negative.
TK See TELECINE.
TONE/TONING Black and white print film in which the silver image is converted to a coloured image by
a chemical process. See also TINT.
TONING BATH/TONER An aqueous solution for TONING black and white film.
TRACK (1) A general term for SOUNDTRACK.
TRACK (2) As a digital term, refers to any of various tracks (image, sound, subtitle, etc.) in a
moving image file.
TRACK APPLICATOR Device for applying a viscous developer solution in a bead or stripe to an optical sound
track print. See APPLICATION.
TRACK NEGATIVE A film with a negative optical sound track only. See SOUND NEGATIVE, OPTICAL
TRACK NEGATIVE.
TRACKING (IMAGE) Following a defined point, or points, in a series of pictures in a clip. It can be applied to
control picture moving for special effect, removal of film weave and unsteadiness,
damage repair, replacing moving objects etc.
TRAVELLING MATTE (1) A film SPECIAL EFFECT created by printing a moving foreground action from one
source with background from another.
TRAVELLING MATTE (2) The MASK element used to separate the foreground from the background, made from a
green or blue screen negative, in order to create a TRAVELLING MATTE effect.
TRIACETATE Loose term for the common form of CELLULOSE ACETATE film base in which nearly all
hydroxyl groups of cellulose have been replaced by acetate groups. See also
DIACETATE.
TRICHLOROETHYLENE Solvent used for cleaning film, now no longer used for health reasons.
TRICOLOR FILTERS A set of three colour filters for exposing black and white separation negatives or
positives.
TRIMS Portions of scenes left behind after the utilised part is cut into a production. See also
CUTS & TRIMS.
TRIMS AND OUTS Portions of scenes and out-takes left behind after the utilised part is cut into a
production, often stored after negative cutting. See also TRIMS., CUTS AND TRIMS.
TRIPACK A colour film with three separate Red, Green, and Blue sensitive layers on a single
base. Sometimes called an integral tripack.
TRIPLE BILATERAL SOUND
TRACK
Three parallel BILATERAL SOUND TRACKS.
T-STOP Measure of actual light transmission through a lens at varying apertures.
TTL Through The Lens: method of determining exposure by reading the light level through
the imaging lens of the camera.
TWO PERF / 2-PERF System in which 35mm film is exposed in a camera with 2-perf PULL-DOWN, that is
where the film is advanced by two instead of the usual four perforations for each
frame, and with a wide ASPECT RATIO, so that 50% less film is used.
TWO STRIP A colour system using two separate colour separation negative elements, usually
Orange and Green-blue records on separate black and white films.
TWO-COLOUR Any colour system using either two ADDITIVE or two SUBTRACTIVE colour elements.
TYPE A Refers to colour film balanced for 3400K scene illumination
TYPE B Refers to colour film balanced for 3200K scene illumination
TYPE D Refers to colour film balanced for 5400K or similar scene illumination, equivalent to
daylight
ULTRASONIC CLEANER A device for cleaning film using ultrasonically induced cavitation in a solvent.
ULTRSONIC SPLICER Device which makes a welded join in POLYESTER film by using ultrasound to fuse the
overlapping ends of two pieces of film together.
ULTRA-VIOLET Electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths just shorter than the visible spectrum,
immediately next to violet light. See also INFRA-RED.
U-MATIC Video tape system developed by Sony using 3/4 inch tape in cassettes.
UN Short for UNISSUED, an unissued newsreel or edition.
UNDER-CRANKED A film shot at less than normal speed, in order to produce a speeded up effect on
projection, or sometimes in order to achieve acceptable exposure in low light
conditions.
UNIDIRECTIONAL In one directional only, usually referring to film printers.
UNILATERAL SOUND TRACK An optical photographic sound track, one single sided asymmetric variable area, ie.
modulated on one side only.
UNSQUEEZED The process of displaying an anamorphic image in uncompressed form, by projection
or printing.
UP-AND-DOWN TRACKS A 35mm photographic sound film with two tracks, one running in each direction on
either side of the film.
UP-REZING/UP-RESING Increasing the number of pixels used to represent an image by interpolating between
existing pixels to create new ones – typically used to improve the visual appearance of
an SDTV image transferred/recorded to film, or converted to HDTV. The process does
not increase the resolution of the image.
VARIABLE AREA TRACK Uniform density optical film sound track in which the image width varies with the sound
modulation.
VARIABLE DENSITY TRACK Uniform width optical film sound track in which the image density varies with the sound
modulation.
VIEWFINDER Optical device for viewing an image, on a camera or printer.
VIGNETTE / VIGNETTING An image in a diffuse oval or round surround.
VINEGAR SYNDROME Decomposition of cellulose acetate film base over time producing acetic acid.
VISCOUS PROCESSING Film processing using surface applied viscous solutions. See also APPLICATION.
VOICE TRACK Any sound track with voices, without other music or effects. See also SPEECH
TRACK/DIALOGUE TRACK/COMMENTARY TRACK.
VOICE-OVER / TRACK See COMMENTARY TRACK.
VTR Video Tape Recorder
WALK THROUGH A scene played though without filming. See also DRY RUN.
WEAVE Lateral movement of film in projection, printing or camera causing side to side
unsteadiness.
WEDGE Loose term for SENSITOMETRIC STRIP. See also STEP WEDGE.
WET GATE A printer, telecine or scanner gate where the original film, or both the original film and
unexposed stock, are immersed or coated with a liquid in to minimise scratches. The
liquid is chosen to have a similar refractive index to the film BASE. See also LIQUID
GATE.
WET PRINTING Contact or optical printing using a WET GATE.
WHIP PAN A rapid PAN in which the image is blurred and indistinct.
WIDESCREEN (1) General term for any ASPECT RATIO greater than Academy 1.33:1 (4:3).
WIDESCREEN (2) A term used for a projection ASPECT RATIO of 1.85:1, as opposed to any other wide
aspect ratio format.
WIDESCREEN (TV) A TV picture that has an aspect ratio wider than the ‘normal’ 4:3 - usually 16:9 - while
still using the normal SD video. 16:9 is also the aspect ratio used for HDTV.
WILD SHOOTING Picture shot without synchronised sound.
WILD TRACK Sound recorded without synchronised picture.
WIPE A scene transition where one image replaces another by a boundary moving across the
frame.
WORK PRINT Term used by editors fo a CUTTING COPY, or a print from a cutting copy (see SLASH
DUPE).
WRAPAROUND The degree of any close contact of film or tape around a capstan, drum, sprocket wheel
or other drive system.
WRATTEN FILTER A Kodak optical filter for camera or printer, identified by a number, e.g. Wratten 25.
WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get. Usually, but not always, referring to the accuracy of a
screen display in showing how the final result will look.
X-AXIS The horizontal axis of a graph. See also Y-AXIS, Z-AXIS.
XENON ARC An arc lamp which uses xenon gas at high pressure to produce an intense white light.
Commonly used in film projectors since the phasing out of CARBON ARCs.
XYZ A wide GAMUT COLOUR SPACE defined by CIE, and specified for use in DIGITAL
CINEMA applications.
Y The symbol for linear-light luminance, the CIE Y tristimulus component. Often
carelessly used for luma Y'.
Y' The luma component of a video signal.
Y', (R'-Y'), (B'-Y') These are the analogue LUMA, Y', and colour difference signals (R'-Y') and (B'-Y') of
component video. Y' is the gamma-corrected luminance information or luma. The
colour information signals are the differences between a colour and luma, red minus
luma and blue minus luma, and are derived from the original RGB source (eg a camera
or telecine). All components are gamma corrected which is denoted by the prime.
Y', PB, PR The luma and colour difference signals of analogue component video. PB and PR are the
colour difference signals (B'-Y') and (R'-Y') scaled to the same excursion as Y' for
transmission.
Y, CB, CR The luma and colour difference signals of digital component video. CB and CR are the
colour difference signals (B'-Y') and (R'-Y') scaled and offset for digital distribution. The
scaling factors are different for SD and HD signals.
Y-AXIS The vertical axis of a graph. See X-AXIS, Z-AXIS.
YCM Yellow, Cyan, Magenta, the subtractive primaries, also print grading lights (in
Technicolor). Also referred to as CMY.
YELLOW A subtractive primary colour. See CYAN/MAGENTA
YUV Shorthand commonly – but incorrectly – used to describe analogue luma and colour
difference signals in various component video systems. The term seems to have
become used simply because YUV is easier to remember than accurate technical terms.
See Y'UV/ Y', PB, PR/ Y, CB, CR
Y'UV Luma and two colour difference signals scaled for encoding into a composite video
signal. Often incorrectly used as YUV.
Z-AXIS The other horizontal axis of a three dimensional graph. See X-AXIS, Y-AXIS.
ZERO-CUT Using A & B CUTTING to avoid 16mm splices being seen on the print.
ZOOM The visual effect resulting from varying the focal length of a zoom lens during filming.
ZOOM LENS Lens having a variable focal length.