Reel Expression

These should be all the terms that I’ve used in the tutorial plus others that may be important. Most of the origins are prior to NLE, video and the web so sometimes the exact meaning changes.

General:

180° Rule - This is the rule which states that if two people are filmed in a sequence there is an invisible line between them and the camera should only be positioned anywhere within the 180 degrees on one side of the line. Crossing the line results in a certain particular jump, where is appears that the two people suddenly switched places.

Continuity - The seamlessness of detail from one shot to another within a scene. Continuity refers particularly to the physical elements, rather than to the choices in Coverage that can result in a lack of seamlessness. Elements of continuity include any actions of the actor, the placement of props, the lighting, the costumes, and so on.

Coverage - Coverage is used to describe the architecture of breaking down a script into the shots that will allow the scene to be cut together. Although coverage addresses the bare-bones question of getting shots that will cut together smoothly, it is important not to be too distracted from bigger aesthetic question of getting the right shots for the scene to work.

Footage - 1.: The amount of film one has shot. 2.: The whole of the exposed film itself.

Frame - A single image (of a series of them) on a piece of film. There are 24 frames per second.

Pick ups - When you have finished shooting and your editor tells you need more footagte of a specific scene, it’s called a pick up.

Scene - A scene is really just a single shot. But often scene is used to mean several shots, which is more to do with the word’s origin in theater. It is sometimes clearer to say “sequence” for several shots, so as not to confuse the filmic and theatrical meanings of the word.

Shooting Ratio - The ratio of how much film shot compared to running time of the finished film. For instance a 5 minute film for which you shot 30 minutes of footage would have a shooting ratio of 6 to 1.

Shot - A shot is the film exposed from the time the camera is started to the time it is stopped. Shot and Scene are interchangeable terms.

Split Screen - Typically a split screen is a matte shot divided down the center of the shot.

Take - Multiple versions of the same shot are called takes.

Development:

Script - The blueprint or roadmap that outlines a movie story through visual descriptions, actions of characters and their dialogue

Script Breakdown - a) an analysis of a screenplay in which all of the production elements are reduced to lists in order to schedule and budget the production; b) a director’s creative analysis of the dramatic action, reciprocal struggle, theme, and design elements of a screenplay.

Pre-Production:

Production Board - A cardboard or wooden chart holding colour-coded strips of paper, each containing information about a scene in the script. The strips can then be rearranged and laid out sequentially to represent the order one wants to film in (most films are shot “out of sequence,” meaning that filming does not begin with scene 1 and end with the last scene). This produces a schedule that the producers can use to plan the production

Shooting Schedule - a principal photography production schedule to organize the shooting of scenes out-of-continuity in the most economical and time-saving way possible.

Shot List - A list of all the shots / scenes that need to be filmed.

Storyboard - A board or panel containing a series of small drawings or sketches that roughly depict the sequence of action for a script, used before actual filming begins.

Types of Shots:

Cutaway - A shot, usually a closeup of some detail, or landscape, that is used break up a matching action sequence, and is often very helpful in editing to rescue you from an impossible break in continuity or coverage. A cutaway, as the name implies, is a shot that does not focus on some detail of the shot before or after it but cuts away from the action at hand, unlike an Insert Shot. However, the two terms are sometimes used vaguely or interchangeably, although this is not always a useful practice. The best cutaways are the ones that have some logic to them, that relate to the scene.

Dolly Shot - A dolly shot is one where the camera is placed on a dolly and is moved while filmming. Also known as a tracking shot.

Dutch Tilt - A composition with the camera viewing the scene at a diagonal. Same as a canted angle. Some nice examples can be seen in Carol Reed’s “The Third Man.”

Follow Focus - A shot where focus is changed while shooting to correspond with the moment of the subject (or the camera).

Insert Shot - A close-up of some detail in the scene. (Sort of like a cutaway without the “-away” aspect.)

Master Shot or Wide Shot - A single shot, usually a wide shot, that incorporates the whole scene from beginning to end. Typically a master shot will be filmed first, and then all the close-ups and other shots afterwords.

Pan - A horizontal camera move on an axis, from right to left or left to right. In a pan the camera is turning on an axis rather than across space, as in a dolly shot. Not to be confused with Tilt, technically it is not correct to say “pan up” or “pan down,” when you really mean tilt.

P.O.V. Shot - Point of View Shot. A shot from the perspective of one of the characters, as if the audience were seeing the scene from their eyes. It is often important to get a Reaction Shot to establish that any given shot really is a P.O.V.

Reaction Shot - 1.: A shot of someone looking off screen. Used either to lead into a P.O.V. Shot (and let the viewer know that it is a P.O.V. shot), or to show a reaction right after a P.O.V. shot. 2.: A reaction shot can also be a shot of someone in a conversation where they are not given a line of dialogue but are just listening to the other person speak.

Reverse Shot - A shot from the other side of the previous shot (though preferably on the same side of the 180° Line), such as cutting between two characters talking, a person exiting and entering though a doorway, a reaction shot and P.O.V. shot, etc.

Tilt - A vertical camera move on an axis, up or down. Not to be used interchangeably with pan. It is not really correct to say “pan up” or “pan down,” when you really mean tilt.

Tracking Shot - A tracking shot is one where the camera is placed on a dolly and is moved while filmming. Also known as a dolly shot.

On Set:

Camera Reports - A report filled out while shooting that includes various information about the take. For example: Scene 1 - Shot 3 - Take 4: good take. Or S1 S3 T3: Bad take - actor trips and falls.

Eye Line - Eye line is the direction an actor should look off-screen to match a reverse angle or a P.O.V. shot. It is best to give the actor an actual thing or spot to look at rather than a blank spot on an empty wall or an empty space in mid air.

Head Room - The space between the top of a subject’s head and the top of the frame. Headroom must be carefully apportioned so that there is not too much or too little, especially if shooting for transfer to video or for blowup, where the frame will be cropped in a little on the top and sides.

M.O.S. - A shot, a sequence, or a film that is shot without sound, which is added later. M.O.S. stands for “Mit Out Sound,” and derives from an old Hollywood story about a German director asking for a shot to be filmed “mit out sound,” and the camera assistant complying with this request by writing “M.O.S.” on the slate.

Nose Room - When a subject is in profile, nose room is the space between their face and the edge of the frame, similar to Head Room. In a profile shot, nose room is considered “good” when a little extra room in front of the person’s face, rather than behind their head. The general rule is that the space around the subject should be apportioned to 2/3rds in front of the subject’s head, and 1/3rd behind.

The Slate - A board with two hinged sticks attached. The slate is used to record a scene number and sync point (via the clapstick) at the beginning of a shot.

Tail Slate - Sometimes it is necessary to mark a shot at the end rather than at the beginning. When this is done it is called a tail slate. It is customary to call “Tail Slate!” just before clapping the slate, so that the person syncing the film does not get confused. To easily distinguish a tail slate, the slate is held upside down when marking the shot.

A Wrap or “It’s a Wrap!” - What to say when you are done shooting, either for the day, at that particular set, or on the entire film. Usually if it’s not the final shoot you would say you are just going to “wrap for the day.”

Editing:

Assembly Edit - The first edit. Generally a simple assembly of all the shots put together in the way the script calls for.

Dailies - The workprint, before it has been edited, so called because the of labs will have it ready later the same day it was dropped off. Also known as Rushes.

Dissolve - A transition between two shots, where one shot fades away and simultaneously another shot fades in. Dissolves are done at the lab in the printing phase, but prepared by the negative cutter, who cuts in an overlap of the two shots into the A&B rolls. Labs will only do dissolves in fixed amounts, such as 24 frames, 48 frames, etc.

Edit - 1.: The cutting and arranging of shots. 2.: In the different stages, or at the completion of editing the edited film itself can be referred to as “the cut” or “the edit.”

Fade - A transition from a shot to black where the image gradually becomes darker is a Fade Out; or from black where the image gradually becomes brighter is a Fade In. Fades are done at the lab in the printing phase, but prepared by the negative cutter, who cuts in an overlap of black into the A&B rolls. Labs will only do fades in fixed amounts, such as 24 frames, 48 frames, etc.

Final Cut or Locked Cut - The so-called final cut of a film when there are to be no more changes to picture.

Fine Cut - The final assembling of all the various audio and visual components of a film

Flash Frame - A very short shot (usually one frame, but occasionally several) that appears in a sequence of images. Typically this is a mistake and always jarring. It happens when your clips aren’t up against each other in the time line (this will be black), when you’ve caught the end of the film (white), or when the clip goes to another shot.

Head - 1.: The beginning of a shot or a roll is called the head.

Jump Cut - Basically, two similar shots cut together with a jump in continuity, camera position or time.

Parallel Editing - The technique of intercutting between two simultaneous stories or scenes.

Rough Cut - The edited film, between the stages of being an assembly and a fine cut.

Rushes - The workprint, when it is just back from the lab, unedited, called the rushes because of the rush to see that everything came out alright. Also known as Dailies, in honor of the minority of labs that will have it later that day.

Syncing - The actual lining up of sound and picture before editing a sync sound film. This also involves cutting the excess sound between takes, and adding filler, so that the picture and sound are now in sync for beginning to end.

Tail - The end of a shot or a roll is called the tail.

Transitional Effects - A method for moving from one scene to the next using an effect: fade, wipe, dissolve, ect.

Trim Bin or Editing Bin or Bin - A trim bin is a bin on wheels lined with a fabric bag and topped off with a frame with a row pins on which to hang film while editing. In non-linear editing (NLE using a computer for editing instead of film) the term is still used as the place where your clips are located.

Sound:

ADR- Automated Dialogue Recording. Recording dialogue to replace the location sound.

Dubbing - Recording of dialogue in a sound studio after the footage has been shot.

Foley - The recording of custom sound effects during post production in the same way that dialogue is dubbed. The term comes from the name of its inventor.

Location Sound - This is the sync sound, or any other sort of wild track or room tone that was recorded at the shoot. Same as Production Sound.

Mix - This is the process of combining all your soundtracks into one, with all the sounds blended together at their correct volumes, together with any equalization, filtering, and effecting of the sound to give you the desired end result.

Room Tone - A recording of the “silence” of a room or any location, to be used to fill in gaps when editing the sound. The silence of a location is really not very silent at all, and the room tone of one location is not a substitute for another, so a sync sound shoot will usually end with the sound recordist asking everyone to be quiet for the recording of 30 seconds of room tone.

Production Sound - This is the sync sound, or any other sort of wild track or room tone that was recorded at the shoot. The term is used in sound editing to distinguish between added backgrounds and effects and those from the shoot.

Sound Effects - An artificially created or enhanced sound, used to accompany the action happening on screen. Footsteps, explosions, doors, ect.

Sync - The degree to which sound and picture are lined up, in-sync being lined up exactly, and out-of-sync not so exactly. It can be applied to any specific sound and picture relationship, not just voices and not just sync-sound, but any type of specific effect too.