Machine Leader:
Strong leader threaded through a film processing machine which is used to pull film through the machine during its operation. (Laboratory)
Mater:
A small adjustable clamp with a baby stud which can be interchanged with a variety of accessories. (Grip)
Magenta:
A red-purple color which is the complementary color of green.
Magnetic Film (mag film):
Film which is coated with an iron oxide compound on which sound is recorded and from which sound is reproduced.
Masking:
A phenomenon whereby one or more sound “trick” the ear into not hearing other, weaker, sound that are also present. (Audio)
Master (print master):
A positive print made specifically for duplicating purposes. (Laboratory)
Match Cut (match-action cut):
A cut made on action or movement between two shots in which the action has been overlapped either by repetition of the action or by the use of more than one camera. (Film Editing)
Match Dissolve:
A dissolve linking images which have similar content. (Film Editing)
Match-Image Cut:
A cut from one shot to another shot having an image of the same general shape as the one in the prior shot. (Film Editing)
Matching:
Arranging for the impedances presented by a load to be equal to the internal impedance of the generator. This is essential to avoid loss of power. In microphones, the loss results in poorer signal-to-noise ratio. Matching is done by means of a transformer. (Acoustics)
Matching Action:
The process of aligning or overlapping the shots of a film sequence in order to achieve a smooth transition from the action in one shot to the action of the succeeding shot. (Film Editing)
Maxi-Brute:
A 9 light unit with (9) 1000 watt PAR 64 lights. (Lighting)
MB:
The acronym for megabytes which is a measure of computer storage capability; the equivalent of 1,000 bytes.
ME Track:
This refers to the music and effects tracks which are combined into one (or a stereo pair) for use with foreign language re recording of a film or video program.
Meat Axe:
An grip arm-like accessory which is designed to clamp onto the hand rail of a studio overhead catwalk, or other suitable surface, and has a gobo head at the end of the arm. (Grip)
Mercer Clip:
A trade name for a small plastic clip which is used to hold film ends together during film assembly. (Film Editing)
Mickey:
An open faced 1K lighting unit. Also known as a ‘Redhead’. (Lighting)
Microphone Impedance:
The nominal load impedance for a microphone indicates the optimum matching load which utilizes the mike’s characteristics to the fullest extent. Impedance is a combination of dc resistance, inductance and capacitance, which act as resistances in ac circuits. An inductive impedance increases with frequency; a capacitative impedance decreases with frequency. Either type introduces change in phase. (Acoustics)
MIDI:
Musical Instrument Digital Interface. A machine protocol that allows synthesizers, computers, drum machines and other processors to communicate with and/or control one another. (Sound)
Mix:
Electrically combining the signals from microphones, tape, and/or reproducers and other sources. (Post Production)
Mix Cue Sheet (cue sheet):
A sheet having several columns for notations of footage, fades. volume levels, and equalizations which are used in mixing sound tracks where each column usually represents one track.
Montage:
The assembly of shots and the portrayal of action or ideas through the use of many short shots. (Film Editing)
MOS:
Silent filming. Traditionally explained as Motion Omit Sound.
Motivated Lighting:
A lighting style in which the light sources imitate existing sources, such as lamps or windows. (Lighting)
Moviola:
A trade name for an upright film editing machine.
M-S:
(Mid-Side). A stereo microphone technique where two microphones are incorporated into a special configuration for recording. (Audio)
Multichannel:
In film, used to refer to a final mix that includes more than stereo information (i.e., LCRS or six-channel surround formats).
Multitrack:
An audio tape recorder capable of handling more than two tracks of information separately.
Musco Lights:
An array of permanently crane mounted HMI lights. (Lighting)
N
Negative:
( 1) For a black-and-white image those tonal values which are the opposite of those in the original subject. (2) For a color image, those color values which are the complement of those in the original subject. (Film Editing)
Nets:
A bobbinet on a frame used to cut lighting intensity by either a half stop or full stop. (Grip/Lighting)
Neutral Density (ND):
Colorless filters that reduce the amount of light in controlled degrees. (Camera/Lighting)
Noir:
Usually refers to the classic black and white film noir style used in detective mysteries, typically employing hard lighting and dark, low key lighting. (Camera/Lighting)
Noise:
In audio systems, noise is the electrical interference or other unwanted sound introduced into the system (i.e. hiss, hum, rumble, crosstalk, etc). (Sound)
Notch:
A recess on the edge of a piece of film which automatically triggers a mechanism effecting some modification of the duplication process, commonly a change of exposure light intensity. (Film Editing)
NTSC:
National Television Standards Committee. The organization that sets the American broadcast and videotape format standards for the FCC. Color television is currently set at 525 lines per frame, 29.97 frames per second.
O
Obie:
An eyelight mounted on the camera. (Lighting)
Octave:
The interval between two sounds having a basic frequency ratio of 2 to 1. (Sound)
Offline:
The videotape editing process whereby the final edit list is compiled, usually in a more inexpensive edit room, in preparation for the on-line edit. (Video)
Off-Scale:
Outside the range of the standard light values of a printer. (Laboratory)
One-Light Print:
A print made with a single printer light setting for all shots in the film being printed. A common method to produce a ‘daily’ color print. (Laboratory)
Online:
The videotape editing process that creates the final video edit master, including effects, from the offline edit list. (Video)
Opacity:
The ratio of the amount of light falling on a surface to the amount of light which is transmitted. (Lighting)
Opaque Leader:
Any strip of flexible, optically opaque material used to space picture in A/B roll film cutting and editing. (Film Editing)
Optical Effects:
A laboratory or print procedure in which shots are modified by use of an optical printer. These are most commonly seen as fades and dissolves, however, it can include a wide range of special effects procedures. (Laboratory)
Optical Printer:
A printer in which an image of the original is transferred to raw film stock by means of light and a lens system. (Laboratory)
Optical Sound:
A sound track in which the recording uses variation of a photographic image.
Optical Stereo:
A film recording system replayed by scanning the stereo tracks by means of a photo cell lamp.
Outgoing Scene:
The first scene of a dissolve or wipe effect which changes into the second, or incoming scene.
Out-Take:
A take of a scene which is not used for printing or for the final assembly of a film.
Overlapping and Matching Action:
Repeating part of the action in one shot at the beginning of the next shot, or covering the action with two or more cameras, then matching the overlaps on the editing table for the purpose of making a smooth cut on action. (Film Editing)
P
Packaging:
A combination of several creative elements such as a script, actor/s, and director which is used to attract interest in a production for the purposes of obtaining financing or distribution.
PAL (Phase Alternating Line):
The European color television standard that specifies a 25Hz frame rate and 625 lines per frame.
Pan:
A horizontal movement of a camera on a fixed axis.
Parallels:
Temporary Scaffolding, used as a platform for the camera, lighting, or other rigging. (Grip/Lighting)
Pay or Play:
A contract provision which commits the production company to compensate a cast or crew member for a project whether or not that project ever goes into production.
Phase Distortion:
This is a shifting of output voltage relative to input by an amount which is disproportional to frequency. This will not detectable until it an amplifier. (Acoustics)
Phase shift:
The displacement of a waveform in time. Some electrical components introduce phase shift into a signal. When various frequencies are displaced differently, distortion occurs. Electrical cancellation may occur when two equal signals are out of phase by 1~3()¡. However, this may also be used are a encoding method where the shift is removed on playback (similar to the method in which a Dolby Surround sound track is encoded and played back. (Post Production)
Phantom Power:
A method of remotely powering the preamplifier or impedance converter which is buitlt into many microphones by sending a voltage along the audio cable. (Audio)
Phase:
The timing relationship between two signals. (Audio/Electronics)
Pick-up Shot:
Reshooting a portion of a scene, the rest of which was acceptably filmed in a previous take.
Pilot Tone:
A sine wave signal, recorded by various field audio recorders at a known frequency, which is used to resolve the tape speed on playback to retain sync with film camera footage.
Pin:
A component of a camera or printer mechanism which engages with a perforation hole to move and locate film for exposure.
Pink noise:
A sound signal that has an equal amount of energy per octave or fraction of an octave. (Sound)
Pitch:
The distance between two successive perforations along a strip of film.(Film) The frequency of audible sound (Sound).
Plate:
A background for any type of process shot. (Laboratory)
Playback:
A technique of filming music action first, the playing the music through loudspeakers while performers dance, sing, etc.
Positive Scratch:
The black image on a print of a scratch on the positive from which the print was made. (Film Editing)
Post-Production:
The period in a project’s development that takes place after the picture is delivered, or “after the production.” This term might also be applied to video/film editing or refer to audio post-production.
Practical:
Any light that appears in the scene. (Lighting)
Preamplifier:
An electronic device that boosts extremely weak signal voltages, such as those from microphones or mag heads, to a level that is usable by power amplifiers. (Electronics)
Pre-Blacked:
A video tape which has already had a control track, usually with SMPTE encoded time code, but without any picture or sound. This is done to facilitate the video editing or assembly process.
Prescoring:
Recording of music or other sound prior to the shooting of the picture which is to accompany it. The most common usage is in animated film. (Sound)
Principal Photography:
The main photography of a film and the time period during which it takes place. (Production)
Printing Sync:
The relation between the picture and sound components in which they are printed to give the necessary displacement for projection as a composite print. (Laboratory)
Prism Shutter:
A device used on many film viewers, editing machines, and some high-speed cameras, consisting of a rotating prism of four or more sides through which the viewer light passes as film is pulled continuously through it. (Film Editing)
Process Shot:
A shot that will be composited from two other shots. The background part of this process is called a ‘plate’. (Laboratory)
Production Dupe:
A duplicate negative prepared in the final form for release printing. (Laboratory)
Production Sound:
Recording and/or mixing sound on location during the film or video shoot. Typically this has been recorded to an analog Nagra reel-to-reel machine, though DAT recorders and other digital formats are now making significant inroads.
Projection-Contrast Original:
An original reversal film which is designed to have normal contrast when projected. (Film Editing)
Projection Leader:
A short length of film having standard markings on it, used to enable projectionists to make instant changeovers from one projector to another. (Film Editing)
Punch:
A device for punching a hole in film leader to locate a starting point for editorial or printing synchronization. (Film Editing). Also refers to specular light. (Lighting)
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