Shots and Cues A to Z

Flat drawn or vector animation, or animation of modelled objects in space.

Surround formats with five or seven speakers plus a subwoofer, and an immersive format that places sound in three dimensions.

A cut to the same subject should change the angle by at least 30 degrees, or it looks like a mistake.

An imaginary line between two people. Keeping the camera on one side keeps their positions consistent.

The main footage, usually the interview, and the supporting footage cut over it.

The main plot, a secondary plot, and a small recurring thread.

Sound heard without its source being seen (Chion, 1994)

The turning point that ends one act and launches the next.

The major and minor divisions of a play.

Description of what is seen and heard, in present tense.

How sound changes what we think we see in an image (Chion, 1994)

A director’s note asking for a different approach on the next take.

Re-recording dialogue in a studio to match the picture.

Background sound of a place, recorded separately.

A storyboard timed to a soundtrack. For storyboard, see Marks and Measures B7.

The size of the lens opening. A low f-number such as f/1.8 means a wide opening and more light.

Theatre used for education, health, community or social change rather than entertainment.

The part of the stage in front of the curtain line.

The camera circles around the subject.

Characters telling each other what both already know, purely to inform the audience.

See Marks and Measures B4. Video adds 9:16 for vertical and 4:5 for social feeds.

The first, loose arrangement of selected shots in order.

Narration that describes important visual content for blind and low-vision viewers.

A script for radio, podcast or audio drama, with sound cues written in.

A tryout, a second tryout for shortlisted performers, and an audition recorded at home.

Reading a director as the author of a film, with a recognisable personal style.

Recorded changes to volume or effects over time.

The person, and the station, running audio and visuals.

A light behind the subject that separates them from the background.

Continuous ambient layers that set the place.

Pre-recorded accompaniment played during a live performance.

A subject placed in front of a bright window, so their face falls dark.

Re-recorded dialogue that doesn’t match the lips, the room or the performance.

A single moment or unit of action. Also a deliberate pause.

In a script, a brief pause written into the dialogue. Two meanings: see B16.

In acting, a unit of a scene in which one objective holds. Two meanings: see B14.

A list of the story’s key turning points, in order.

Does a work have two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man? (Bechdel, 1985)

How much data per second the video uses. Higher means better quality and bigger files.

A plain, flexible room with no fixed stage or seating.

Bright areas so overexposed they turn pure white with no detail.

The quality of the out-of-focus blur behind a subject.

Exporting a finished mix to a single file.

A surface that reflects light back onto the subject.

Beats per minute, and the speed of the music.

Taking several shots at different exposures to be sure of one good one.

An interactive script where the audience’s choices lead to different paths and endings.

A performer addressing the audience directly.

See Marks and Measures B9.

A small logo in the corner of the frame throughout.

A short branded clip before or after the main content.

Taking a rapid series of shots.

A route that combines several channels, and a feed of a channel to an effect or monitor.

The day’s schedule: who must be where, when, and with what.

When a person must arrive.

Giving every cue to the crew during a performance.

Physically operates the camera.

Blur from the camera moving, or from the subject moving.

Taken without direction, or arranged by the photographer.

Captions transcribe speech and sound cues for viewers who can’t hear. Subtitles translate speech for viewers who can’t understand the language.

Emotional release at the end of a drama.

Labelled points that let viewers jump to sections.

How a character changes over the story.

The speaker’s name in capitals above their dialogue.

Turning slightly toward the camera or audience while appearing to face another performer.

Anything prominently shown should matter later. Otherwise leave it out.

The sense that performers connect believably.

Exaggerated overacting.

A group commenting on or narrating the action, and a company working as a collective rather than around stars.

Documentary that provokes and participates, and documentary that observes without interfering.

Using the visual language of film well. Also, loosely, “looks expensive”

Audio free of hum, echo or background noise.

A metronome in performers’ ears to keep time.

The hand-held control for advancing slides.

Distortion when sound is too loud for the recorder to capture.

The face fills most of the frame.

How video is compressed inside the file.

Starting straight into the content before any titles.

Performing from a script seen for the first time.

Fixing exposure and colour so shots are accurate and match.

Giving the corrected footage a deliberate look or mood.

How warm or cool light looks, measured in kelvin (K). Tungsten is about 3200 K, daylight about 5600 K.

Corrects and grades the footage.

Italian improvised comedy built on fixed character types, and types any audience recognises at once.

How elements are arranged within the frame.

Narrowing the gap between loud and quiet sounds. Two meanings: also shrinking a file.

A screen facing the speaker showing the current and next slide.

A character walks between two lines of people voicing arguments for and against a decision.

Marks that a speech continues after action, or onto the next page.

A grid of thumbnails for choosing the best shots.

Consistency of details, positions and direction from shot to shot.

Editing designed to be invisible, so the story flows without the viewer noticing the cuts.

A detail that changes impossibly between shots.

A performer breaking into laughter on stage.

What performers wear, and the department that makes and maintains it.

Signals showing a speaker how much time is left.

Enough shots from enough angles to edit a scene smoothly.

An arm that lifts the camera for high, sweeping moves.

Alternating between two scenes happening at the same time.

Breaking the 180-degree rule, so people seem to swap sides.

Dark areas so underexposed they turn pure black with no detail.

A technical rehearsal that skips from one cue to the next.

A signal for something to happen, and the list of all of them.

The bows at the end.

Cutting in the middle of a movement so the change feels seamless.

An instant change from one shot to the next.

A shot of something else, inserted to cover a cut or add context.

A large curved backcloth lit to look like sky or empty space.

A night with no performance.

Software for recording, editing and mixing audio, such as Logic, Pro Tools or Audacity.

Silence with nothing happening, on screen or on stage.

Units of sound level, and a measure of perceived loudness used to standardise delivery.

Foreground and background both sharp, so the viewer chooses where to look.

How much of the image, front to back, is in focus. Shallow keeps only the subject sharp.

Too closely imitating earlier work.

Sound created from scratch or heavily processed, for things that don’t exist or need heightening.

An unearned rescue from outside the story.

Work created collaboratively by the company, without a finished script to start from.

A box connecting instruments to the desk, the standard microphone cable, and power sent down it to certain microphones.

Cleaning, smoothing and assembling all the speech before the mix.

Choice and clarity of words, and the crispness of consonants.

Sound that belongs to the scene, such as a bell ringing, or sound added from outside it, such as music.

Material or a fabric box that softens a light.

Absolute silence in a mix, which sounds like a fault rather than quiet.

A writer filling a spec script with camera directions.

Owns the creative vision and directs the performers and crew.

Owns the look: camera, lenses, framing and light.

One shot gradually fades into the next.

Separate dialogue, music and effects tracks, and a version with music and effects but no dialogue, used for dubbing.

Expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, performative and poetic ways of making documentary (Nichols, 2017)

Dollying one way while zooming the other, so the background seems to stretch.

The whole camera moves toward or away from the subject.

A full version of the script, and a light final revision.

The list of characters at the start of a play.

An adviser on the text, its context and its research.

Footage from a flying camera.

A performer forgetting their lines on stage.

Deputy stage manager, who usually calls the show, and assistant stage manager, who runs props and the wings.

Automatically lowering music when someone speaks.

Camera tilted so the horizon slopes.

An ending or emotional moment the work has properly set up.

Motion that starts or ends gradually instead of at constant speed.

Sound reflecting around a hard room.

Assembles footage into the finished piece.

Time skipped between scenes, left for the audience to fill. Two meanings: also a figure of speech in Instruments and Moves.

The closing screen with credits, links or a call to action.

A portrait showing the person in their place of work.

Brecht’s theatre, designed to make audiences think critically rather than lose themselves in the story (Willett, 1964)

One instalment, and a planned run of instalments.

Boosting or cutting particular frequencies, such as removing rumble.

The video form of the explainer in Instruments and Moves C1: one idea, often animated.

Information the audience needs to follow the story.

Background delivered in one heavy block.

How light or dark the image is overall.

The three settings that control exposure together: aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

Voiceover, and a voice heard from off screen.

One detail: eyes, hands, a word on a page.

A very wide view that shows where the scene takes place.

Camera at the subject’s eye height. Neutral.

Where a person is looking, and a cut that shows what they are looking at.

A shot gradually appears from or disappears into black.

Gradually raising or lowering a sound, and one sound fading out as another fades in.

A howl when a microphone picks up its own speaker.

The three Foley categories: footsteps, clothing and body movement, and props handled on screen.

A softer light that lifts the shadows the key light creates.

Crime films of shadowy lighting and moral ambiguity.

A refined edit with timing settled, before final sound and colour.

A stray single frame left between two clips.

A jump back or forward in time.

Flat frames covered in canvas or board, painted as walls.

Pulsing brightness from lights that clash with the camera’s frame rate.

The space above the stage where scenery is hung and raised.

The lens’s angle of view, in millimetres. Lower is wider.

The point the camera focuses on, and the system that finds it.

A performer who recreates everyday sounds in sync with the picture.

A studio with different floor surfaces and materials for performing sounds.

The layers of depth in a frame.

Hints of what is to come.

A scene of oppression replayed, with audience members stepping in to try other actions (Boal, 1979)

The invisible wall between the stage and the audience.

Frames shown per second: 24 for a cinematic feel, 25 or 30 for broadcast and web, 60 for smooth motion.

A doorway, window or screen that frames the subject inside the shot.

Animation drawn one frame at a time.

What the edges of the shot include and exclude.

A single frame held still on screen.

Common stage lights: soft-edged, sharp-edged and shaped, a strong beam, and a light that moves and changes on command.

Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement (Freytag, 1863)

The audience areas, and the desk where sound and lights are run.

A person from head to toe, filling the frame’s height.

The chief lighting technician, and the crew who rig and move equipment.

Whose point of view the camera adopts, and the argument that film often frames women as objects for a male viewer (Mulvey, 1975)

A coloured filter placed in front of a light.

A category with shared conventions and audience expectations.

Bringing the set and kit into the venue.

Taking the set and kit apart and out.

A stabiliser that keeps a moving camera smooth.

Everything the script says about who, where, when and why.

A stencil in a light that projects a pattern, such as leaves or a window.

The hour after sunrise or before sunset, when light is soft and warm.

Animation that adds movement but no meaning.

The waiting room for speakers and performers.

Calls to the company: thirty-five minutes before curtain, opening performers to the stage, and the American call to start positions.

The camera is held by the operator, so it moves with them.

Distinct sounds tied to on-screen events: a door, a bell, a car.

Light from a small source with sharp shadows, or from a large source with gentle ones.

A fine mist that makes light beams visible.

Space between the top of the head and the top of the frame.

A tight portrait of head and shoulders.

A hero leaves the ordinary world, faces trials and returns changed (Campbell, 1949; Vogler, 2007)

Camera looking down on the subject. Can make them seem smaller.

A premise that can be stated in a single line.

Bright, even lighting with few shadows, or dark lighting with strong contrast.

A graph of an image’s tones from dark to light, used to judge exposure.

The slide shown before a session starts or between sessions.

Respectful tribute, imitation of a style, and imitation for comic or critical effect.

The catchiest, most memorable phrase of a song.

A message read by the host in their own voice, rather than a produced spot.

A participant answers questions in character.

The audience’s left and right, facing the stage.

The lights over the audience, and all lights off at once.

Electrical noise in the recording.

An event with both in-person and online audiences.

Audiences moving through and taking part in the world of the show, and work made for a particular place.

Performing without a script, and the rule of accepting and building on what a partner offers.

Starting in the middle of the action.

A stage with the audience on all sides.

The event that sets the story in motion.

A close shot of an object or detail cut into a scene.

How easily speech can be understood.

An instruction to cut back and forth between two locations.

Meaning drawn from references to other works.

The break between acts. The first is British, the second American.

The usual sections of a song.

The sensor’s sensitivity to light. Higher ISO brightens the image but adds noise.

The next shot’s sound starts before its picture, or the last shot’s sound carries over the next picture.

Motion that stops and starts instead of flowing.

A cut, sound or transition that jolts the viewer without meaning to.

A cut between two similar shots of the same subject, so time seems to skip.

The main light on the subject.

A frame that fixes a position or value. Software fills in the frames between.

Animated text that moves in time with speech or music.

A four-part East Asian structure: introduction, development, twist and reconciliation, without central conflict.

Viewers read the same face differently depending on the shot beside it.

A small clip-on microphone worn on clothing.

Combining several sounds into one effect.

Extra space in the direction a subject faces or moves.

Lines in the scene that draw the eye toward the subject.

The stand a speaker reads from, and the raised platform they stand on. Often confused.

Straight lines bending, or faces stretching near the edges of a wide lens.

Black bars above and below, or at the sides, when the picture doesn’t fill the screen.

Sudden changes in loudness between segments or speakers.

How loud a signal is, and the amount it is boosted at input.

The lights hung for a show, and the plan showing where each one goes.

Script directions for a scene’s start and end.

A hard ceiling that stops sound going above a set level.

A director demonstrating exactly how to say a line. Many actors dislike it.

Broadcasting live online, and broadcasting on several channels at once.

A script whose scene numbers and pages are frozen for production.

Footage recorded with low contrast to keep detail for grading.

The whole story in one or two sentences.

A shot that runs for a long time without a cut.

Tedious stretches.

An animation that repeats seamlessly.

A lightweight animation file format for web and apps.

Camera looking up at the subject. Can make them seem powerful.

The name-and-title caption bar at the bottom of the frame.

A preset that transforms colour, often used as a starting grade.

Shorthand for lighting and sound, used in cue names such as LX Q12.

An object everyone pursues that matters only because it drives the plot.

A style or performance whose techniques are too visible.

Students take on the role of an expert team commissioned to solve a problem (Heathcote & Bolton, 1995)

A taped spot on the floor, and landing on it exactly so focus and framing work.

The last shot of the day.

One sound hiding another, usually music burying speech.

The highest-quality final version, kept for future exports.

A wide shot that covers a whole scene from start to finish.

A cut joining two shots through a matching shape, movement or sound.

A daytime performance.

The host who links the programme together.

A person from mid-chest up.

A person from about the waist up.

Work that draws attention to its own making.

An American development of Stanislavski that draws on the actor’s own emotional memories.

Music that mimics every on-screen action. Fine in cartoons, intrusive elsewhere.

A work within a work, such as a play inside a play.

Everything placed in the frame: setting, lighting, costume, performance and composition.

A cue taken late or not at all.

See B13 (mixing, mastering)

Light sources of different colour temperatures in one shot.

The hardware or software that combines and adjusts all sources.

Balancing all the tracks, then preparing the final mix for consistent playback everywhere.

The person who runs a panel or Q&A.

A wavy interference pattern on fine stripes or screens.

Speakers or earpieces that let performers hear themselves.

One audio channel, or two for left and right.

A long speech to others, a speech spoken alone revealing thoughts, and a brief remark to the audience.

A sequence of short shots that compresses time or builds a theme.

The Soviet idea that meaning arises from the collision of shots, not the shots alone.

A recurring image or idea, and a recurring musical theme tied to a character or idea.

Creates animated graphics and titles.

Animated graphic design: shapes, text, icons and charts in motion.

Justified by something in the scene: a move, a light or a cut with a reason.

Common video file containers.

A mix where sounds blur together without clarity.

Exaggerated facial expressions aimed at the camera or audience.

Recording each source on its own lane so each can be adjusted separately.

Background music laid under speech.

One piece of music placed at a specific point, numbered in sequence.

A list of every piece of music used, with timings, for licensing and royalties.

Light already present, from windows or the sky.

Theatre that tries to reproduce everyday life on stage as closely as possible.

Using an existing recorded song, licensed for the purpose.

Post-war Italian films of everyday life on location, and French films that broke the rules of continuity.

One screen or scene in a branching script, and a point where the learner chooses.

Speckle in an image from low light or high sensitivity.

A story told out of time order.

The director’s feedback after a rehearsal or preview.

What a character wants in a scene, and why.

Following the script to prompt performers who forget a line.

Dialogue or imagery that states its meaning too directly.

Burned permanently into the picture, or switchable on and off.

The sunken area in front of the stage for musicians.

Lips and words that don’t line up.

A scene-by-scene plan of the story before the script is written.

Sound squeezed so hard it loses all dynamics and sounds flat.

Framed from behind one person, looking at another.

Camera directly above, looking down.

A session running past its time.

How fast the piece feels as a whole.

Material added to fill time rather than to serve the story.

One properly formatted page, in 12-point Courier, runs about a minute on screen.

The camera turns left or right on a fixed point.

Placing a sound between left and right speakers. Two meanings: a camera pan turns the camera.

Layers moving at different speeds to suggest depth.

A short direction in brackets under the character cue, such as (quietly)

The whole camera moves straight up or down.

Performance that tells its story mainly through movement and the body.

The point after which the edit’s timing no longer changes.

Bursts of air on p and b sounds hitting the microphone.

A gap or contradiction in a story’s logic.

What a character sees, from their position.

A screen that stops breath blasts, and a furry cover that blocks wind.

A light that appears in the shot, such as a desk lamp.

Preliminary mixes of each element, then the combined final balance.

Planning, shooting, and everything after the shoot.

Ad or announcement slots at the start, middle and end.

The performance critics are invited to review.

A public performance before the official opening, when changes can still be made.

A lens with one fixed focal length, or one that can change it.

An extended drama built with the class, with the teacher shaping it from within.

Owns budget, schedule and delivery.

General support on set.

The overall sense of polish and craft.

The subject seen side-on, or turned partly toward the camera.

Making the voice carry to the back of a space without shouting.

The master script holding every cue, move and note for the show.

The side of the stage where the stage manager sits, usually stage left in the UK, and the other side.

Objects handled or used on stage.

A stage framed by an arch, with the audience on one side.

A low-resolution copy used for smooth editing, swapped for the original at export.

Widely used software that plays sound, video and lighting cues.

A rapid costume change, often just offstage.

Shifting focus from one subject to another within the shot.

An unprocessed image file with maximum detail, for editing. For JPEG, see Marks and Measures B10.

A shot of someone responding to what is said or done.

One recorded performance of a line, and a re-record of a short section.

A visit to check a location’s light, sound, power and access before the shoot.

A clue designed to mislead the audience.

A device setting asking apps to minimise animation, for people who find motion uncomfortable.

Written permission to film a person and use their image.

Turning an animation or edit into a finished video file.

See Marks and Measures B5. Video resolutions are named by height: 1080p is Full HD, and 4K has about four times its pixels.

Correcting or altering a photo after it’s taken.

A move that uncovers the subject gradually.

Added echo of a space, and distinct repeats of a sound.

Changed pages issued in a set sequence of colours (blue, pink, yellow and so on) so everyone knows which version they hold.

The pattern of shot lengths and cuts.

Building a skeleton of controls so a character can be animated.

An outline of a figure annotated with what is known about a character.

Wobble or slanting in fast movement, from how the sensor reads the image.

Recorded silence of a space, used to fill gaps in the edit.

A complete but unpolished edit for structure and story.

A handheld microphone carried to audience members.

Paid for once, then usable without further fees, within the licence terms.

The feed that delivers a podcast to apps such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Placing the subject on the lines of a three-by-three grid rather than dead centre.

The minute-by-minute running order of an event, with every cue.

A complete practice from start to finish.

Unedited footage from a day’s shoot.

A short recorded sound reused in a new piece, and one that repeats seamlessly.

A popular fifteen-beat template for screenplay structure (Snyder, 2005)

The line that opens each scene: INT. or EXT., the location, then DAY or NIGHT.

A minor performer who draws attention from the leads.

Music composed specifically for a production.

The consistent direction of movement across shots, such as always left to right.

A video recording of a computer screen, often with narration.

A fabric that looks solid when lit from the front and see-through when lit from behind.

A reader’s report summarising and judging a script. Two meanings: camera coverage is in Part A.

A writer brought in to fix a script, and a pass that sharpens the jokes or lines.

The words to be spoken, and a script with pictures on the left and sound on the right.

The best takes chosen from all the footage.

A self-contained, elaborately staged sequence.

One camera position and lighting arrangement.

Planting something early that matters later.

In focus or out of focus.

The production version, with numbered scenes and technical detail.

Every shot needed, in the order it will be filmed.

A directional microphone, and the pole that holds it above the frame.

The written summary published with an episode: guests, links, timestamps and references.

The stage manager’s record of each performance: timings, problems, audience.

Letting action and detail reveal meaning instead of stating it.

A number or moment so strong it halts the show with applause.

How long the sensor is exposed, such as 1/250 of a second.

Harsh, hissing s sounds.

The few script pages used for an audition.

A subject seen only as a dark shape against a bright background.

One, two or several people in the frame.

The board filmed at the start of each take to label it and sync sound.

A work that builds gradually and rewards patience.

Filming at a high frame rate and playing back at normal speed.

An abrupt cut to a sharply contrasting shot or sound.

Sound that carries across a cut to link two scenes.

Creates the full sonic world of a film, game or show: effects, atmospheres and their placement.

Sounds added to the picture. For Foley, see B15.

A collection of recorded effects, licensed for reuse.

Sound that matches the distance and space of the shot.

Records and monitors sound on set.

Testing sound with performers before the show, and checking each input works.

A layered bed of sound that creates a sense of place.

All the sound in a film, or the album of its music.

A script written on the writer’s own initiative, without camera directions.

Two images side by side, or one small image inside another.

A narrow beam on one person, and one operated by hand to follow them.

A meeting to decide where music, effects or Foley go, scene by scene.

Plain-text caption file formats with timings.

Instructions in a play script for movement, setting and delivery, usually in italics.

The performer’s left and right, facing the audience.

The person who runs the stage and calls cues, and the broadcast equivalent on the studio floor.

Film that feels like filmed theatre, static and declaimed.

How cues are called: a warning, then the instruction to act.

An approach to acting built on a character’s objectives, circumstances and inner life (Stanislavski, 1936)

A work built around showcasing one performer.

The camera doesn’t move at all.

Grouped submixes such as dialogue, music and effects, delivered separately.

A frozen picture made with bodies to show a moment or idea.

A short musical phrase marking a moment or transition.

Physical objects moved slightly and photographed frame by frame.

The events in time order, and the order and way they are told.

What is meant but not said.

The audience’s willingness to accept a story’s premise (Coleridge, 1817)

How editing stitches the viewer into the film’s point of view.

Adding or enhancing sound to make a moment richer.

Permission to pair a piece of music with moving pictures.

Sound recorded at the same time as the picture.

The mind’s fusing of a sound and an image that happen together, even when they don’t really belong (Chion, 1994)

A summary of the story, from a paragraph to a few pages.

Cast reading the script aloud around a table.

One recorded attempt at a shot.

The people on camera.

Recorded audio, especially interview recordings, whatever the medium.

Recording a remote guest locally on their side for better quality.

The teacher takes on a character to lead the drama from inside it.

A short scene before the opening titles, and a short scene after the main story ends.

A run for lights, sound and cues, and a full run exactly as on the day.

Signalling what’s about to happen before it does.

A screen that scrolls the script in front of the speaker or camera.

Placeholder music used during editing before the real score exists.

Plays showing life as meaningless through illogical plots and circular dialogue (Esslin, 1961)

The signature music, and the standard opening and closing segments.

Characters in a still image speak their private thoughts aloud when tapped.

Set-up, confrontation and resolution.

The standard set-up of key, fill and back light.

A stage that juts into the audience, who sit on three sides.

The still image representing a video before it plays.

Trimmed close, or with room to spare. Said of edits and of framing.

The camera turns up or down on a fixed point.

A horizon that slopes by accident.

Frames taken at intervals and played back fast.

The editing workspace, one piece of footage, and an assembled run of clips.

A full screen of text, usually the title.

Inner zones of the frame where text and key action are guaranteed to show. See also Marks and Measures B7 (safe area)

Jarring shifts between moods, such as comedy into tragedy.

A performance of exceptional skill.

The camera travels alongside a moving subject.

The full text of what is said, as a separate document.

An editing instruction such as CUT TO: or DISSOLVE TO:, used sparingly.

An opening in the stage floor.

A stage running down the middle with the audience on both sides.

A short prose description of how the video will look and feel.

A three-legged stand, and a short rail for small camera moves.

A familiar device or convention, sometimes worn into cliché.

The whole camera moves sideways, parallel to the subject.

The frames generated or drawn between two keyframes.

The unease caused by figures that look almost, but not quite, human (Mori, 1970)

Music played quietly beneath dialogue or action.

A performer ready to cover a specific role, and one who covers several roles.

A cut with no reason in the action, the sound or the story.

A narrator whose account can’t be trusted.

Toward the back of the stage, or toward the audience.

Standing further upstage so a partner must turn away from the audience. More broadly, stealing attention.

What the footage, music or images may be used for, where and for how long.

Plays built from the exact words of real people, taken from interviews or records.

Techniques that remind the audience they are watching a play, such as placards and songs.

The appearance of being true or real.

Video shot and shown in portrait orientation.

A small, acoustically treated room for recording voice.

A creaky low register at the end of phrases, and a rising tone on statements.

Speech recorded separately and laid over the picture.

Music as the audience arrives, and music as a speaker takes the stage.

Going through positions and movements on stage.

Unintelligible background chatter of a crowd.

Physical and vocal exercises before performing.

General light covering an area, and one light focused for a single moment.

A pan so fast the image blurs, often used as a transition.

A camera setting that makes white look white under a given light.

Drawings that appear as if sketched on a whiteboard.

Stock sound-design elements: a passing rush, a building swell, a hit, and a sustained tone.

The whole subject with plenty of surroundings.

A lens that takes in a wide view, or one that magnifies distant subjects.

Lines recorded on location without the camera rolling, for later use.

The hidden areas at the sides of the stage.

One shot pushes another off the screen with a visible edge.

A microphone that transmits to a receiver without a cable.

Stiff, expressionless performance.

The end of filming, for the day or the whole shoot.

A team writing a series together, and the person who runs the series and its room.

Overused parentheticals that tell actors how to read every line.

The lens changes focal length so the image grows or shrinks, while the camera stays put.