Question | Answer |
The phenomenon that describes how humans perceive motion from a series of rapidly sequenced still frames. | persistence of vision |
Originally approved the type of standard TV transmission system used in the U.S. | National Television System Committee (NTSC) |
Combining two video field in one frame by scanning all the even lines and then all the odd lines. | interlaced scanning |
How many frames per second film & video? | 24 frames per second (film) and 30 frames per second (video) |
A process to compose a video picture in which a TV monitor electronically draws line 1 and subsequently scans the remaining lines of image. | progressive scanning |
The ratio of screen width to screen height. | aspect ratio |
A method for showing widescreen images on a standard TV set by reframing portions so that the main elements are centered. | pan and scan |
Vertical block bars that appear when placing 4:3 images in a 16:9 aspect ratio. | pillarbox |
The degree to which fine detail in the image can be distinguished; related to the quality or detail of an image. | resolution |
(T/F) The higher the resolution the more bars/lines. | T |
The smallest unit of visual information. (A combination of the word "picture" and "element") | pixel |
Brightness characteristics of a video signal. | luminance |
The color characteristic of a video signal. | chrominance |
Video signal that combines luminance, chrominance, sync, and blanking info. | composite |
Video signal that separates luminance and chrominance system. | component |
The specific tint or actual shade of a color. | hue |
The intensity or purity of color. | saturation |
A device in a camera that breaks incoming light into the primary colors. | Prism Block |
A computer chip that converts light to electrical energy. | CCD (Charged Coupled Devices) |
The device that controls the amount of light entering the camera. | iris |
A French term for designing and staging of the production space. | Mise-en-scene |
A shot that gives a sense of the subject and the subject's surroundings. | medium shot |
A shot that shows a scene as a particular character in the movie would see it. | point-of-view shot |
The area in which objects located at different distances from the camera remain in focus. | depth of field |
A shot taken from above, looking down on a scene. | high-angle shots |
The principle that, to make composition more dynamic, it is better to try to break a frame into thirds rather than halves. | rule of thirds |
The space to the side of a frame at which a person is looking; also called look space. | noseroom |
An element of a movie that begins when the camera starts running during production and ends when it stops running. | shot |
A shot that covers an entire scene from an angle wide enough to establish spatial relationships. | master shot |
A shot of someone or something not directly visible in the previous shot. It is frequently used to show some related detail or reaction to the main action. | cutaway |
A shot that orients the audience to a change in location or time. | establishing shot |
The convention of changing the camera angle at least 30 degrees between two shots, to minimize the apparent jump in size or volume of a subject when those shots are edited together. | 30-degree rule |
Consistent and unobtrusive progression from shot to shot in terms of screen direction lighting, props, audio, and other production details. | continuity |
The person in charge of seeing that all parts of the script are actually shot and that continuity is maintained. | script supervisor |
The principle that places an imaginary lane between two people talking, or the screen direction established by a walking character or moving object. | axis of action |
Moving the camera pedestal laterally across the set. | truck |
A cut that provides a continuous sense of time and space between two shots. | match cut |
A method of shooting film or tape in which some of the action in one shot is repeated when the next shot is recorded. The technique is used to provide the editor with options. | overlapping action |
How should you focus your camera? | Zoom in all the way on the subject, focus on the subject, then zoom back out. |
What are the formats for film? | Super 8, 16mm (intended for amateur filming and costly), 35mm (used for most theatrical motion pictures), 70mm (used to improve the quality of theatrical films but very expensive) |
What are the formats for video? | Analog and Digital |
What are the Analog formats? | VHS, Betamax, Betacom, Hi-8, V-matic |
What are the Digital formats? | Mini-DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO |
The distance from the optical center of the lens to the point in the camera where the image is in focus. | focal length |
The part of the camera that gathers light and focuses the image. | lens |
The variable opening in a lens that controls the amount of light passing through it. | aperture |
Numbers that indicate the setting of the lens aperture. | f-stop |
The area in which objects located at different distances from the camera remain in focus. | depth of field |
A shot that isolates a subject in relation to the surroundings | close-up (CU) |
A method for shifiting audience attention or emphasis in the video frame, where the videographer changes focus from one object on the z-axis to another object. A method to create depth in the frame. | rack focus |
A video shot in which the camera is looking up at the subject. | low-angle shot |
A shot that looks from behind the shoulder of one character toward another character or object | over-the-shoulder shot (OS) |
Refers to cable that has two wires, one for positive and one for negative and ground; also refers to a composition with more relative weight on one side of the frame than the other | unbalanced |
Refers to cable that has three wires—one for positive, one for negative, and one fro ground; also refers to a composition that has the same relative weight on both sides of the frame | balanced |
The amount of space above the character’s head in a particular framing configuration | headroom |
Space left in the video frame for a person to talk or look in a particular direction; also known as noseroom or look room | leadroom |
To move the camera left or right on a tripod or by hand | pan |
To adjust the focal length of the shot on a variable focal length lens while the shot is being executed | zoom |
A shot that emphasizes the surroundings and the subject’s placement in them | long shot (LS) |
A shot or series of shots presenting a unified action and occurring in a single place and time | scene |
A cut to a shot that isolates some element in the previous shot | cut-in |
Scaling the video to 33% of its original size. Fills the width of a standard frame but leaves black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. aka Widescreen | letterbox |
Relates to compression of video, an artifact that consists of the appearance of small squares in an image that look like tiles | blocking |
A fixed focal length lens | prime lens |
A method for creating depth in the video frame in which horizontal lines in the frame are placed along the z-axis rather than parallel | linear perspective |
A method for creating depth in the video frame when one object along the z-axis is in focus while other objects are blurry | selective focus |
An attribute of color that defines the luminance of a color. aka lightness | brightness |