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HANDOUT – Explanation of Technical Terms

BCU
Big Close Up

CHANGE OF CAMERA POSITION


(see DOLLY, PAN, TRACK, TILT, ZOOM) Note that all these movements can
be used singly or combined (for example TRACK and TILT can be used
together)

CHANGE OF IMAGES
(see CUT, DISSOLVE, FADE, SUPER)

CHANGE IN SOUNDTRACK
(see CROSSFADE, CUT, FADE)

CLOSE SHOT
(see SHOT)

CLOSE UP
(see SHOT)

CREDITS
A series of titles giving the names of all those associated with a production
(DIRECTOR, producer, actors writers, technicians etc.)

CROSS FADE
(see also CUT, FADE) The audio equivalent of DISSOLVE, a cross fade
occurs when one SOUND TRACK becomes audible before the previous one
disappears. For example, the sounds of gunfire from a battle scene may
persist into a scene of people talking in a room and be heard above their
conversation before it disappears.

CS
(see SHOT)

CU
(see SHOT)

CUT
(see also CROSS-FADE, DISSOLVE, FADE, SUPER) A quick change from
one image to another. Suppose a simple stag-scene in a theatre of two
people talking. You, the audience, have only one person perspective of the
scene (allowing for the actors to move about of course) On the screen it is
common to see much more of a scene made up of a master SHOT showing
both people talking, interspersed by cuts to close up shots first of one person
and then the other.
In a television studio cuts are achieved simply by switching from one camera
to another. The term ‘cut’ is a literal one where film cameras have been used.
The film editor actually cuts and rejoins lengths of film taken from the different
camera angles or taken of different scenes.
A similar effect can be used with SOUNDTRACKS, where one track is
abruptly replaced by another at a change of scene.

DOLLY
(see also PAN, TILE, TRACK, ZOOM) A dolly is the wheeled platform on
which the camera is mounted. However, the script direction ‘dolly in’ actually
means to move the camera forward, and vice-versa for ‘dolly out’ sometimes
called TRACKING IN and TRACKING OUT.)

DIRECTOR
The man actually in charge of the technical crew and actors as a film is made.
In television he is often called the producer.

DISSOLVE
(see also CROSS FADE, CUT, SUPER) Changing scene by means of
overlapping images, so that as one image FADES OUT another FADES IN
over it. (OCCASIONALLY called a MIX)

EFFECTS
Usually written as F/X for short (this is a pun similar to K9 dog biscuits, IXL
jams) Refers to sounds other than dialogue – music, traffic noises, waves
crashing etc.)

FADE
(see also CROSS FADE, CUT, DISSOLVE, SUPER) The image disappears
until the screen is black (fade out) or, on blank screen an image gradually
appears (fade in). Fades may be fast or slow to suit the mood of the scene.
Fades can also refer to manipulation of the SOUNDTRACK where sounds are
faded in or out

FILTER
(see also VOICE OVER) The sound engineer passes the microphone signal
through a filter to give the effect of voices being heard on telephones,
intercoms, walkie-talkies and so on.

FRAME
That fractional part of the total scene actually viewed by the TV or film camera

FREEZE FRAME
(compare with HOLD FRAME) All movement is ‘frozen’ so that the shot
appears like a still photograph. (this does not mean the actors hold poses, but
is a trick effect carried out when the film is being processed.)

F/X
(see EFFECT)

HOLD FRAME
(compare with freeze-frame) The cameraman holds the camera steady on the
scene This is usually an extra, explicit instruction not to PAN with a person
actually leaving the FRAME
LOCATION
An actual outside setting for a scene, not a studio SET. However, note that a
specially-built fake ‘ton’, although outdoors, is usually called a set

LONG SHOT LS
(see SHOT)

MCU
(see SHOT)

MEDIUM SHOT
(see SHOT)

MIX
(see also CROSS FADE; compare with DISSOLVE) The operation of
combining several separate SOUND TRACKS on one tape. For example, to a
soundtrack of conversation might be added separately recorded background
music and the ringing of a telephone

MS
(see SHOT)

PAN
(see also DOLLY, TILT, TRACK, ZOOM) An abbreviation of panorama, pan
describes the movement of swiveling the camera from one side to another,
from a fixed viewpoint – much as a person standing still in a crowd will turn his
head about when looking for a friends. (for ‘pan down’ and ‘pan up’, see TILT)

POINT OF VIEW (POV)


Usually abbreviated to POV
A man is show looking down into a street from an upstairs window. The next
shot shows what he is seeing. For this, the camera would replace the man at
the front of the window to record the scripted direction “MS of a parked car
from MAN’ POV).

SCENARIO
This complete script with all the technical directions added

SET
(see also LOCATION) A set consists of scenery specially built within the
studio and is mainly used for interiors (although exteriors – for example a
footpath outside a shop or a bush gully – are also fakes sometimes). For
convenience, a studio ‘room’ usually has no ceiling and has removable walls
so that the bulky film or TV equipment has room for maneuver. (Imagine the
feat of cramming two cameras, a sound boom, lighting and actors into the
dining room in your house!)
SHOT
Refers to the distance of the camera viewpoint from the subject, by the use of
specialized lenses; telephotos make the scene appear much closer than it is
‘really’; (wide angles make it appear much further away (see also ZOOM)
There is no standard terminology for shots; some terms are; CS (close shot,
MS (medium shot) LS (long shot). Others are 2/S, 3/S (two shot, three shot –
meaning shots that included two or three people only): CU (close up), MCU
(medium close up), BCU (big close up).
In these scripts, each technical term is given in full for its first two
appearances; it is abbreviated for the rest of the script.

SOUNDTRACK
The combination of EFFECTS, background music, and dialogue which when
MIXED together into one recording, accompanies the film or VIDEOTAPE
presentation. Derived from the name of the sound track or stripe down the
edge of a film which carries the film signal.

SUB TITLES
(see TITLES)

SUPER
(see also CROSS FADE, CUT, DISSOLVE, FADE) Meaning ‘superimpose’,
this term refers to the laying of one image on another
TITLES and CREDITS are frequently superimposed on a scene

TAKE
The filming or videotaping of a single scene. The DIRECTOR may take ten
takes before he is satisfied

TEASER
The five minutes of the opening scenes of a film of telecast, placed before the
titles to get the audience interested in the story and, hopefully, to ensure that
they do not change channels!

TELECINE
(see also VIDEOTAPE) This is a combined movie projector and TV camera
used for transmitting movies. Also used to indicate a filmed scene inserted
into a production largely videotaped in the studio

TILT
(see also DOLLY, PAN, TRACK, ZOOM) The movement of swiveling the
camera up and down, sometimes called a ‘pan up’ or a ‘pan down’ instead of
a ‘tilt up’ and ‘tilt down’.

TITLES
(see also CREDITS) Any type of matter that is presented on the screen, often
as a SUPER. Sub-titles supply a translation of the dialogue in a foreign-
language film

TOP SHOT
(see also TILT, SHOT) A shot taken from above, looking down

TRACK
(see also DOLLY, FAN, TILT, ZOOM) The camera moves in a direction
parallel to that taken by the subject. For example, two people walk along a
footpath; the camera, keeping pace, views them from the side.

VOICE-OVER (V/O)
(see also FILTER) Usually abbreviated to V/O, voice over is used by the
unseen narrator of a documentary film. In a scene of a person talking to
another on the phone, the unseen caller is heard voice-over. In his film
Hamlet, Sir Laurence Olivier is seen to be deep in burdensome thoughts.

WIDEN
The opposite of TIGHTEN; when a shot is widened it becomes a longer shot.
Sometimes used instead of DOLLY BACK and ZOOM OUT

ZOOM
(see also DOLLY, PAN, TRACK, TILT) A zoom lens is so designed that it can
change continuously from a close SHOT to a long shot without losing focus.
The effect is superficially similar to dollying but can be carried out much
faster. ‘zoom in’ means zoom to a closer shot, ‘zoom out’ means the opposite.

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