Worksheets Roles in Video Production

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture on video production roles and terms.

Director

Person in charge of preproduction details, working out camera and talent positions.

Script

Written 'blueprint' of what everyone will do, say, etc.

Producer

Person who's generally in charge of the entire production.

Technical Director

Person who operates the video switcher.

Talent

On-camera host, guest, etc.

Continuity Secretary

Person who makes notes on details of scene, talent accessories, etc.

Preproduction

The most important production phase.

Table read

Where talent first sits down together to go through a script.

Strike

Term for removing or disassembling sets.

Editor

Person who blends together footage, music and effects for final product.

Floor manager

Person who's responsible for coordinating activities in the studio or on the set.

Program proposal

Initial written summary of non-dramatic production.

Writing

Primary skill associated with most top production jobs.

Treatment

Written summary of story in dramatic production.

Target audience

Term for viewers you are 'aiming at'.

Farenheit 451

Book about censorship that has been censored.

Watchdog

One of the responsibilities of a free media is to be the ___ of the democratic process.

Demographics

Basic audience characteristics.

Staging

Positing of sets, cameras, actors, etc.

Off-line editing

Editing using a copy of original footage.

Ratings

Percentage of households watching a program from total number of TV households in an area.

CPM

Advertising cost per thousand people.

Period Piece

Dramatic production that takes place in a specific historic era.

Casting

Process of selecting key talent.

Institutional TV

Includes corporate and educational video production.

Share

Percentage of households watching a program from total number of sets turned on.

Time-code

Numbers that designate precise point in video footage.

Flashback

Momentarily cutting back to an earlier time.

B-roll

Video footage that supports the primary footage.

Parallel Stories

Two or more stories running concurrently.

Zoom

An optical version of a dolly.

Subjective

A shot from the actor's perspective.

Lap Dissolve

When two video sources in a transition momentarily overlap.

Truck

A lateral camera move.

Dolly

Moving the entire camera forward or backward in relation to the subject.

Canted

A Dutch angle is also referred to as a ___.

Below the line

Expense elements related to the physical elements (sets, props, production equipment, etc.).

Cost per viewer

Dividing the monetary investment for doing a production by size of the audience.

Depreciate

Writing off the cost of equipment over time.

PSA

Commercial-like announcement, generally for a non-profit cause or organization.

NTSC

Designation of U.S. broadcast system.

CCD

Camera 'chip' that records image.

Progressive

Non-interlaced scanning is also called ___ scanning.

Analog

Electronic signals originating in a camera or mic.

Noise

Hissing sound in audio or subtle snow in video.

Interlaced

Describes the odd-even approach to video scanning.

Frame

Two fields equal one __.

Amplitude

Strength of an audio or video signal.

16:9

Width-height of HDTV image.

FCC

Primary governing body for U.S. television.

Aspect Ratio

Width-height proportion of video picture.

PAL

System of TV developed in Germany and used in Britain and most of Western Europe.

4:3

Width-height ratio of SDTV.

Rushes

First versions of filmed scenes for initial review.

Letterbox

Aspect ratio conversion method that results in black or unused areas at the top and bottom of the screen.

Digital Cinema

Another name for e-cinematography.

Shoot and Protect

Approach to shooting HDTV video that takes into consideration the smaller SDTV aspect ratio.

Multi-path reception

Results in ghost images in analog TV.

Pirating

Copying and selling illegal copies of videos.

Focal Length

Distance between optical center of lens and target.

Wide-angle

Lens that has a great angle of acceptance.

Zoom ratio

Focal length range of variable focal length lens.

Telephoto

Lens that has a narrow angle of acceptance.

Zoom

Variable focal length lens is called a ___.

Prime

A high quality, fixed focal length lens used in HDTV and film.

Lens Speed

The maximum amount of light that the lens can transmit.

Depth of Field

The area along the lens axis that's acceptably sharp.

Selective focus

Term for the process of using limited depth of field to intentionally throw areas of the picture out of focus.

Macro setting

Enables the lens to attain sharp focus on an object only a few inches or even a few millimeters from the front of the lens.

F-stops

The numerical points on a lens relating to the amount of light the lens transmits.

Reduces

Moving an iris setting from f:8 to f:16 does this to the amount of light going through the lens.

Rack Focus

Change focus to shift viewer attention from one part of the scene to another.

Increases

Moving an iris setting from f:11 to f:8 does this to the amount of light going through the lens.

Neutral Density (ND) filter

Filter used to control the amount of light passing through a lens.

Gel

A type of filter that's much cheaper than a glass filter.

Ultraviolet filter

Used primarily to protect the camera lens from adverse conditions encountered in ENG work.

Lens Hood

Used to protect a camera image from offending glare or loss of contrast.

C-mount

Finely threaded cylinder about 25 mm in diameter that attaches lens to some types of cameras.

Shot box

Electronically 'floats' an active picture frame within a slightly larger target area.

Digital Image Stabilization

Protects camera from inclement weather conditions.

Rain Jacket

Protects camera image from offending glare or loss of contrast.

Optical Image Stabilizer

Originally based on a gyroscopically controlled mechanism that resists short, fast movements.

Underexposure

Insufficient light on the camera target is caused by this.

Vectorscope

Measures color (chroma) information.

Waveform monitor

Graphically displays and measures the brightness or luminance level of video.

Compressed blacks

Video that's dark, without any detail in the shadow areas evidences this.

Video Noise

Snow-like pattern in picture.

A compressed grey scale

Exceeding the brightness range of the video system typically results in this.

Magenta, cyan and yellow

Secondary colors in color TV.

Saturation

The purity of a color.

Blanking Signal

Sometimes called pedestal or setup.

Sync Generator

Supplies a common timing pulse for all equipment that must work in unity within a production facility.

Red, green, blue

Primary colors in color TV.

Night Vision Module

Amplifies light going through a lens.

Test Pattern

Shows lines of resolution; used to align video cameras.

Lux

Primary unit of light intensity used in the U.S.

Fluid Head

Most-used type of camera mount, especially for news and documentary work.

Foot-candle

Unit of light intensity typically measured.

Subjective camera shot

Simulates what a moving subject is seeing.

Pedestal

Another name for a studio camera mount.