Glossary of Terms

Just in case you’re not familiar with some of these words and terms, here’s some production lingo that might be helpful. (You’ll notice that many of these words have been used throughout the book.)

• 24-Frame Playback: Since videotape runs at 30 frames per second and film runs at 24 frames per second, when you’re filming a scene of someone watching TV, the TV footage has to be converted to 24 frames per second so when played back it remains in sync with the camera.
• Above-the-Line: Referring to the uppermost categories of a budget that encompass any and all costs relating to the writing, producing, directing and principal cast of a production.
• Apple Box: Various sized wooden boxes used to raise the height of an individual or piece of equipment.
• Base Camp: The area at or near a shooting location where the company operates out of and where you’ll find parked vans,trucks  and trailers containing any combination of equipment, wardrobe, hair, makeup, craft service, cast dressing rooms, school room, producers and the director’s trailer. Also, the catering truck and tent, at least one honeywagon and an extras holding area.
• Below-the-Line: Referring to the lower portions of a budget that encompass costs relating to the crew, extras, materials, rentals, props, sets, locations, catering, vehicles, office and legal expenses, etc.
• Best Boy: There are actually two best boys on a crew: the Best Boy Grip and the Best Boy Electric, and they are the seconds in command to the key grip and gaffer respectively.
• Box Rental: A fee paid to a crew member for use of his or her own equipment.
• Breakdowns: Schedules of individual elements needed for a show: extras, stand-ins, stunts, effects, second-unit requirements, picture vehicles, make-up/hair, special equipment, etc.
• Call Sheet: A game plan for what is to be shot the following day: who is to work, what time and where they’re to report and what, if any, are the special requirements needed to complete the day. Included on the bottom of the call sheet is an advance schedule for the next couple of days.
• Camera Car: A vehicle outfitted with camera, sound and lighting equipment designed to shoot a moving vehicle. The camera car is often attached to and drives the picture vehicle.
• Completion Bond: Insures motion picture financiers against cost overruns in excess of their approved budget and that the film will be delivered in accordance with all specifications contained in the financing and distribution agreements.
• Contingency: An amount of money added to a budget (customarily 10% of the total negative cost) to cover unexpected expenses.
• Continuity Breakdown: Tracks the sequence (or progression) of events throughout a script.
• Cover Set: An interior location scheduled as an alternate shooting site for bad-weather days when exterior shooting is not possible.
• Coverage: Shooting a scene from different angles and set-ups.
• Craft Service: The area on a set or in a production office where you will find snacks, water, coffee, fruit, sandwiches, etc. It also refers to the food itself as well as the person (or department) supplying and taking care of the food.
• Dailies: In the olden days, also known as “rushes,” this is footage that has been shot, rushed to the lab to be processed and printed, or if applicable, transferred to videotape for viewing the next day.
• Day-Out-of-Days: A chart that denotes workdays, almost always referring to the cast. It’s also a handy way to chart schedules for stunt performers, extras, stand-ins, special equipment and anything that might pertain to your show.
• Deal Memo: Outlines the terms of one’s employment on a specific project.
• Digitizing: The loading of material—videotaped footage, sound and music—into a digital editing system.
• Distant Location: When a crew shoots in another location away from their home base, necessitating an overnight stay.
• Drive-On: Permission left at a studio gate allowing a driver to enter the lot.
• Drive-To: A form of mileage reimbursement paid to cast, crew and extras for reporting to a local location. The mileage is determined by calculating the distance from the studio or production office to the location and back and multiplying that distance by a specified amount per mile.
• Dubbing: The process of duplicating a videotape, or as a film term, it can also be referred to as “mixing”—the blending of dialogue, music and sound effects.
• Effects: Visual effects are created when outside elements, such as animation, matte shots and computer-generated images (CGI) are integrated with original photography. The term visual effect also refers to the more familiar: reverses, dupes, flops, freeze frames, etc. Physical effects refers to the fabrication and development of models (miniatures), prosthetics, mechanically operated vehicles, puppets, robots and creatures and the creation of specialty props. Special make-up effects, used in thepreparation  of prosthetics, is included in this category as well. Mechanical effects, better known as special effects, encompasses the recreation of rain, wind and snow, explosions, crashes, bullet hits, etc.
• End Credits: Screen credits that appear after a show.
• Establishing Shot: A shot that establishes the location or setting of a scene.
• Exhibit G: A Screen Actors Guild (SAG) time sheet performers are required to sign off on at the end of every work day.
• Expendables: Supplies such as tape, rope, light bulbs and gels that are ordered for use on a show and used up during the course of the show.
• First Team: The principal actors required for a scene.
• Foley: A method of recording sound effects on a recording stage that involves physical movement recorded in synchronization with the picture (such as footsteps).
• French Hours: Union guidelines require a shooting company to break for a sit-down meal every six hours. Should it be inconvenient to stop for a meal break because of rapidly diminishing daylight, oncoming poor weather conditions or a desire to wrap a performer or location by the end of that day—the company may continue shooting if 51% of the crew agrees to do so. If they do, food is continuously provided, but it’s food that can be picked up while working and walking around the set. Once French hours are agreed to, however, the crew can work no more than ten straight hours without a sit-down meal, or the company faces retroactive (massive) meal penalty violations.
• Gaffer: The chief lighting technician responsible for lighting a set per instructions from the director of photography. This individual supervises placement of the lights before and during filming and is head of the electrical department.
• Greenlight: To give the final “go” and commit the financing necessary to make a film.
• Green Screen (or Blue Screen): A visual effects technique where actors are shot in front of a blue or green screen and the colored background is later replaced with another setting, thus transporting the actors to another location.
• Grip: One who shapes and shadows lights, rigs, lays and moves dolly track; sets up and alters stands that hold lights, scrims and flags and just basically moves, erects and alters anything essential to the set up of a shot. A key grip is the head of the grip department, a Best Boy grip is his second-in-command and a dolly grip specializes in pulling and pushing the camera dolly.
• Honeywagon: A tractor-pulled (long) trailer outfitted with individual dressing rooms (“bangers”) and restrooms.
• Insert: A close-up shot used to clarify or emphasize an item or action in a scene, sometimes shot on an insert stage after principal photography.
• Lamp Operators: Electricians who work under the supervision of the gaffer (or chief lighting technician).
• Leadman (or Leadperson): The second-in-command to the set decorator.
• Loanout: Pertaining to individuals who are incorporated. It’s when their corporation “loans out” their services to a production company and their compensation is paid directly to the corporation.
• Lock Up: A method of controlling unwanted or extraneous noise and activity immediately before and during the filming of a shot.
• Looping (or ADR): The re-recording of production dialogue that has been deemed unusable for any number of reasons (airplane flying overhead during the take, unintelligible dialogue, etc.). The actors repeat the dialogue while watching themselves projected on a screen and listening to the soundtrack on earphones as it was originally recorded on the set. The new dialogue that’s being recorded must match the lip movement of the actor on the screen.
• Main Titles: The screen credits that appear before a show begins.
• Martini Shot: The last shot before wrap.
• Meal Penalty: Union guidelines require a shooting company to break for a hot, sit-down meal every six hours. If the meal is not provided, a meal penalty violation (fine) is paid and incrementally increases every half hour until a meal is served. A 12-minute unplanned “grace” period is allowed for production efficiency before a first meal, and a half-hour extension can be used at wrap to complete take(s) in progress at the end of a work day.
• One-Liner (or One Line Schedule): A short version of a shooting schedule indicating cast, page count and set description only. It does not reflect the other production and departmental details the full shooting schedule contains.
• Per Diem: A daily allowance given to cast and crew members working on a distant location to cover the cost of meals, laundry, etc. Travel and hotel accommodations are generally paid for directly by the production.
• Picture Car (or Vehicle): A vehicle that appears onscreen.
• Photo Double: An extra performer who is actually photographed as a substitute for another actor, usually in a long or drive-by shot where his or her face can’t be clearly seen.
• Poor Man’s Process: Instead of shooting a vehicle driving down a street/road/highway, this is a “down and dirty” process that creates the illusion that a vehicle is moving when in fact it’s sitting on a stage.
• Principal Photography: The “shooting” period in which all scripted material covering all speaking parts is filmed.
• Product Placement: The props, set dressing, vehicles and wardrobe donated or loaned to a production for on-air usage. It could also be a shot of a recognizable airline logo as a plane takes off or a banner or billboard advertising a brand name product. What manufacturers choose to donate, loan and often pay for the valuable exposure is determined once they (or their representatives) evaluate the script, cast and director of any particular project. Product placement is big business and can be a great way to defray production costs.
• Production Report: The official record of what was shot on any given day in terms of scene numbers, set-ups, minutes, film footage and sound rolls; who worked and the hours they worked; the locations shot at; how many meals were served; vehicles and equipment that were used; and the delays, accidents or notable incidents that may have occurred.
• Prosthetics: Three-dimensional “appliances” affixed to a body or to alter the performer’s appearance. This would include such things as aging skin, scars, burns, mutilations, a sixth finger, a mermaid tail, a full creature or animal suit.
• Purchase Order: The most valuable method of tracking and forecasting costs and used whenever possible for purchases, rentals and/or services.
• Raw Stock: Unexposed, unprocessed film.
• Second Team: The stand-ins (see below).
• Second Unit: Scenes shot without principal actors, such as establishing shots, certain stunts, car drive-bys, etc.
• Scene: A segment of action that takes place in the same location over the same period of time.
• Script Coverage: Script coverage is sort of like a book report. It starts with the particulars: name of the project, writer, date of submission, genre, locale, time period, who it was submitted to and who it’s being read by. Under all these details, the “logline” is stated, which is generally a one-sentence description of the screenplay. Following the logline is a one- to two-page summary of the screenplay, highlighting the characters, plot line, etc., and this part is headed “Concept.” “Comments” comes next, and this encompasses the reader’s personal opinion about the script. This could run anywhere from one paragraph to a full page. Lastly, the reader rates the concept, plot structure, characterizations, dialogue, resolution and commercial viability. The ratings run from “poor” to “fair” to “good” to “excellent.”
• Shooting Schedule: A detailed schedule reflecting the scenes, actors, stand-ins, extras, number of pages, locations, special props, vehicles, wardrobe, equipment, animals, etc. to be shot each day.
• Short Ends: Lengths of unexposed film left over after the exposed section has been cut off. Short ends can be loaded and used for short shots and inserts. Leftovers at the end of a shoot are generally sold and occasionally donated to students and low-budget filmmakers.
• Sides: Reduced-size script pages that contain the scenes to be shot that day.
• Skins: A list of extras to work that day issued by the extras agency. Another definition is a piece or length of material containing an advertisement or logo that’s affixed to a car or truck that’s photographed in a shot. Skins are often used on local fire engines, police cars and ambulances.
• Sound Effects: The adding, replacing or enhancing of sounds of any kind that are not recorded during production or were recorded but deemed unusable. Sound effects can include anything from the sound of a kiss to that of a major explosion.
• Spec Script: Short for speculative, it’s a screenplay you are not being paid to write but rather one you’re writing with the hope of selling.
• Spotting session: A screening of a picture at which the composer discusses the placement of music cues with the producer, director, editor and post production supervisor.
• Stand-in: An extra used as a substitute for another actor (for the purpose of focusing shots, setting lights, etc.) who is not actually photographed.
• Station 12: A SAG procedure to ensure that the actors cast to work on a show are in good standing with the Guild prior to reporting for work.
• Swing Gang: Also known as set dressers, they dress and strike the set and work under the supervision of the set decorator and lead person.
• Taft/Hartley: A federal law that allows a nonmember of a union or guild to work on a union show for 30 days. At the end of that period, he or she must join the union to continue working on that particular show or for another signatory company.
• Take: A single, continuous shot.
• Telecine: The process of, or place where, film is transferred to videotape.
• Timing: A process in which the color and density of the picture are balanced from one scene to another throughout the picture. It’s done at the lab with the lab’s color timer, the editor and occasionally, the director of photography.
• Turnaround: Regulated by a union or guild, it’s the minimum rest period allowed from the time of dismissal one day until call time the next day. It also pertains to the time off from dismissal at the end of a week until call time on the first day of the following work week. A forced call is when a production decides to bring a cast or crew member back to work before their required turnaround.
• Video Village: An area on or next to a set where the director, DP, producers (or in the case of commercials, clients and agency reps) can view all on-camera activities from video monitors.
• Wrap: To finish up, to complete as in “wrapping” the day or the shoot. To say you’ve wrapped implies that principal photography has been completed. Wrap party or wrap gift would be something held/given at the completion of a show.

Here are some initials for you.

• AD: Assistant director.
• ADR: Automatic dialogue replacement.
• APOC: Assistant production office coordinator.
• CGI: Computer-generated image.
• CU: Close-up (and ECU is extreme close-up).
• DAT: Digital audio tape.
• DGA: Directors Guild of America.
• DI: Digital intermediate—going from (shooting on) film to (post production on) digital back to (releasing on) film.
• DP: Director of photography.
• DV: Digital video.
• E&O: Errors and omissions insurance.
• EPK: Electronic press kit.
• EXT: Exterior.
• HD: High definition.
• IA or IATSE: International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (union).
• INT: Interior.
• L&D: Loss and damage.
• M&E: Music and effects track.
• MOS: Without sound.
• NG: No good.
• ND: Nondescript.
• OS: Off stage.
• OT: Overtime.
• PO: Purchase order.
• PGA: Producers Guild of America.
• POC: Production office coordinator.
• SAG: Screen Actors Guild.
• UPM: Unit production manager.
• WGA: Writers Guild of America.