Film & video glossary
When it comes to complicated language the film and video business stands alone. John Blauth shows off some of his knowledge.
Aspect ratio
The shape of an image or frame, expressed as the width-to-height ratio. Widescreen film uses a 16:9 aspect ratio, standard television uses 4:3 aspect ratio.
Attenuate
To reduce audio strength or volume.
B Roll
An edited version of background material produced for broadcasters by organisations who can expect to be featured either on the news or other programmes.
Beta
Informal name for Betacam, a professional videotape recording format; it is a registered trademark of Sony. Usual tape versions are BetacamSP and Digital Betacam (aka DigiBeta).
Dub
To duplicate or make a copy of a production, from one tape (usually a master tape) to another tape.
Letterbox
A technique used to display a widescreen (16:9) video image on a standard television display (with a 4:3 aspect ratio). The widescreen image fills the width of the screen, with black bars above and below.
MPEG
MPEG-1 video is for use on CDROMs; quality is comparable to VHS. MPEG-2 video is used on DVD. MPEG-4 video is designed for a broad range of multimedia applications, and is used for web and wireless streaming video.
NTSC
National Television Standards Committee. The organisation that sets the American broadcast and videotape format standards. Colour television is currently set at 525 lines per frame, 29.97 frames per second.
PAL
Phase Alternating Line – the European colour television standard that specifies a 25 frames per second rate and 625 lines per frame.
Resolution
The dimensions of an image, in pixels, expressed as the number of horizontal pixels across and the number of vertical pixels down.
Rough cut
A quick assembly of raw clips to approximate the desired final programme. As a first step in editing, arranging a collection of clips in the desired order as a storyboard of the production.
Timecode
An exact time, accurate to 1/25 th of a second, used to identify a specific frame in a clip or production. Measured in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames.
