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Glossary of Video Terms

Here is a glossary of some commonly used video terms.

B-roll:   Supplemental footage inserted as a cutaway to help tell the story.

Bit rate:   The rate of data transfer of AV content.

Cut: An instantaneous switch from one audio video source to another.

Dissolve: A transition from one video source to another in which one source is faded down while the other is simultaneously faded up. The term “mix” is often used interchangeably with “dissolve."

Frame: One complete video picture which can be progressive of interlaced scanning lines.

Frame rate: The frequency at which frames in a television picture, film, or video sequence are displayed.

Headroom: The amount of space between the top of the camera frame and the subject's head.

Jump cut:   A cut in film and video editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly if at all, giving the effect of jumping forward in time.

Producer: The person managing the service and keeping everyone on task as well as looking ahead to what is coming next in the service.

Ready: Another phrase for standby. Also alerts camera operators, and/ or graphics operators to be ready for their shot or image to be live on a program.

Resolution: The number of pixels in an image. Commonly, resolution is shown as the number of pixels in the width of an image, by the number of pixels in the height of the image, for example, 1920x1080, or 1080p.

Stage Left: When on the stage looking at the crowd, this is your left.

Stage Right: When on the stage looking at the crowd, this is your right.

Standby: Another phrase for "ready" used by the technical director to tell a cameraperson to be ready to take their shot.

Switcher: Allows a technical director to select any input audio or video source to be live on a program.

Take: A phrase said during cuts or a transition to tell a technical director to switch to a different source.

Transition: A controlled change from one video input to another video input or black. The change can occur through a wipe, cut, dissolve or “DVE” effect.

Wipe: A transition from one video to another, in which the change proceeds according to the shape of a specific pattern. A moving transition line separates the two picture signals.

Zoom: Making the image closer or further away.