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Terms for subject Cinematography (689 entries)

Australian Society of Cinematographers	Use of the abbreviation after a name indicates that the person is a member of the ACS.
auteur	A filmmaker, generally a director, who creates a body of work with a unified sensibility that reveals, through the interplay of themes and styles, a personal worldview. The term originated with François Truffaut, whose 1954 essay "Une certaine tendence du cinéma français" put forth the idea that the most interesting films were those that functioned as a medium of personal expression--and therefore bore the distinctive imprint of their "author." American critic Andrew Sarris later translated and expanded this idea into an "auteur theory," which proposed an evaluation of films based on their context within the filmmaker's oeuvre, rather than for their technical proficiency or greater historical significance. The term "auteur" later came to refer to any filmmaker who performed or was intimately involved in all aspects of the moviemaking process (writing, directing, producing, editing, etc.)
automated dialogue replacement	The re-recording of dialogue by actors in a sound studio during post-production, usually performed to playback of edited picture in order to match lip movements on screen. ADR is frequently used to replace production track of poor quality (e.g., due to high levels of background noise) or to change the delivery or inflection of a line. ADR can also be used to insert new lines of dialogue which are conceived during editing, although such lines can only be placed against picture in which the face of the actor speaking is not visible.
automated dialogue replacement editing	The process of editing sound during Automatic Dialogue Replacement.
automated dialogue replacement editor	The person who performs ADR Editing.
automated dialogue replacement mixer	The person who mixes the sound during Automated Dialogue Replacement.
AVID	Manufacturer of a popular non-linear editing system. Often used to refer to the system itself, as "AVID editor". Competitors include Lightworks and Apple's FinalCut Pro.
axis of action	In the continuity editing system, the "Axis of Action" is an imaginary line that passes through the two main actors of a scene, defining the spatial relations of all the elements of the scene as being to the right or left. The camera is not supposed to cross the axis at a cut and thus reverse those spatial relations. Also called the "180° line."
B-Movie	A low-budget, second tier movie, frequently the 2nd movie in a double-feature billing. B-films were cheaper for studios because they did not involve the most highly paid actors or costly sets, and were popular with theater owners because they were less expensive to bring into their theaters while still able to draw revenue.
b.g.	background	Common­_Ground
back projection	A photographic technique whereby live action is filmed in front of a screen which the background action is projected on. Originally used for scenes occurring in vehicles. Contrast this with a matte shot.
b.g.	background	Common­_Ground
background artist	A person responsible for designing or constructing the art placed at the rear of a set. See also matte artist.
backlot	A large, undeveloped area on studio property used for constructing large open-air sets or for filming wilderness scenes.
banned	Many countries have either government or official movie classification boards who are responsible for determining the suitability of a movie for release in their country or region. These boards occasionally block the release of a movie either in theaters or on video. Often, a banned movie will find its way around a ban by means of bootleg distribution. See also censorship.
behind the scenes	The off-camera goings on associated with filmmaking.
below-the-line expenses	All physical production costs not included in the above-the-line expenses, including material costs, music rights, publicity, trailer, etc.
best boy	The chief assistant, usually of the gaffer or key grip. In charge of the people and equipment, scheduling the required quantities for each day's work. The term originates from promoting the crew's 'best boy' to supervising, allowing the gaffer and key grip to stay on set and carry out the cameraman's lighting needs. The origin of the term is from "pre-union" filming days when the line between Grip and Electric departments was less rigid. When the head of either department needed another body temporarily, he'd go to the head of the other department and ask him to "lend me your BEST boy". By default the 2nd in charge of either department came to be known as best-boy. This term may also have been borrowed from early sailing and whaling crews, as sailors were often employed to set up and work rigging in theatres. There are no "best girls" per se; female chief assistants are also called "Best Boys".
billing	A great deal of importance is placed on the relative sizes, positions, and order of names and the movie's title in printed publicity material as well as the opening credits. Generally, higher positions designate higher importance. Additionally, there is significant given to names which appear before or above the actual title of the movie. The person whose name is shown first in the credits or whose name is at the top of an advertisement is said to have received "top billing". If more than one name appears at the same time or at the same height, they are said to have "equal billing", with the importance of the people concerned decreasing from left to right. In some movies with a large number of stars, the publicity department must go to great lengths to satisfy the demands of various parties. "Diagonal billing" is where a different name appears first, depending on whether the material is read from top to bottom, or from left to right. In some extreme cases, multiple stars in the same movie have each demanded top billing, in which case an equal number of differently-billed advertisement have been created.
biographic picture	A filmed story of a person's life story.