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A Short Glossary of Camera, Shot, Scene and Editing Terms and Abbreviations
Types of Shots
[ a.k.a. Composition Techniques I Framing Descriptions]
ES
Establishing Shot
(sometimes called a Master Shot, generally an overview)
ws
(often landscape related)
(look to horizon)
(crowd scene)
(head to toe, or more)
(head to knees)
(head to waist)
ECU
Wide Shot
Extreme Long Shot
Long Shot
Full Shot
Knee Shot
Medium Shot
Head and Shoulders
Head Shot
Close Up
Extreme Close Up
2S
3S
GS
Two Shot
Three Shot
Group Shot
(two people featured in frame)
(three people in frame)
POV
IPOV
OTS
RA
RS
Point of View
Inventory Point of View
Over the Shoulder
Reverse Angle
Reaction Shot
(of character, object, projectile)
(POV showing something being carried)
(usually facing same direction as actor)
(approximately i 80 degrees)
(generally without dialog)
LL
WA
FEL
SP
Long Lens [Telephoto]
Wide Angle Lens
Fish Eye Lens
Split Focus
ELA
LA
HA
EHA
BE
TH
Extreme Low Angle
Low Angle
High Angle
Extreme High Angle
Bird's Eye
Tilted Horizon
ELS
LS
FS
KS
MS
H&S
HS
cu
(head fills the frame)
(face or whole body part)
(partial body part)
[a.k.a. Canted Shot or Dutch Angle]
Techniques of Perspective
VOY
DVOY
Mask
VIN
Voyeur
Dark Voyeur
[black cutout]
Vignette
(spying on another)
(looking through bushes, from a closet, etc.)
(seeing through binoculars or a key hole, etc.)
(looking through a non-black masked area)
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SIL
Shadow
Reflection
Portal
Subjective
HC
Silhouette
(e.g. action shown on a TV screen in the scene)
(CU of actor by camera strapped to them)
Helmet or Head Cam
Camera Movements
Fixed Point (Static) Shots
Pan LIR
Whip Pan L/R
Tilt U/D
Pedestal U/D
Zoom In/Out
Rack
(Rotate camera left or right from a fixed position)
(Rapid Pan)
(Tilt camera up or down from a fixed position)
(Use a tripod with an adjustable column to raise or lower the camera)
(Change the focal length of the lens)
(Manually change the focus between presets)
[a.k.a. Pull Focus (PF)]
Moving Camera
Truck L/R
Arc LIR
TS
HH
Boom
Tracking Shot
Hand Held
[see Mechanical Techniques]
Dl /DO
DU/DD
Depth Dolly
Expand Dolly
Contract Dolly
Collapse Dolly
Zoom Dolly In/Out
Dolly In/Out
Dolly Up/Down
Mechanical Techniques
CCRU
CFD
CULD
CDLU
UMA
CDMT
CFT
CE
(Move camera left or right)
(Follow a circular track about the scene)
(Follow the action, often with a 'Steadi-cam' device)
Crane
Crane
Crane
Crane
Crane
Crane
Crane
Crane
(Move camera toward or away from action)
(Dolly with the camera tilted up or down)
(Dolly perpendicular to scene's line of action)
(Actor is walking away faster than dolly is following)
(Dolly toward actor walking towards camera)
(actor overtakes Dolly Out)
(Zoom with Dollying in opposite directions)
(Crane or Boom or Jib)
Rise Up
(extended version of Pedestal Up)
(extended version of Pedestal Down)
Fall Down
Up, Look Down
Down, Look Up
Up, Move Away
Down, Move Towards
Front to Top
(move forward and rise, pivoting downward
Expression
(various dramatic crane moves)
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Advanced Techniques
Master Shot {Don't confuse with MS}
LT
Long Take
Search Up
su
DISC
Discovery
B2F
Back to Front
Pull Back Reveal
Pull Back Retraction
Multi level Action
MLA
ROT
Rotate
Shift
Shifting Angle
Flip
Flip Over
SO
Sleep Over
FOPO
Focus Out, Pass Out
CT
Ceiling Twist
SA
Spin Around
SL
Spin Look
PI
Push In
Fly
TTS
Fly Over
Track Through Solid
(Continuous take of scene) [Term is also used for ES]
[a.k.a Staging]
(look up a body or object)
(begin away from, or blocked from, the action,
then move to reveal action)
(shift from background to foreground)
(reveal more of a scene)
(place distance from scene)
(actions happening in foreground and background)
(move the camera around the axis of the lens)
(a moving Dutch Angle shot)
[a.k.a. Rotate]
(turn upside down I right side up)
(bird's eye with rotation and/or mechanical)
(POV- un-focus and Fade Out)
(rotate while looking up)
[a.k.a. 360 degree dolly]
(camera spins around an actor to see what he is
looking at, alternative to Cut Away)
(zoom effect created by dolly motion
[a.k.a. Character Dolly]
(either a cut-a-way set or CGI)
Editing Techniques
SM
FM
TL
FF
Look
MT
SOL
Strobe
Slow Motion
Fast Motion
Time Lapse
Freeze Frame
Look At
Multi-take
Slice of Life
MSEQ
MF
COL
Sub
Sl
(images with little or no dialog)
(Multiple scenes show in one frame)
(moving imagery added to frame in editing)
(picture in picture)
ss
Montage Sequence
Montage Frame
Collage
Sub-clip
Superimposition
Split Screen
Snap
P2S
S2P
Camera Snap
Photo to Scene
Scene to Photo
(POV- temp. FF to show action of taking a photograph)
(multi-angle SM or FF)
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Transitions
Fl
FO
xo
DIS
Cut
CIN
CAW
MC
JC
cc
sc
we
JCS
CZI
czo
IF
FT
FRF
WRF
EM
cs
Fade In
Fade Out
Cross Fade
Dissolve
Cut In
CutAway
Match Cut
Jump Cut
Cross Cut
Subliminal Cut
Whip Cut
Jump Cut Sequence
Cut Zoom In
Cut Zoom Out
Impact Flash
Focus Transition
Fill, Reveal Frame
Walk, Reveal Frame
Eye-line Match
Color Seep
(to different shot or scene)
(to object in scene)
(to off-screen related shot or scene)
(cut to different scene, but with similar framing or
placement of objects)
(breaking the time continuity of a scene)
(links two different, simultaneous scenes)
(inserting a few frames)
(often used with Whip Pan)
(similar to MSEQ)
(jump cut zoom in sequence)
(jump cut zoom out sequence)
(flash to white, then Cut)
[a.k.a. Flashed Cut]
(go out of focus, then into focus of new scene)
(use object to fill frame, then show new scene on reveal)
(use person/object as 'wipe' bar)
(match eye level or sight lines)
(change image saturation or hue over time)
Other Terms
OS
CH=
DoF
SD LIR/U/D
Off Screen
Camera Height Is ... [Ground (GND)/Low/Waist/Chest!Eye Level (EL)/Roof Top, etc.]
Depth of Field
(range of 'in-focus')
Screen Direction Left/Right/Up/Down
(visual flow of the action)
DS
PS
Depth Staging
Planar Staging
(Characters placed from background to foreground)
(Characters placed in a line across the frame)
Stunt
SFX
Special Effects
(dangerous action)
(done live on set)
MM
CK
RP
CGI
Mixed Media
Chroma Keying
('Blue Screen', 'Green Screen')
Rear Projection
Computer Generated Imagery
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