Film & Broadcast Glossary
Film & Broadcast is about telling stories – whether fiction or factual. This combines high standards of training in production skills to make programs – dramas and documentaries for radio, television and cinema
Film & Broadcast
Dynamic Distortion
Alteration of volume range of a sound when it is transmitted. (Acoustics)
Film & Broadcast
Dynamic Range
The difference in decibels between the loudest and quietest portions of audio. (Sound)
Film & Broadcast
Ear
To put a flag up on the side of a lighting unit to block light. Better known as a ‘sider’. (Grip/Lighting)
Film & Broadcast
EBU
European Broadcast Union. This generally identifies a 25 FPS time code standard.
Film & Broadcast
Echo
A sound wave that has been reflected and returned with sufficient magnitude and delay to be perceived as a wave distinct from that which was initially transmitted.
Film & Broadcast
Edge Numbers
Coded numbers printed along the edged of a strip of film for identification purposes.
Film & Broadcast
Edge track
A standard position for the placement of the audio on a single perforation magnetic film.
Film & Broadcast
Edison Plug
An ordinary household plug with two flat blades and a ground pin. (Lighting)
Film & Broadcast
Edit Decision List (EDL)
The list of SMPTE codes, in footage and frames, and including instructions for fades, dissolves and other special effects which corresponds to all the segments that the editor of a film or videotape production has decided to use in the final cut.
Film & Broadcast
Edit Master
Video industry term for the tape containing the finished (edited) program.
Film & Broadcast
Edit Points
Also known as “edit in” and “edit out.” The beginning and end points of an edit when a video program or soundtrack is being assembled.
Film & Broadcast
Effective Output Level
The microphone sensitivity rating defined as the ratio in dB of the power available relative to sound pressure. (Acoustics)
Film & Broadcast
Emulsion
The gelatine layer of photo-sensitive material in which the image is formed on film. (Film)
Film & Broadcast
Envelope
The shape of the graph as amplitude is plotted against time. A sound’s envelope includes its attack, decay, sustain and release (ADSR). (Sound)
Film & Broadcast
Environmental Sound
General low level sound coming from the action of a film, which can either synchronous or nonsynchronous.
Film & Broadcast
Equalization
The alteration of sound frequencies for a specific purpose, such as to remove ‘noise’ frequencies or to improve speech clarity.
Film & Broadcast
Equivalent Noise
A microphone in a completely silent room still generates some residual noise. This noise can be measured and can be computed. That computation is the ‘Equivalent Noise’. (Acoustics)
Film & Broadcast
Establishing Shot
Usually a long shot at the beginning of a scene which is intended to inform the audience about a changed locale or time for the scene which follows. (Production)
Film & Broadcast
Exciter Lamp
An incandescent lamp used to supply nonvarying luminous energy to a photoresponsive cell. Used in film projectors to illuminate the optical sound track.
Film & Broadcast
Fade
An optical effect in which the image of a scene is gradually replaced by a uniform dark area or vice versa.
Film & Broadcast
FAST
The camera assistant’s motto. Everything he/she must do before each shot (Focus, Aperture, Shutter, Tach). (Camera)