Taking on a video project can seem like a daunting task, especially if you are new to the world of video production and marketing. There are a lot of different terms and jargon that can be confusing, but don’t worry! We’re here to help. In this blog post, we will go over some of the most common video production terms and what they mean. By understanding these terms, you’ll be one step closer to understanding and communicating clearly with your production team.
When working with clients we will always try to explain what we are doing, the creative process behind the decisions and how it will effect the outcome.
Sometimes these explanations can be filled with terminology you might not have encountered, so here’s our top 15 terms that we think clients should know so they can best speak our language!
“Pre-Prod” / “pre” – Pre production. The stage of a project where we are figuring everything out. This includes writing, planning, finding locations, setting dates and casting talent.
You might hear us say, “We’re juggling pre-prod on 3 different projects at the moment.”
“Post” – Post production. Everything we do in the edit suite, as well as other parts of completing a project such as sound mixing, colour grading, special effects, graphics/titles and delivering the final version to you.
You might hear us say, “We’ll start editing tomorrow and all the post should be completed by next week.”
“50 frames” / “Frames per second” / FPS – When we talk about shooting at a frame rate that is higher than 25 it means we are shooting in a way that allows us to turn the footage into slow motion footage during post production.
You might hear us say, “Do you want this in 50 frames?” or “Should I go back to 25 frames for this section?”
“Landscape” / “16:9” – Used to describe whether a video will be delivered in a traditional 16:9 format, like your HD television.
You might hear us say, “We’re delivering the hero video in 16:9, and the cutdowns are vertical.”
“portrait” “vertical” “9 by 16” – Terms used to describe whether a video will be delivered in a 9 by 16 format, usually used for instagram, TikTok or Facebook videos.
“Square” / “1 by 1” – A video that is square in format. Often used in Instagram feed videos
“Deliverables” – The list of videos we’ve agreed to create for you
You might hear us say, “The deliverables include a hero video in 16:9, 1 insta story video in 9 by 16 and a cutdown exported in 1by1 for the feed.”
“B-roll” / “Cutaways” – These are shots we will shoot, usually before or after an interview, of the subject doing things that they have described in their interview. For example we might interview a farmer, and then film some B-roll of them driving a tractor, hearing cattle or pulling vegetables out of the ground.
You might hear us say, “After the interview we’ve got an hour to shoot as much b-roll as possible.” Or “We need to get some more cutaways of them as a group after lunch.”
“Pan” / “Tilt” / “Push” / “Track” – Contrary to popular vernacular not every camera move is a “pan”. Each of these are different and are best described with an image.
You might hear us say, “Let’s push the camera in 10cm and pan left just a touch.”
“Zoom” – The major item missing from the above graphic is “zoom”, however zooming doesn’t involve a camera move at all. Instead it is done optically, aka using the lens. When you’re shooting on zoom lenses, as opposed to a prime lenses, you can zoom in (go tighter) or zoom out (go wider).
We might say something like, “After you’ve shot the establishing shot, can you zoom in and grab some close up details.”
“Zoom Out” / “Go wider” / “Wide Lens” – A wide lens is one which has a wider field of view. We might swap a lens out or “go wider” to capture more of the surrounds.
“Zoom In” / “Go tighter / “tight lens” – The opposite of going wider. A tighter lens will show less of the surrounding area and is used to isolate the subject.
We might say something like, “For this section let’s go on a tighter lens so we aren’t distracted with everything in the background.”
“Lav” – Short for lavalier microphone or a lapel mic. A small wireless microphone clipped on to talent.
You might hear us say, “Just got to pop a lav on you and we’ll be good to go.”
“Open Up” – Opening up the iris/aperture of the lens. This lets in more light, and also makes the background more blurred.
You might hear us say, “I can open up another stop if we want to blur out the background some more.”
“Export” – The process of rendering and outputting a video from the editing software into a single file.
You might hear us say, “Just need to export these videos with their final changes and begin uploading.”
So there you have it! A quick glossary of video production terms that we think you need to know. Whether it’s your first time handling a video project or you just want to brush up on your knowledge these terms will be sure to help you communicate better with your crew. If we’ve missed any be sure to leave us a comment! We hope you found this post helpful!
If you’re looking for something else to read, check out our post “8 Types of Corporate Video You Should Consider“