​BASICS

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• Aperture: the opening the the camera (iris) that determines how much light enters the camera.

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• Exposure: the f-stop that has been set for a particular shot, specifically the amount of light entering the camera in a shot (gauged by aperture and shutter speed). 

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• F-Stop: the setting on a camera lens that corresponds to the aperture size (amount of light entering the camera). Each step up doubles the amount of light.

 

• Focus: position of an object at the exact distance at which the lens is focused.

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• Frames per second: the standard measurement for film or video speed. Determines the number of images used per second in a given shot. 

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• Shot: the single unit of a film or video
   

• Shutter Speed: length of time in which the aperture opens to let in light. 
   

• White Balance: the adjustment of the three color signals in the video camera to show a white object as white regardless of the relative color temperature of the light that illuminates the object.

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EQUIPMENT

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• Iris: adjustable diaphragm used to adjust the amount of light entering into the camera.

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• Telephoto lens: used to get close-ups of objects from great distances. Makes objects appear relatively close together.

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• Wide angle lens: short focal length, used for deep-focus shots by preserving sharp focus across a deep plane.

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• Steadicam: stabilizing device used to move the camera smoothly across a location without shaking or wobbling. They are either held by or connected to a camera operator.

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MOVEMENT​

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• Crane (or Boom) Up/Down: camera is raised or lowered. Background objects will appear to move much faster than the subject.

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• Dolly In/Out: camera moves away or toward a subject. A dolly creates relative movement between the foreground and background, which distinguishes it from a zoom. Gives a more natural sense of entering or exiting a space.

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• Object Movement: to keep flat space, camera moves parallel to the frame. Note the camera never physically moves here, it just just rotates in a fixed position.

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• Pan: rotating the camera left or right, keeping the relative position of all objects

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• Relative Movement: perpendicular camera movements that create illusionary depth

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• Tilt: camera moves up/down on vertical axis

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• Track Left/Right: camera moves perpendicular to a subject. Relative movement occurs between the subject and objects in the background.

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• Zoom: differs from the dolly in that it maintains flat space. All objects in the frame will increase/decrease in size at exactly the same rate. Gives the rather unnatural effect of plunging the viewer into a scene or sucking them out of it.

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TECHNIQUES​

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• Eyeline Match: the matching of eyelines between two or more characters who are engaged in conversation or are looking at each other in a scene in order to establish proximity and conformity.

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• Rack focus: changing the lens focus from one object to another in a shallow depth of field.

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• Soft focus: a shot that appears slightly out of focus to the viewer. Can be used strategically to create mystery around the subject.

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