Jargon: Shooting Terms

(verb) (pedestal) Vertical camera move ("boom up," "boom down") often making use of a boom or a jib.

Visual make-up of a scene, including such variables as balance, framing, field of view and texture, which are all aesthetic considerations. Good composition techniques create an image that's pleasing to view.

Shot of something other than the principal action that is shown while the principal action continues. A cutaway is frequently used as transitional footage or to avoid a jump cut.

(DoF) Range in front of a camera's lens in which objects appear in focus. The DoF varies with subject-to-camera distance, focal length of a camera lens and the aperture setting.

Camera movement toward or away from a subject. Dollying in or out results in a more dramatic change in perspective than zooming in or out.

Width of a shot that is visible with a lens set at a particular focal length.

Controlling lens focus to maintain sharpness and clarity despite camcorder or subject movement.

Act of composing a shot in a camcorder's viewfinder for desired content, angle, exposure, depth of field and field of view. [See also: composition]

Space between the top of a subject's head and a frame's upper-screen edge. Too much headroom makes the subject appear to fall out of the frame. Too little may cut the top of the subject's head out of the frame when the image is shown on TV sets.

(LS) Camera view of a subject or scene from a distance, showing a broad perspective.

(MS) Defines any camera perspective between long shot and closeup, viewing the subject from a medium distance. Usually includes the head and shoulders.

The distance between the subject and the edge of the frame in the direction the subject is looking. Also called "look room."

View of the primary subject with the back of another person's shoulder and head in the foreground. Often used in interviews.

Horizontal camera pivot from a stationary position. Panning left makes the subject appear to move from left to right across the screen. Panning right makes the subject appear to move from right to left across the screen.

(POV) Shot taken from a subject's point of view enabling viewers to see what the subject sees.

Shifting focus between subjects in the background and those in the foreground, drawing a viewer's attention from subject to subject.

Composition technique that places important subjects or objects on the lines, or at the cross points, in a tic-tac-toe pattern imagined over the viewfinder.