Learn about keyframes, color grading, compositing, codecs, and more. Essential terms for understanding professional video production.
60 terms · 10 categories
A bezier curve is a mathematical curve defined by control points, used in animation to create custom easing and motion paths with precise control over acceleration and direction.
Easing refers to the acceleration and deceleration curves applied to animations, making movements feel natural rather than mechanical and linear.
Keyframe interpolation is the method by which software calculates the intermediate values between two keyframes, determining how a property transitions from one state to another.
Motion graphics are animated visual elements — such as text, shapes, icons, and data visualizations — designed to communicate information or enhance visual storytelling.
Onion skinning is a technique that displays semi-transparent overlays of adjacent frames, allowing animators to see previous and upcoming positions while working on the current frame.
Rigging is the process of creating a skeletal structure of joints and controls inside a character or object model, enabling it to be animated with natural, controllable movement.
ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) is the process of re-recording dialogue in a controlled studio environment to replace audio that was poorly captured during the original shoot.
Audio mixing is the process of balancing and blending multiple audio tracks — dialogue, music, sound effects, and ambience — into a cohesive, well-proportioned final soundtrack.
Foley is the art of creating and recording custom sound effects in sync with on-screen action, such as footsteps, clothing rustles, door handles, and object interactions.
Noise reduction is the process of removing or minimizing unwanted background sounds — such as hiss, hum, air conditioning, or ambient noise — from audio recordings using specialized software algorithms.
Sound design is the creative process of crafting, sourcing, and arranging audio elements — including sound effects, ambient sounds, and processed audio — to enhance the emotional and narrative impact of a video.
Audio sweetening is the final stage of audio post-production where subtle enhancements, polish, and corrections are applied to make the soundtrack sound as clean, rich, and professional as possible.
Color correction is the technical process of adjusting footage to achieve accurate, consistent, and natural-looking color across all shots, fixing issues caused by varying lighting conditions and camera settings.
Color grading is the creative process of adjusting the colors, contrast, and overall visual tone of footage to establish a mood, style, or visual identity.
A color space is a defined range of colors that a device or format can capture, display, or reproduce, such as Rec.709 for HD video or DCI-P3 for digital cinema.
HDR (High Dynamic Range) is a video format that captures and displays a wider range of brightness levels and colors than standard dynamic range, producing more lifelike and impactful images.
LOG footage is video recorded using a logarithmic encoding curve that captures a wider dynamic range by distributing more data to shadows and midtones, producing a flat, desaturated image designed for color grading.
A LUT (Look-Up Table) is a mathematical table that maps input color values to output color values, used to quickly apply a specific color transformation or creative look to footage.
A cross-dissolve is a transition where one clip gradually fades out while the next clip simultaneously fades in, creating a brief moment of visual overlap.
A cut is the most basic edit in video production — an instantaneous transition from one clip to the next with no visual effect between them.
A J-cut is an editing technique where the audio from the next clip begins playing before its video appears, creating a smooth audio lead-in.
A jump cut is an edit that removes a portion of a single continuous shot, causing a visible "jump" in the subject's position or the scene's continuity.
A keyframe is a specific point on a timeline that marks the beginning or end of a change in a property such as position, scale, opacity, or rotation.
An L-cut is an editing technique where the audio from the current clip continues playing after the video has transitioned to the next shot.
A match cut is a transition between two shots where the composition, movement, or subject matter in one shot visually mirrors the next, creating a seamless or thematic connection.
A rough cut is an early version of an edited video where all the major clips are assembled in sequence, but fine-tuning, effects, color grading, and sound mixing have not yet been applied.
The timeline is the primary workspace in a video editor where clips, audio, effects, and transitions are arranged sequentially to build a project.
A transition is a visual effect applied between two clips to smooth or stylize the change from one shot to the next.
B-roll is supplementary footage that is intercut with the primary footage (A-roll) to provide visual variety, context, and illustrative imagery that supports the main narrative.
A dolly zoom (also known as a "Vertigo effect" or "zolly") is a camera technique where the camera physically moves toward or away from a subject while simultaneously zooming in the opposite direction, creating a disorienting shift in perspective.
Drone footage is video captured from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), providing sweeping aerial perspectives, elevated vantage points, and dramatic establishing shots that are impossible to achieve from the ground.
Green screen (or chroma key) is a technique where subjects are filmed against a uniformly colored background — typically green — which is then digitally removed and replaced with any desired background image or video.
Slow motion is a filmmaking technique where footage is captured at a higher frame rate than the playback rate, causing the action to appear slowed down when played at standard speed.
A Steadicam is a camera stabilization system worn by the operator that uses a mechanical arm, vest, and gimbal to isolate the camera from the operator's body movements, producing smooth, fluid shots while walking or moving.
A time-lapse is a technique where frames are captured at intervals much longer than standard video, then played back at normal speed, dramatically compressing hours, days, or months of change into seconds.
A tracking shot is a camera movement where the camera physically moves through space to follow, lead, or move alongside a subject, typically achieved using dolly tracks, a Steadicam, or a gimbal.
Letterboxing is the practice of displaying widescreen content within a standard-width frame by adding horizontal black bars above and below the image, preserving the original aspect ratio without cropping.
A vectorscope is a circular technical display that shows the color (hue and saturation) information of a video signal, used by colorists to evaluate color balance, saturation levels, and skin tone accuracy.
A waveform monitor is a technical display that graphs the brightness levels of a video signal from left to right across the frame, used by editors and colorists to evaluate and precisely adjust exposure.
Kinetic typography is the art of animating text — making words and letters move, scale, rotate, and transform in dynamic ways — to enhance the expressive and emotional impact of written content.
A lower third is a graphic overlay positioned in the lower portion of the video frame, typically used to display identifying information such as a speaker's name, title, location, or other contextual text.
Title safe is the inner boundary area of a video frame within which text and important graphics should be placed to ensure they remain fully visible across all display devices and platforms.
An animatic is an animated version of a storyboard, with panels timed to match the intended pacing, often accompanied by scratch dialogue, temp music, and basic sound effects.
A moodboard is a curated collection of visual references — images, color palettes, typography, video clips, and textures — assembled to communicate the intended aesthetic direction of a project.
A shot list is a detailed document that catalogues every shot needed for a video production, specifying camera angles, framing, movements, equipment, and other technical details for each setup.
A storyboard is a sequence of illustrated panels that visually map out each shot of a video, showing composition, camera angles, subject positions, and key actions before any filming begins.
An alpha channel is an additional data channel in a video or image file that stores transparency information, allowing portions of the frame to be fully or partially transparent.
Aspect ratio is the proportional relationship between the width and height of a video frame, expressed as two numbers such as 16:9 (widescreen) or 9:16 (vertical for mobile).
Bitrate is the amount of data processed per second in a video file, typically measured in megabits per second (Mbps), directly affecting both file size and visual quality.
A codec (compressor-decompressor) is an algorithm that encodes and decodes video data, determining how footage is compressed for storage and decompressed for playback or editing.
Frame rate is the number of individual frames (images) displayed per second in a video, measured in frames per second (fps), which affects motion smoothness and the overall aesthetic feel.
A matte is a mask or shape used to define which areas of a video frame are visible, hidden, or partially transparent, enabling selective compositing and effects application.
A proxy is a lower-resolution, lightweight copy of original high-resolution footage, used during editing to improve playback performance, then swapped back to the originals for final export.
Rendering is the process by which editing or compositing software calculates and generates the final video output, combining all layers, effects, transitions, and adjustments into a playable file.
Resolution refers to the number of pixels in each dimension of a video frame, typically expressed as width by height (e.g., 1920x1080), which determines the level of detail and clarity in the image.
Transcoding is the process of converting a video file from one codec, format, or specification to another, enabling compatibility across different systems, platforms, and workflows.
Chroma keying is the compositing technique of removing a specific color (usually green or blue) from footage to create a transparent background, enabling replacement with any desired visual content.
Compositing is the process of combining visual elements from multiple sources — live-action footage, CGI, graphics, and effects — into a single, unified image that appears as though everything was captured together.
Motion tracking is the process of analyzing footage to extract the movement data of specific points, objects, or the camera itself, allowing digital elements to be attached to or follow real-world motion.
Rotoscoping is the frame-by-frame process of manually tracing around elements in video footage to create precise mattes for isolation, compositing, or effect application.
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