| Related to Editing • Control Track (or "black") - An area on a video tape where magnetic impulses have been recorded. The magnetic impulses act like glue, holding down the new video you record there. This is necessary for insert editing, however may not be for assemble editing. • In Point (Inset Point) - The place on the tape where you want to start your edit. • Out Point (Outset Point) - The place on the tape where you want to finish your edit. • Natural Sound or Nat Sound - just that, natural sound you pick up through the camera microphone (versus sound captured through an interview mic). • Pre-roll - the amount of time (in frames or seconds) that it takes for the camera to start rolling before you are actually recording or editing. This allows the tape to come up to speed before the edit is made. How long is this? It varies by editing system - could be from 2 -10 seconds. • Voice Over - an off-camera narrator who puts their voice over the video. The purpose of the voice over is to describe what is happening on the video or provide information. • Master - the original version of your raw footage tape. An original edited tape is called an edited master. • Dub - To copy. You can "dub" or "double" a tape. If you copy or "dub" Tape B from Tape A, you have gone a "generation" of tape. That is to say, Tape B is not the original. If you copy Tape C from Tape B, you have gone down two generations in quality - it is a copy of a copy. In general, to get the highest quality copies, try to make all of your copies from Tape A, the master. • Headroom - A term used with shots of people. This refers to the space above the subject's head. You'll see different amounts of headroom, depending on the intent of the creator of the video. In general, if you're standing right in front of someone, you'll see that they have space all around them - they aren't cut off by a frame. By leaving headroom, or space beside them, you are imitating what you see in real life. • Talking/Walking Room - If you are interviewing someone or have video of someone talking, you generally do not want them looking directly at the camera (again, it depends on your goals - certain situations may call for that). Generally you want the person to be looking off to the left or right of the camera a bit. When you do this, frame your shot so that there is some talking room. That is, you want to leave some extra space in front of their face as if you were going to draw a dialogue box in for them. This space is "talking room." If the person is talking to another person, this shows space between them. Walking room, if the person in motion, gives them space to walk to. Talking/Walking Room leaves space in the shot for the action, whether it be words or movement. Composition/Framing Your Shots • Composition - There are many ways to compose a shot, depending on your goals. You want to be aware of what is in the shot and what isn't. Can you clearly see what you intend for the viewer to see? • Rule of Thirds - this classic rule suggests that the center of the camera's attention is one-third of the way down from the top of the shot. |