Glossary

This video glossary covers the terminology and defines the meaning of common video terms related to cameras, codecs, lighting, film set lingo, post-production workflows, and everything else you ever wanted to know about film and video production.

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There are 4 names in this directory containing the search term iso. Clear results.
ISO
ISO refers to the sensitivity of your camera’s sensor to exposure from light. ISO is actually something you can change on your camera, with higher ISO rates equating to higher sensitivity, and lower rates of ISO equating to lower sensitivity. If you are shooting in a dark room, you will want to raise your ISO so that you let more light into your camera’s sensor. If you’re shooting outside during the day, you’ll want to lower your ISO so you keep as much light out as possible to prevent it from becoming washed out.

One note: the higher the ISO, the more your camera will pick up the grain on your image referred to as noise, and lose image quality, making your footage look grainy and, in the case of daytime shooting, very washed out. That’s why you want to keep to a lower ISO number known as the native ISO which is what your camera developer has deemed as the best ISO for your camera.


Latitude

Latitude is a term that related to your camera’s dynamic range. When editing the exposure of your image digitally, the amount of latitude the image has relates to how much room you have to tweak it. What it’s really referring to is how much dynamic range was present in the camera when you captured the image - or how much detail there is for you to change. So for example, an image captured with a higher dynamic range camera will have greater latitude when editing it later.

One note: the higher the ISO, the more your camera will pick up the grain on your image referred to as noise, and lose image quality, making your footage look grainy and, in the case of daytime shooting, very washed out. That’s why you want to keep to a lower ISO number known as the native ISO which is what your camera developer has deemed as the best ISO for your camera.


Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds refers to a tenet of good film composition that advises directors and cinematographers to mentally break up the frame into three vertical and three horizontal sections. Then, the goal is to place subjects strategically in one of the thirds so that they line up in an aesthetically pleasing manner, be it juxtaposed by another subject in an opposite third, or directly in the center opposing another centered subject in a reverse shot (like Wes Anderson, who often puts his subjects in the middle of the frame as a stylistic choice). Most cinematographers follow these rules religiously unless they are breaking them on purpose for a desired (and disorienting) effect.

rule of thirds cinematography


Slate

The slate is a famous piece of film equipment - it’s the mini whiteboard that you write the shot, scene, and take number on before clapping shut in order to sync the sound with the video in post-production.

The slate is an organizational tool to help the editors both match the audio with the visual, but when used in conjunction with the script supervisor’s logs, it is also good for keeping track of which takes are the best from each set of shots.