Filmmaking Terms Glossary

How to use this glossary #

Film vocabulary is a toolkit, not trivia. For AI filmmakers it does two jobs:

1. It's how you control the tools. Models respond much better to "low-angle medium close-up, 35mm, motivated window light, shallow depth of field" than to "dramatic shot of a man."
2. It's how you give and receive feedback. AiFC critique works best when everyone shares the same words for what's working and what isn't.

Each entry gives a plain definition. Many also include:

• Why it matters: the craft reason behind the term
• AI tip: how the term applies to generative tools and workflows

1. Story & Narrative Structure #

Story: The full chain of events in chronological order, including things the audience never sees.

Plot: The events as the film presents them: what's shown, in what order. Plot is how you tell the story.

Logline: A one- or two-sentence summary of a film's premise, protagonist, goal and stakes. Example: "A shy clockmaker must repair time itself before midnight erases her town." Why it matters: If you can't write the logline, the story usually isn't clear yet.

Premise: The basic idea or "what if" behind a story.

Synopsis: A short prose summary of the whole story, including the ending.

Treatment: A longer prose version of the story (often 2–20+ pages), written in present tense, before or alongside the screenplay.

Outline / Beat Sheet: A scene-by-scene or beat-by-beat plan of the story.

Beat: (1) The smallest unit of story change: a moment where something shifts. (2) In scripts, a short pause in action or dialogue.

Three-Act Structure: The classic setup–confrontation–resolution model.

• Act One (Setup): world, characters and the problem.
• Act Two (Confrontation): rising obstacles. The longest act.
• Act Three (Resolution): climax and aftermath.

Inciting Incident: The event that disrupts the protagonist's normal life and starts the story.

Plot Point: A major turn that sends the story in a new direction, typically ending Act One and Act Two.

Midpoint: A central turning point that raises stakes or changes the protagonist's understanding, often shifting them from reactive to proactive.

Rising Action: Escalating complications that build tension toward the climax.

Climax: The peak confrontation where the central conflict is decided.

Falling Action / Resolution / Denouement: What happens after the climax: loose ends tied up, new normal shown.

Hero's Journey / Monomyth: Joseph Campbell's (and Christopher Vogler's) mythic structure: ordinary world → call to adventure → refusal → mentor → threshold → trials → ordeal → reward → road back → resurrection → return with the elixir.

Save the Cat (Beat Sheet): Blake Snyder's 15-beat structure (Opening Image, Catalyst, Debate, Fun and Games, All Is Lost, Dark Night of the Soul, Finale, etc.). Widely used in commercial screenwriting.

Kishōtenketsu: A four-part structure from East Asian storytelling (introduction, development, twist, conclusion) that doesn't depend on conflict.

Conflict: The opposition that drives the story. Types: character vs. character, self, nature, society, technology, fate.

Stakes: What the character stands to lose or gain. Higher, clearer stakes mean more tension.

Tension: The audience's anticipation and uncertainty about what will happen.

Suspense: Tension created when the audience knows something the character doesn't. Hitchcock's "bomb under the table."

Surprise: An unexpected event the audience didn't anticipate.

Dramatic Irony: When the audience knows more than the characters.

Setup and Payoff: Planting information early (setup) that becomes meaningful later (payoff).

Chekhov's Gun: The principle that every significant element introduced should matter later. If a gun is on the wall in Act One, it should go off by Act Three.

Foreshadowing: Subtle hints of future events.

Red Herring: A false clue meant to mislead the audience.

MacGuffin: An object or goal that drives the plot but matters little in itself (the briefcase in Pulp Fiction).

Plot Twist: An unexpected development that changes the meaning of what came before.

Deus ex Machina: An unearned, convenient solution from outside the story. Usually a flaw.

Cliffhanger: Ending a scene, episode or film on unresolved tension.

Subplot / B-Story: A secondary storyline, often carrying the theme or a relationship.

A-Story: The main plotline.

Exposition: Information the audience needs about backstory, rules or context. Why it matters: Clumsy exposition ("As you know, Bob…") kills momentum. Good films dramatize it.

Show, Don't Tell: Convey information through action and image rather than dialogue or narration. AI tip: A core strength of visual AI filmmaking. Let images carry meaning instead of voice-over.

Backstory: Events that happened before the story begins.

In Medias Res: Starting the story in the middle of the action.

Flashback / Flash-forward: Scenes that jump backward or forward in time.

Nonlinear Narrative: Story told out of chronological order (Memento, Pulp Fiction).

Frame Story / Framing Device: A story that contains another story.

Parallel Action / Cross-cutting: Two or more storylines shown alternately, often converging.

Ticking Clock: A deadline that adds urgency.

Set Piece: A major, elaborate sequence, often action-heavy and memorable.

Sequence: A series of scenes forming one dramatic unit.

Scene: Continuous action in one place and time.

Cold Open / Teaser: A scene before the opening titles that hooks the audience.

Open Ending: An ending that leaves key questions unanswered on purpose.

Narrative Arc: The overall shape of change over the course of a story.

Worldbuilding: Designing the setting's rules, history, culture, technology and look. AI tip: A "world bible" with locked rules (architecture, materials, palette, tech level) keeps generated environments coherent.

Diegesis / Diegetic World: The story world itself, everything that exists for the characters.

2. Character #

Protagonist: The main character whose goal drives the story.

Antagonist: The person or force opposing the protagonist.

Deuteragonist: The second most important character, often a partner or rival.

Foil: A character whose contrasting traits highlight the protagonist's.

Mentor: A guide who helps the protagonist grow.

Archetype: A recurring, universal character pattern (the Trickster, the Shadow, the Herald).

Stereotype / Trope: A stereotype is an oversimplified character type. A trope is a common storytelling convention. Tropes can be used freshly or lazily.

Character Arc: How a character changes internally across the story.

• Positive arc: grows
• Negative arc: falls
• Flat arc: stays the same but changes the world

Want vs. Need: The want is the external goal. The need is the internal truth they must learn. The gap between them drives the arc.

Motivation: Why a character does what they do.

Ghost / Wound: A past trauma that shapes a character's flaw or fear.

Fatal Flaw / Hamartia: The character weakness that causes trouble or downfall.

Agency: A character's ability to make meaningful choices that drive the plot. Why it matters: Passive protagonists are a common weakness in short films.

Character Beat: A moment that reveals personality, not plot.

Save the Cat Moment: An early action that makes the audience like or root for a character.

Anti-hero: A protagonist without conventional heroic qualities.

Unreliable Narrator: A narrator whose account can't be trusted.

Ensemble: A story with multiple characters sharing equal importance.

Subtext: What a character means or feels underneath what they say or do. AI tip: Subtext lives in performance: micro-expressions and timing. It's hard to generate, so choose takes carefully and consider human performance capture or voice acting.

Character Bible / Character Sheet: A reference document of a character's look, personality, history and voice. AI tip: The visual version (turnarounds, expressions, outfits) is essential for character consistency across generations.

3. Screenwriting & Script Format #

Screenplay: The script for a film, written in a standard format.

Spec Script: A screenplay written on speculation, without being hired or paid.

Shooting Script: The production version of the script, with scene numbers and revisions.

Scene Heading / Slugline: The line starting each scene: INT./EXT. LOCATION – DAY/NIGHT.

INT. / EXT.: Interior or exterior.

Action / Description Lines: Present-tense description of what we see and hear.

Character Cue: The character's name above their dialogue.

Dialogue: What characters say.

Parenthetical / Wryly: A short direction under a character cue, e.g. (whispering). Use sparingly.

V.O. (Voice-Over): Narration or voice from a character not present in the scene.

O.S. / O.C. (Off-Screen / Off-Camera): A character physically present but not visible.

Montage: A series of short shots that compress time or show a theme.

Intercut: Alternating between two locations, like a phone call.

Transition: Script directions like CUT TO: or DISSOLVE TO:. Mostly dropped in modern specs.

Page-a-minute Rule: One screenplay page ≈ one minute of screen time.

Draft / Revision Pages / Colored Pages: Script versions. In production, revised pages are printed on colored paper (blue, pink, yellow…) to track changes.

Coverage: (Script) A reader's summary and evaluation of a script. (See also Coverage in Section 12.)

Table Read: The cast reads the script aloud together.

Polish / Rewrite / Punch-up: Levels of script revision, from light to heavy. Punch-up adds jokes.

Writer's Room: A group of TV writers breaking and writing stories together.

Breaking Story: Working out a story's structure and beats.

Act Break: The transition between acts. In TV, often aligned with commercial breaks.

Prompt Script / Shot Script (AI-era): A shot-by-shot script with visual descriptions written for generation, sometimes including camera, lighting and style notes for each shot.

4. Genre, Tone & Theme #

Genre: A category defined by conventions and audience expectations: drama, comedy, horror, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, western, noir, musical, documentary, etc.

Subgenre: A narrower category (cosmic horror, cyberpunk, heist, rom-com).

Hybrid Genre: A blend of genres (horror-comedy, sci-fi western).

Conventions: The expected elements of a genre.

Tone: The emotional attitude of the film: dark, whimsical, satirical, earnest. AI tip: Tone drift between shots is common in AI films. Define it in a style guide and check every shot against it.

Mood: The emotional atmosphere the audience feels.

Theme: The underlying idea or question a film explores: what it's about beneath the plot.

Controlling Idea: Robert McKee's term for a film's core meaning, stated as a sentence.

Motif: A recurring image, sound or idea that reinforces theme.

Symbol / Symbolism: An object or image representing something beyond itself.

Allegory: A story whose characters and events represent broader ideas.

Satire / Parody / Pastiche / Homage:

• Satire mocks to criticize.
• Parody imitates to mock.
• Pastiche imitates as tribute or style blend.
• Homage respectfully references another work.

Film Noir: A 1940s–50s crime style marked by low-key lighting, moral ambiguity and fatalism.

Mockumentary: Fiction shot in documentary style.

Found Footage: Fiction presented as recovered real footage.

Vérité / Cinéma Vérité: An observational documentary style that tries to capture reality as it unfolds.

Magical Realism: Realistic settings with matter-of-fact magical elements.

Surrealism: Dream logic and irrational imagery. AI tip: AI tools naturally lean surreal. Use it deliberately rather than by accident.

5. Shot Sizes #

Shot size describes how much of the subject fills the frame.

Establishing Shot: Shows where a scene takes place, usually wide.

Master Shot: A wide shot covering an entire scene's action from start to finish.

Two-Shot / Three-Shot: Two or three subjects in frame.

Single: One person in frame.

Over-the-Shoulder (OTS): Framed from behind one character's shoulder toward another.

Point-of-View (POV) Shot: What a character sees, from their perspective.

Reaction Shot: A character responding to something.

Cutaway: A shot of something other than the main action, used for context or to cover edits.

Cut-in: A closer view of something already in the scene.

AI tip: Shot-size words are among the most reliable prompt controls. Writing the shot size first ("Medium close-up of…") consistently improves framing.

6. Camera Angles #

Eye Level: Camera at the subject's eye height. Neutral.

Low Angle: Camera looks up at the subject. Conveys power, threat, heroism.

High Angle: Camera looks down. Conveys vulnerability, smallness.

Bird's-Eye View / Overhead / Top-down: Directly above.

Worm's-Eye View: Extremely low, looking straight up.

Dutch Angle / Dutch Tilt / Canted Angle: Camera tilted on its roll axis. Signals unease or disorientation.

Shoulder Level / Hip Level / Knee Level / Ground Level: Camera height descriptors.

Aerial Shot: From aircraft or drone.

Profile Shot: Subject seen from the side.

Three-Quarter Angle: Between frontal and profile. The most common and flattering for faces.

7. Camera Movement #

Static / Locked-off: The camera doesn't move.

Pan: Camera rotates horizontally on a fixed point (left/right).

Tilt: Camera rotates vertically on a fixed point (up/down).

Roll: Camera rotates around the lens axis.

Dolly / Track / Truck: The camera physically moves.

• Dolly in/out: toward or away from the subject.
• Truck / Track: sideways, parallel to the subject.

Push-in / Pull-out: Slow dolly toward or away from a subject, often for emphasis.

Zoom: Changing focal length to magnify or widen. The camera doesn't move, so perspective doesn't change the way it does with a dolly.

Dolly Zoom / Vertigo Effect / Zolly: Dolly and zoom in opposite directions. The subject stays the same size while the background warps.

Pedestal / Boom / Crane: Camera moves vertically (pedestal), or swings up and over on an arm (crane, jib).

Arc / Orbit: Camera circles around the subject.

Handheld: Camera held by the operator. Adds energy, intimacy, documentary feel.

Steadicam / Gimbal: Stabilized moving camera with smooth, floating motion.

Tracking Shot / Follow Shot: Camera moves with a moving subject.

Leading Shot: Camera moves ahead of the subject, facing back toward them.

Whip Pan / Swish Pan: A very fast pan that blurs. Often used as a transition.

Crash Zoom / Snap Zoom: A sudden, fast zoom.

Oner / Long Take / Single Take: An extended unbroken shot.

Rack Focus / Pull Focus: Shifting focus from one subject to another within a shot.

Motivated Movement: Camera movement driven by character action or story, not just style.

FPV (First-Person View) Drone: Fast, acrobatic drone movement.

AI tip: Camera-movement terms map directly to camera controls in most AI video tools. Specify one clear move per shot. Stacking moves ("orbit while pushing in and tilting up") often causes warping.

8. Composition & Framing #

Composition: The arrangement of visual elements within the frame.

Frame: The rectangular boundary of the image. Also a single still image of film.

Rule of Thirds: Placing key elements along lines dividing the frame into thirds.

Center Framing / Symmetry: Subject placed dead center (Kubrick, Wes Anderson).

Headroom: Space between the top of the head and the top of the frame.

Lead Room / Look Room / Nose Room: Space in front of the direction a subject is looking or moving.

Short Siding: Placing a subject so they look toward the near edge of frame, leaving little room. Creates unease.

Leading Lines: Lines in the image that guide the eye toward the subject.

Depth / Layering: Foreground, midground and background elements that create dimension.

Frame Within a Frame: Using doorways, windows or arches to frame the subject.

Negative Space: Empty areas of the frame, used for emphasis or isolation.

Balance: Distribution of visual weight across the frame.

Clean / Dirty Single: A clean single shows only one person. A dirty single includes part of another person in the foreground.

Blocking (composition sense): Where actors are placed and move within the frame. (See Section 12.)

Mise-en-scène: Everything placed in front of the camera: set, lighting, costume, actors, composition. Literally "placing on stage."

Aspect Ratio: Width-to-height ratio of the frame.

• 16:9 (1.78:1): HD/TV
• 1.85:1: theatrical flat
• 2.39:1: anamorphic scope
• 4:3 (1.33:1): academy-ish/vintage
• 9:16: vertical/mobile
• 1:1: square

Letterbox / Pillarbox: Black bars added to fit an image into a different aspect ratio (top and bottom, or sides).

Safe Areas (Title / Action Safe): Inner zones of the frame where text and key action won't be cropped on screens or UIs.

9. Lenses, Optics & Exposure #

Focal Length: The lens's magnification, in millimeters.

• Wide angle (≤ 24mm): expansive, distorts near objects.
• Normal (≈ 35–50mm): close to human vision.
• Telephoto (≥ 85mm): compresses space, isolates subjects.

Prime Lens / Zoom Lens: Primes have a fixed focal length. Zooms have variable focal length.

Anamorphic Lens: Squeezes a wide image onto the sensor. Produces oval bokeh, horizontal flares and a widescreen look.

Spherical Lens: Standard non-anamorphic lens.

Macro Lens: Allows extreme close focus on small subjects.

Tilt-Shift: A lens that tilts the focal plane. Can create a "miniature" look.

Aperture / f-stop / T-stop: The lens opening. Lower numbers (f/1.4) mean more light and shallower depth of field. T-stops measure actual light transmitted.

Depth of Field (DoF): The range of distance in acceptable focus.

• Shallow DoF: subject sharp, background blurred.
• Deep DoF: everything sharp.

Deep Focus: Foreground and background both sharp (Citizen Kane).

Bokeh: The quality of out-of-focus areas.

Lens Compression: The apparent flattening of distance between subject and background with long lenses.

Lens Distortion (Barrel / Pincushion): Bending of straight lines near frame edges.

Lens Flare: Light scattering inside the lens, causing streaks or orbs.

Vignette: Darkening toward the edges of the frame.

Shutter Speed / Shutter Angle: How long each frame is exposed. A 180° shutter (1/48s at 24fps) is the cinematic standard for natural motion blur.

Motion Blur: Blur from movement during exposure.

ISO / ASA / EI: Sensor sensitivity to light. Higher values are brighter but noisier.

Exposure: How bright or dark the image is overall.

Over-/Underexposure: Too much or too little light.

Dynamic Range / Latitude: The range from darkest to brightest detail a camera can capture.

ND Filter (Neutral Density): Reduces light without changing color. Lets you shoot wide open in bright conditions.

Diffusion Filter (Pro-Mist, Black Satin, etc.): Softens highlights and contrast for a filmic glow.

Sensor Size / Format: Full frame, Super 35, Micro Four Thirds, large format, IMAX. Affects field of view and depth of field.

Crop Factor: How a smaller sensor narrows the field of view compared with full frame.

Field of View (FOV): How much of the scene the lens sees.

AI tip: "35mm," "85mm portrait lens," "anamorphic," "shallow depth of field," "f/1.8" and "film grain" are widely understood by image and video models. Use them as style anchors.

10. Lighting #

Three-Point Lighting: The basic setup.

• Key light: main source.
• Fill light: softens shadows.
• Back light / Rim light / Hair light: separates subject from background.

Key Light: The primary, dominant light on the subject.

Fill Light: Secondary light that lifts shadows.

Backlight / Rim Light: Light from behind that outlines the subject.

Kicker: A light from behind and to the side that edges the face.

Practical Light: A visible light source in the scene (lamp, neon sign, candle).

Motivated Lighting: Light that appears to come from a logical source in the scene.

Hard Light / Soft Light: Hard light comes from a small or direct source and makes crisp shadows. Soft light comes from a large or diffused source and makes gentle shadows.

High-Key Lighting: Bright, low-contrast. Comedies, commercials.

Low-Key Lighting: Dark, high-contrast. Noir, horror, thrillers.

Chiaroscuro: Strong contrast between light and dark, borrowed from painting.

Contrast Ratio / Lighting Ratio: The difference between key and fill intensity.

Rembrandt Lighting: A key light at about 45°, creating a small triangle of light on the shadowed cheek.

Butterfly / Paramount Lighting: Key light above and in front, casting a small shadow under the nose.

Split Lighting: Half the face lit, half in shadow.

Loop Lighting: Like Rembrandt, but the nose shadow doesn't connect to the cheek shadow.

Broad / Short Lighting: Broad lighting lights the side of the face toward the camera. Short lighting lights the side away from it and is more sculptural.

Silhouette: Subject fully backlit, appearing as a dark shape.

Negative Fill: Using black flags or surfaces to remove light and deepen shadows.

Bounce: Reflecting light off a surface to soften it.

Diffusion: Material that softens light.

Flag / Cutter / Scrim / Gel:

• Flag blocks light.
• Cutter is a long, narrow flag.
• Scrim reduces intensity.
• Gel colors light.

Color Temperature (Kelvin): The color of light. ~3200K is tungsten/warm. ~5600K is daylight/neutral-cool. Higher is bluer.

Mixed Lighting: Sources of different color temperatures in one scene.

Golden Hour / Magic Hour: Soft, warm light shortly after sunrise or before sunset.

Blue Hour: Cool twilight just before sunrise or after sunset.

Day for Night: Shooting in daylight and grading it to look like night.

Volumetric Lighting / God Rays: Visible light beams through haze, smoke or dust.

Haze: Atmospheric smoke used to reveal light beams and add depth.

Eye Light / Catchlight: The reflection of a light in the subject's eyes, which adds life.

Lighting Continuity: Consistent light direction and quality across shots in a scene. AI tip: Lighting direction often flips between AI shots. Specify the light's side and source ("key light from screen left window") in every prompt for a scene.

11. Color & Look #

Color Grading: Creative adjustment of color and contrast to create a look.

Color Correction: Technical adjustment to balance and match shots (exposure, white balance) before creative grading.

White Balance: Calibrating the camera so white appears neutral under a given light.

LUT (Look-Up Table): A file that maps one set of colors to another. Used for display transforms or creative looks.

Log / Flat Profile: A low-contrast recording mode that preserves dynamic range for grading.

Rec.709 / Rec.2020 / DCI-P3: Color space standards for HD, HDR/UHD and digital cinema.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) / SDR: HDR displays a wider range of brightness and color than standard dynamic range.

ACES: Academy Color Encoding System, a standardized color pipeline.

Color Palette: The deliberate set of colors used in a film or scene.

Color Scheme: Relationships between colors.

• Complementary: opposite on the wheel, e.g. teal/orange.
• Analogous: neighbors.
• Monochromatic: one hue.
• Triadic: three evenly spaced hues.

Teal and Orange: A popular blockbuster look that separates warm skin tones from cool backgrounds.

Desaturated / Bleach Bypass: Muted color with high contrast. Gritty.

Saturation / Hue / Luminance: Intensity, color identity, and brightness of color.

Contrast: The difference between light and dark areas.

Crushed Blacks / Clipped Highlights: Shadow or highlight detail lost to pure black or white.

Skin Tone Line: A vectorscope reference for natural skin hues.

Scopes (Waveform, Vectorscope, Parade, Histogram): Technical displays that measure brightness and color objectively.

Film Emulation / Film Look: Mimicking film stocks: grain, halation, color response, gate weave.

Grain / Noise: Film grain is texture from film emulsion. Noise is digital sensor artifacting.

Halation: A reddish glow around bright highlights, characteristic of film.

Shot Matching: Grading shots so they look consistent within a scene. AI tip: Essential for AI films that mix outputs from different models and sessions. A unifying grade plus consistent grain hides a lot.

12. Coverage, Continuity & Blocking #

Coverage: (Production) The set of shots and angles filmed for a scene so the editor has options, such as a master, singles, OTS and inserts. AI tip: Generate coverage, not just "hero shots." Editors need options to build rhythm and fix problems.

Blocking: Planning actors' movement and positions in a scene relative to the camera.

Staging: How action and actors are arranged for the camera, often in depth.

Continuity: Consistency of details across shots: props, costume, hair, positions, lighting, weather, eyelines. AI tip: The number one flaw in AI films. Track it like a script supervisor does.

Continuity Error: A mismatch between shots, like a cup that's full, then empty, then full again.

180-Degree Rule: Keep the camera on one side of an imaginary line between two characters so their screen directions stay consistent. Crossing it can confuse the audience.

Axis of Action / The Line: The imaginary line that defines the 180-degree rule.

30-Degree Rule: Successive shots of the same subject should change angle by at least 30° to avoid a jarring jump cut.

Screen Direction: The direction characters or objects move or face on screen. Must stay consistent to keep geography clear.

Eyeline / Eyeline Match: Where a character is looking. An eyeline match cuts to what they're looking at, in the correct direction.

Match on Action: Cutting mid-movement so the action continues seamlessly across shots.

Hitting the Mark: An actor stopping exactly at their marked spot for focus and framing.

Mark: A tape mark on the floor for actor positions.

Spatial Geography: The audience's sense of where everything is in a scene.

Reverse Shot / Shot–Reverse Shot: Alternating between two characters facing each other. The standard dialogue pattern.

Coverage Pattern: The planned order and type of setups, e.g. wide → mediums → close-ups.

13. Editing #

Cut: (1) An instantaneous transition between shots. (2) A version of the edit.

Assembly Cut: First rough assembly of all scenes in script order.

Rough Cut: An early edited version, refined for story and pacing.

Fine Cut: A refined version close to final.

Director's Cut: The director's preferred version.

Picture Lock / Locked Cut: The edit is final. No more timing changes, so sound, VFX and color can finish.

Offline / Online Edit: Offline uses lower-quality proxies for creative editing. Online conforms to full-quality media for finishing.

Proxy: A lightweight copy of footage used for smooth editing.

Conform: Rebuilding the edit with original high-resolution media.

EDL / XML / AAF: Files that describe an edit so it can move between software.

Timeline: The editing workspace where clips are arranged in time.

NLE (Non-Linear Editor): Editing software such as Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer or Final Cut Pro.

Pacing: The perceived speed of a film or scene, shaped by shot length, scene length and information flow.

Rhythm: The pattern of cuts and beats, like a musical pulse.

Continuity Editing / Invisible Editing: Editing designed to go unnoticed, preserving time and space.

Jump Cut: A cut within the same shot or similar angle that creates a jarring jump in time. Used stylistically (Breathless) or as a flaw.

Match Cut: A cut linking two shots through similar shape, motion or idea (the bone-to-satellite cut in 2001).

Graphic Match: A match cut based on visual shape or composition.

Smash Cut: An abrupt cut, often from quiet to loud or tension to comedy.

J-Cut: The audio of the next shot starts before the picture cuts.

L-Cut: The audio of the current shot continues after the picture cuts. Why it matters: J and L cuts are the secret to smooth, natural dialogue editing.

Split Edit: A general term for J- and L-cuts.

Cross-Cutting / Parallel Editing: Alternating between simultaneous actions in different places.

Montage: (1) A sequence compressing time. (2) Soviet montage theory: meaning created by joining images (Eisenstein).

Kuleshov Effect: Viewers infer emotion from how shots are juxtaposed. The same neutral face reads as hungry, sad or loving depending on the shot next to it. AI tip: Powerful for AI films. A neutral generated face can carry emotion through editing context.

Cutting on Action: Making cuts during movement to hide them.

Cutting on the Look: Cutting when a character looks at something, motivating the next shot.

Insert / Cutaway (editing use): Shots used to cover jumps, show detail or shift attention.

B-Roll: Supplementary footage that supports the main footage, used for cutaways and texture.

A-Roll: Primary footage, such as interviews or main dialogue.

Trim / Ripple / Roll / Slip / Slide: Precise editing operations that adjust clip in- and out-points.

Selects: The best takes chosen from all footage.

Dailies / Rushes: Unedited footage from each shooting day. AI tip: The equivalent of reviewing a day's generations. Be ruthless about selects.

Temp Track / Temp Music: Placeholder music used during editing.

Kill Your Darlings: Cutting material you love because it doesn't serve the film.

Runtime / Running Time: The total length of the film.

Speed Ramp: Changing playback speed within a shot (slow to fast, or the reverse).

Freeze Frame: Holding a single frame on screen.

Slow Motion / Overcranking: Shooting at a higher frame rate and playing back at normal speed.

Timelapse / Undercranking: Shooting at a lower frame rate (or intervals) so playback speeds up.

14. Transitions #

Hard Cut / Straight Cut: An instant change between shots.

Dissolve / Cross-dissolve: One shot gradually blends into the next. Suggests passing time or connection.

Fade In / Fade Out: From or to black (or white).

Fade to Black: Ending a scene or film with a fade to black.

Wipe: One shot replaces another with a moving edge (Star Wars).

Iris In / Out: A circular opening or closing reveal, from silent film.

Whip-Pan Transition: Fast pans hiding a cut between scenes.

Match Dissolve: A dissolve between visually similar compositions.

Invisible Cut / Hidden Cut: A cut hidden behind darkness, motion or a foreground object to fake a long take.

Morph Transition: One image transforms into another. AI tip: AI video's native strength. Use it with intent, because overuse reads as a gimmick.

15. Sound & Music #

Diegetic Sound: Sound that exists in the story world: dialogue, footsteps, a radio playing.

Non-diegetic Sound: Sound outside the story world: score, narration.

Production Sound: Audio recorded on set.

Dialogue / Effects / Music (D/M/E): The three main soundtrack components, delivered as separate stems.

Sound Design: Creating and shaping the film's overall sonic world.

Sound Effects (SFX): Recorded or designed sounds added in post.

Foley: Everyday sounds (footsteps, clothing, props) performed and recorded in sync with picture.

Ambience / Atmos / Room Tone / Presence: Background sound of a location. Room tone is the "silence" of a room, recorded for editing.

Walla: Indistinct crowd murmur.

ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) / Looping: Re-recording dialogue in a studio.

Wild Track / Wild Sound: Audio recorded without picture.

Sync Sound: Audio recorded in sync with picture.

Lip Sync: Matching audio to mouth movement. AI tip: Lip-sync tools are a key AI workflow. Check for "mouth mush" on consonants like P, B and M.

Sound Bridge: Sound carrying over from one scene into the next.

Stinger: A short, sharp musical or sound accent, often for shocks or jokes.

Score: Original music composed for the film.

Soundtrack: Technically all audio in a film. Commonly means the music album.

Needle Drop: Using a licensed existing song.

Leitmotif: A recurring musical theme tied to a character, place or idea.

Underscore: Music playing under dialogue or action.

Source Music: Music that comes from within the scene (diegetic).

Spotting Session: Director and composer or sound team watch the film and decide where music and effects go.

Cue: An individual piece of music in a score.

Mickey-Mousing: Music that mimics on-screen action exactly. Often comedic.

Mix / Re-recording Mix: Balancing all audio elements into the final soundtrack.

Stems: Separated audio groups (dialogue, music, effects) delivered for versioning and localization.

Stereo / 5.1 / 7.1 / Dolby Atmos: Speaker configurations, from two channels up to object-based immersive audio.

LUFS / Loudness Standards: Measured loudness levels required by platforms (around −14 LUFS for many streaming and social platforms, −24/−23 for broadcast).

Dynamic Range (audio): The difference between the quietest and loudest sounds.

Silence: A deliberate absence of sound, which can be one of the strongest tools in sound design.

Why it matters: Audiences forgive weak picture more readily than weak sound. In AI films, sound is often the fastest quality upgrade.

16. Production & On-Set Jargon #

Development Hell: A project stuck in development for a long time.

Greenlight: Official approval to fund and make a project.

Pre-Production / Production / Post-Production: The planning, shooting and finishing phases.

Principal Photography: The main shooting period with principal cast.

Second Unit: A separate crew shooting secondary footage (stunts, inserts, establishing shots).

Pickups / Reshoots: Additional shooting after principal photography, either small fixes (pickups) or bigger changes (reshoots).

Call Sheet: The daily document listing schedule, cast, crew, locations and logistics.

Call Time: When someone must arrive.

Shooting Schedule / Stripboard: The plan for which scenes shoot when, traditionally on colored strips.

One-Liner: A condensed shooting schedule.

Day Out of Days (DOOD): A chart showing which days each cast member works.

Script Breakdown: Listing every element each scene needs.

Shot List: A list of planned shots for each scene. AI tip: Your generation queue. A good shot list is the most efficient AI production tool.

Storyboard: Illustrated panels showing planned shots.

Animatic: Storyboards edited to time with sound, like a moving storyboard.

Previs (Previsualization): Rough 3D animated versions of sequences.

Postvis: Rough VFX placed into edited footage to guide editorial before final VFX.

Lookbook / Mood Board / Deck: A visual reference collection that defines the film's look and feel, often used for pitching.

Pitch / Pitch Deck: A presentation selling a project.

Sizzle Reel / Proof of Concept: A short video demonstrating a project's potential. AI tip: AI makes proof-of-concept films far cheaper. They're one of AI filmmaking's strongest professional uses.

Setup: A camera and lighting position. Each new angle is a new setup.

Take: One recorded attempt at a shot.

Slate / Clapperboard: Identifies the scene, shot and take, and gives a sync point for sound.

Martini Shot: The last shot of the day.

Abby Singer: The second-to-last shot of the day, named after an AD.

Golden Time: Very high overtime pay after many hours.

Wrap: End of shooting (for the day, for an actor, or for the production).

Turnaround (crew): The required rest time between wrap and the next call.

Hot Set: A set that is ready for shooting and must not be disturbed.

Video Village: The monitor area where the director and others watch takes.

Back to One: Return to starting positions for another take.

Checking the Gate: Inspecting the camera gate for debris before moving on (a film-era term).

Roll / Speed / Action / Cut: The standard sequence of on-set commands.

Room Tone (on set): A moment of silence everyone holds so sound can record ambience.

Crossing!: Called when walking through the camera's view between takes.

Banana (Move): An actor's curved path toward the camera, so they stay well-framed.

Cheat: Slightly adjusting an actor's or object's position for a better frame, even if it breaks real geography.

Blue Screen / Green Screen / Chroma Key: A colored background replaced in post.

LED Volume / Virtual Production / ICVFX: Filming actors in front of LED walls showing real-time 3D environments (in-camera VFX).

Plate: Footage shot to be used as a background or base for VFX.

Clean Plate: A plate of the scene with no actors, used for VFX removal and compositing.

Reference / HDRI: Lighting and color reference captured on set for VFX matching.

Gaffer Tape: Cloth tape that's strong and leaves no residue. Universal on set.

Apple Box: A wooden box used for raising actors or equipment, in full, half, quarter and pancake sizes.

C-Stand: The standard grip stand for flags and lights.

Sticks: Tripod.

Dolly / Slider / Jib / Crane: Camera movement support gear.

Budget (ATL / BTL): Above-the-line covers creative leads and rights. Below-the-line covers crew, equipment and production costs.

Contingency: A budget reserve for overruns (often 10%).

17. Visual Effects & Animation #

VFX (Visual Effects): Digital imagery created or manipulated in post.

SFX (Special Effects): Practical effects done physically on set. SFX also abbreviates "sound effects," so context matters.

Practical Effects: Physical effects such as squibs, rain, miniatures, animatronics and prosthetics.

CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery): Images created with 3D computer graphics.

Compositing: Combining multiple image layers into one seamless image.

Keying: Removing a background color (green or blue) to isolate a subject.

Rotoscoping (Roto): Hand-tracing shapes frame by frame to isolate elements.

Matte / Alpha Channel: A mask defining transparency.

Matte Painting: A painted or digital background or set extension.

Set Extension: Digitally extending a physical set.

Tracking / Matchmoving: Recovering camera or object motion so CG elements line up.

Paint / Cleanup: Removing wires, rigs, blemishes or unwanted objects.

Wire Removal / Rig Removal: Erasing support rigs from shots.

Digital Double: A CG replica of an actor.

De-aging: Digitally making an actor appear younger.

Motion Capture (MoCap) / Performance Capture: Recording an actor's movement (and face) to drive a digital character.

Keyframe Animation: Animating by setting key poses and letting software interpolate between them.

Principles of Animation: Disney's 12 principles, including squash and stretch, anticipation, staging, follow-through, slow in and out, arcs, timing, exaggeration and appeal. AI tip: These are the diagnostic vocabulary for "why does this AI motion look floaty or wrong?"

Rigging: Building a controllable skeleton for a 3D model.

Simulation (Sim): Physics-based effects such as cloth, hair, fluids and destruction.

Particles: Many small elements (sparks, dust, snow) simulated together.

Rendering: Calculating the final image from 3D data.

Render Pass / AOV: Separate image layers (diffuse, specular, shadow, depth) rendered for compositing control.

Depth Map / Z-Depth: An image encoding distance from camera. AI tip: Depth maps are a core control input for AI generation (depth ControlNet), letting you keep a composition while changing style.

Normal Map: An image encoding surface direction, used for lighting detail.

Photogrammetry: Building 3D models from many photographs.

Gaussian Splatting (3DGS): A 3D capture and rendering technique that represents scenes as millions of soft "splats." Fast and photoreal for captured spaces.

NeRF (Neural Radiance Field): A neural network that represents a 3D scene from images.

LiDAR: Laser scanning to capture precise 3D geometry.

Real-time Rendering / Game Engine: Rendering instantly (Unreal Engine, Unity) for previs or virtual production.

Stop Motion: Animation made by photographing physical objects one frame at a time.

2D / Cel / Hand-drawn Animation: Traditional drawn animation.

Rotomation: Animating a CG character to match live-action movement.

Cel Shading / Toon Shading: Rendering 3D to look like flat 2D animation.

Uncanny Valley: The discomfort viewers feel when a human figure looks almost but not quite real. AI tip: Many AI humans sit in the uncanny valley. Stylization is often more appealing than near-realism.

18. Formats, Technical Specs & Delivery #

Frame Rate (fps): Frames per second.

• 24 fps: cinema standard, "filmic" motion.
• 25 fps: PAL regions.
• 29.97/30 fps: NTSC/broadcast/web.
• 48/60+ fps: high frame rate, slow-mo source.

Resolution: Pixel dimensions.

• 720p: 1280×720
• 1080p / HD: 1920×1080
• 2K DCI: 2048×1080
• UHD / 4K: 3840×2160
• 4K DCI: 4096×2160
• 8K

Bit Depth: Color precision per channel (8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit). Higher bit depth means smoother gradients and more grading latitude.

Banding: Visible steps in gradients, caused by low bit depth or compression.

Chroma Subsampling (4:4:4, 4:2:2, 4:2:0): How much color information is kept compared with brightness.

Codec: How video is compressed and encoded: H.264, H.265/HEVC, ProRes, DNxHR, AV1.

Container / Wrapper: The file format holding video and audio: .mov, .mp4, .mxf.

Intra-frame vs. Long-GOP: Intra-frame codecs compress each frame alone, which makes them edit-friendly (ProRes). Long-GOP codecs compress across frames, which makes them smaller (H.264).

Bitrate: How much data per second the video uses. Higher bitrate generally means higher quality.

RAW: Unprocessed sensor data with maximum grading flexibility.

Mezzanine File: A high-quality master file used to create other versions.

Master / Deliverables: The final files and documents required for distribution.

DCP (Digital Cinema Package): The standard file package for theatrical projection.

Interlaced vs. Progressive (i vs. p): Interlaced draws alternating lines and is legacy broadcast. Progressive draws full frames.

Timecode: The hours:minutes:seconds:frames address of every frame.

Drop-frame / Non-drop-frame: Timecode methods for 29.97 fps.

Upscaling / Upres: Increasing resolution, with traditional or AI methods.

Frame Interpolation: Generating in-between frames to raise the frame rate or smooth motion. AI tip: AI interpolation (RIFE, FILM, etc.) can smooth generated video, but it can create the "soap opera effect" or warping on fast motion.

Soap Opera Effect: The overly smooth, video-like motion from high frame rates or interpolation.

Compression Artifacts: Blockiness, mosquito noise or banding caused by heavy compression.

Closed Captions (CC) / Subtitles / SDH: Text versions of audio. SDH (subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing) includes sound descriptions.

Audio Description (AD): Narration describing visual content for blind and low-vision audiences.

QC (Quality Control): Technical review of deliverables for errors.

Aspect Ratio Conversion / Reframing: Adapting content to another aspect ratio, e.g. 16:9 to 9:16 for social.

19. Business, Rights & Distribution #

IP (Intellectual Property): Creative works protected by law, including stories, characters, music and brands.

Option: Paying for the exclusive right to buy and develop a property within a set period.

Chain of Title: Documentation proving the producer owns or controls all rights in the film. AI tip: AI raises new chain-of-title questions about model terms, training data and the copyrightability of AI-generated elements. Document your process.

Copyright: Legal protection for original works of authorship. Note: In the U.S., the Copyright Office has said that purely AI-generated material isn't protected, while human-authored contributions (selection, arrangement, modification) can be. Check current guidance for your jurisdiction.

Public Domain: Works no longer under copyright, free for anyone to use.

Fair Use / Fair Dealing: Limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes like commentary, criticism or parody. It depends on the facts of each case.

License / Licensing: Permission to use someone else's IP under agreed terms.

Sync License / Master License: For music. A sync license covers the composition. A master license covers the specific recording.

Release Form: A signed permission to use someone's likeness (appearance release), a location (location release) or materials.

Likeness Rights / Right of Publicity: Legal control over the commercial use of a person's name, image and voice. AI tip: Essential for digital doubles, voice clones and anything resembling a real person.

E&O Insurance (Errors & Omissions): Insurance against legal claims (copyright, defamation). Usually required by distributors.

Budget Levels: Micro-budget, low-budget, mid-budget, tentpole/blockbuster.

Financing: Equity, pre-sales, gap financing, tax incentives, grants, crowdfunding, brand partnerships.

Pre-sales: Selling distribution rights in territories before the film is finished, to raise production money.

Minimum Guarantee (MG): An upfront advance a distributor pays for rights.

Tax Incentive / Rebate / Credit: Government programs refunding part of production spend.

Back-end / Points: A share of a film's profits.

Waterfall / Recoupment: The order in which revenue is paid out to stakeholders.

Gross / Net: Total revenue versus revenue after expenses.

Deferred Pay: Payment promised later, out of revenue.

Spec Work / Work-for-Hire: Spec work is done without guaranteed payment. In work-for-hire, the employer owns what is created.

Territory / Window: A territory is a geographic market. A window is a time period for release on a platform (theatrical, PVOD, SVOD, etc.).

Theatrical / VOD / SVOD / AVOD / TVOD / FAST: Release models.

• Theatrical: cinemas.
• VOD: video on demand.
• SVOD: subscription, e.g. Netflix.
• AVOD: ad-supported.
• TVOD: transactional rental or purchase.
• FAST: free ad-supported streaming TV channels.

Festival Circuit / Premiere Status: The sequence of festivals a film plays. Many top festivals require a world, international or regional premiere.

Film Market: Industry events where rights are bought and sold (AFM, Cannes Marché, EFM).

Sales Agent / Distributor / Aggregator: Companies that sell, release or deliver films to platforms. (See the Roles Glossary.)

P&A (Prints & Advertising): Marketing and release costs.

Four-Quadrant Film: A film appealing to all four main demographic quadrants (male/female, under/over 25).

Comps (Comparables): Similar films used to show market potential in pitches.

Branded Content / Sponsored Film: A film funded by a brand, often with brand integration.

Creator Economy: Independent creators earning directly through platforms, sponsorships, patronage and products.

20. Film Theory & Criticism #

Auteur Theory: The idea that the director is the primary "author" of a film, with a recognizable personal style.

Cinematic Language / Film Grammar: The conventions by which films communicate meaning: shots, cuts, sound, movement.

Formalism / Realism: Two contrasting theories. Formalism emphasizes the artist's stylization. Realism emphasizes capturing reality.

Montage Theory (Soviet): Eisenstein, Kuleshov and Vertov's idea that meaning comes from juxtaposing shots.

Italian Neorealism: The post-WWII movement using real locations, non-actors and stories of everyday life (Bicycle Thieves).

French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague): A 1950s–60s movement of jump cuts, handheld camera and personal style (Godard, Truffaut).

German Expressionism: Stylized, distorted sets and stark shadows that express inner states (Caligari, Nosferatu).

Dogme 95: A Danish movement with strict "vow of chastity" rules: handheld camera, natural light, no effects.

The Gaze / Male Gaze: Laura Mulvey's theory of how camera perspective positions viewers, often in gendered ways.

Suture: How editing stitches the viewer into the film's point of view.

Fourth Wall: The imaginary barrier between the story and the audience. "Breaking the fourth wall" means addressing the audience directly.

Verisimilitude: The appearance of being true or real within the story's own logic.

Suspension of Disbelief: The audience's willingness to accept the story's premises.

Pure Cinema: Storytelling through image and editing alone, without dialogue. A Hitchcock ideal.

Visual Storytelling: Conveying narrative through images rather than words.

Intertextuality: A film's references to or relationship with other works.

Meta / Self-reflexive: A film that's aware of itself as a film.

Slow Cinema: Long takes, minimal plot, contemplative pace (Tarkovsky, Béla Tarr).

Genre Theory: Studying how genres form, evolve and set audience expectations.

Semiotics: The study of signs and meaning, applied to how film images signify.

21. AI Filmmaking Terms #

The vocabulary of generative and AI-assisted film workflows. Tools and model names change quickly, but these concepts last.

Generation basics #

Generative AI: AI that creates new content such as images, video, audio and text.

Model: A trained AI system that generates or transforms content. Open-weight models can be downloaded and run locally. Closed models run through an API or platform.

Checkpoint: A saved set of model weights, i.e. a specific trained version of a model.

Diffusion Model: The dominant architecture for image and video generation. It learns to remove noise step by step until an image emerges.

Transformer / DiT (Diffusion Transformer): Model architectures. DiT combines diffusion with transformer networks and powers many current video models.

Latent Space: The compressed internal representation a model works in before decoding to pixels.

VAE (Variational Autoencoder): The component that encodes images into latent space and decodes them back.

Text-to-Image (T2I) / Text-to-Video (T2V): Generating images or video from a text prompt.

Image-to-Image (I2I): Transforming an input image guided by a prompt.

Image-to-Video (I2V): Animating a still image into video. Usually the most controllable way to get consistent AI shots.

Video-to-Video (V2V): Transforming existing video (style, character, environment) while keeping motion.

First/Last Frame (Keyframe) Conditioning: Giving start and end images and letting the model generate the motion between them.

Text-to-Speech (TTS) / Voice Cloning / Speech-to-Speech: Generating spoken audio from text, copying a voice, or converting one voice performance into another voice.

Text-to-Music / Text-to-SFX / Video-to-Audio: Generating music, sound effects or synchronized audio from prompts or video.

Native Audio: Video models that generate synchronized sound and dialogue along with picture.

Prompting #

Prompt: The text input describing what to generate.

Negative Prompt: Text describing what to avoid.

Prompt Adherence: How closely the output follows the prompt.

Prompt Structure: A consistent order for prompt elements, e.g. shot size → subject → action → setting → lighting → camera/lens → style → mood.

Prompt Weighting / Emphasis: Syntax that increases or decreases the importance of words (varies by tool).

Style Reference (sref) / Image Prompt: An image supplied to guide aesthetics.

Character Reference / Subject Reference: An image supplied to keep a person or character consistent.

Prompt Enhancement / Prompt Expansion: An LLM rewriting a short prompt into a detailed one before generation.

Wildcards: Placeholders replaced randomly from lists, used to generate variations.

Generation settings #

Seed: The number that sets the starting noise. The same seed with the same settings gives a reproducible output. AI tip: Log your seeds. They're the AI equivalent of a camera report.

Steps / Sampling Steps: How many denoising iterations to run. More steps take longer, and quality gains drop off after a point.

Sampler / Scheduler: The algorithm that steers denoising (Euler, DPM++, etc.) and its noise schedule.

CFG (Classifier-Free Guidance) Scale: How strongly the model follows the prompt. Too high gives overcooked, oversaturated results. Too low ignores the prompt.

Denoise Strength: In image-to-image or video-to-video, how much the input is changed (0 = unchanged, 1 = fully new).

Batch / Batch Size: Generating many outputs at once to choose from.

Resolution / Aspect Bucket: The output size. Models perform best at the resolutions they were trained on.

Duration / Frame Count: Length of a generated clip. Longer clips tend to drift.

Inference: Running a trained model to generate output.

Quantization (FP16, FP8, GGUF, etc.): Reducing model precision to save VRAM, with some possible quality loss.

VRAM: GPU memory. Usually the main limit on which models and resolutions you can run locally.

Control & customization #

ControlNet: Additional networks that guide generation with structural inputs such as pose, depth, edges (canny), line art or segmentation. AI tip: Lets you "direct" composition and blocking instead of hoping a prompt gets it right.

Pose Control (OpenPose / DWPose): Using skeletons to dictate character poses.

Depth Control: Using depth maps to preserve spatial layout.

Canny / Line Art / Edge Control: Using outlines to keep shapes and composition.

IP-Adapter: Uses an image as a prompt for style or subject.

LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation): A small add-on file that fine-tunes a model for a character, style, object or motion without retraining the whole model.

LoRA Strength / Weight: How strongly a LoRA influences output.

IC-LoRA (In-Context LoRA): LoRAs that apply a learned transformation or control behavior using reference content in context.

Fine-Tuning: Further training a model on specific data.

DreamBooth / Textual Inversion / Embeddings: Earlier methods of teaching models new subjects or styles.

Training Dataset / Captioning: The curated images or videos and their text descriptions used for training.

Motion LoRA / Camera LoRA: LoRAs trained to produce specific movements or camera moves.

Inpainting: Regenerating a masked part of an image or video while keeping the rest.

Outpainting / Uncropping: Extending an image beyond its original borders.

Regional Prompting: Applying different prompts to different areas of the frame.

Upscaler: A model that increases resolution and adds detail (ESRGAN, SUPIR, video upscalers).

Face Restoration / Face Swap / Face Detailer: Tools that fix, replace or refine faces.

Relighting: Changing a shot's lighting after generation or capture.

Lip-Sync Model: Matches a character's mouth movement to audio.

Motion Transfer / Performance Transfer: Driving a generated character with motion from a reference video.

Quality & consistency issues #

Temporal Consistency / Coherence: How stable details stay from frame to frame.

Flicker: Frame-to-frame changes in brightness, texture or detail.

Morphing / Warping: Objects or bodies shifting shape unnaturally.

Drift: Gradual change of character, style or scene over a clip or across shots.

Character Consistency / Identity Preservation: Keeping the same face, body, costume and features across all shots.

Style Consistency: Keeping one coherent look across a film.

Artifacts: Unwanted visual errors such as extra fingers, garbled text, melting objects or smeared textures.

Hallucination: The model inventing content that wasn't asked for or doesn't make sense.

Physics Errors: Unrealistic motion, gravity, collisions or liquids.

Uncanny Valley: (See Section 17.)

Slop / AI Slop: A slang term for low-effort, mass-produced AI content without craft or intent. Why it matters: AiFC's "process over prestige" focus pushes against this, rewarding intent, craft and documented process.

Cherry-Picking: Selecting the best results from many generations. Normal practice, but honest process notes should mention the ratio.

Hit Rate / Keep Rate: The share of generations good enough to use.

Workflow & pipeline #

Workflow: A defined sequence of tools and steps that produces a result. In ComfyUI, a saved node graph.

Node-Based Workflow / Graph: A visual pipeline built by connecting function nodes (ComfyUI).

Custom Node: A community-built extension that adds functions to ComfyUI.

Pipeline: The complete production chain across tools, from script to delivery.

Hybrid Workflow: Combining AI with traditional methods such as live action, 3D, compositing and practical capture.

Local vs. Cloud Generation: Running models on your own GPU or on remote services.

API: A programmatic interface for using a model or service.

Agent / Agentic Workflow: AI systems that carry out multi-step tasks on their own, increasingly used for automating pipelines.

LLM (Large Language Model): A text AI used for scripting, prompt writing, breakdowns and automation.

Multimodal: Models that handle several input or output types (text, image, audio, video).

World Model: A model that simulates consistent, interactive 3D environments over time.

Generation Log / Settings Log: A record of the prompts, seeds, models, LoRAs and settings used for each shot. AI tip: The core of reproducibility, and the raw material for AiFC workflow cards.

Ethics, rights & disclosure #

Training Data Provenance: Where a model's training data came from and whether it was licensed.

Commercially Safe / Licensed Model: A model trained on licensed or owned data, marketed for commercial use.

Terms of Service (ToS) / Commercial Use Rights: Platform rules on who owns outputs and how they can be used.

Consent: Permission from real people whose likeness or voice is used or cloned.

Deepfake: Synthetic media showing a real person doing or saying something they didn't. Often harmful when made without consent.

Content Credentials / C2PA: An open standard for attaching verifiable provenance metadata showing how content was made.

Watermarking (Visible / Invisible): Marks identifying AI-generated content.

AI Disclosure: Stating openly where and how AI was used in a work.

Human Authorship: The human creative contributions (selection, arrangement, editing, modification) that may be eligible for copyright.

22. Sources #

• Film Terms Glossary, Filmsite (AMC)
• A Glossary of 70+ Film Theory Terms Filmmakers Must Know, No Film School
• A Glossary of Screenwriting Terms & Filmmaking Definitions, Movie Outline
• Film Glossary, Providence Children's Film Festival
• AI Video Glossary: 70 Terms Every Creator Should Know, Renderforest
• AI Video Glossary, Lemonlight
• AI Image & Video Glossary 2026, AI Video Bootcamp
• Glossary, LTX
• How to Use IC-LoRA in LTX-2, LTX
• Temporal Consistency, Stream Glossary