Glossary

Dance Floor:
A floor built of 3/4 inch plywood which is usually covered with masonite to provide a smooth surface for free-form dollying. (Grip)
DaT (Digital audio Tape):
Two-channel digital audio has become increasingly common as a professional master reference and for use in field recording. (Sound)
Deep Focus:
A style of cinematography and staging that uses relatively wide angle lenses and small lens apertures by maintaining objects in the extreme background and foreground simultaneously focused. (Cinematography)
Dead spot:
A place in which a sound waves are canceled by reflections arriving out of phase with the wanted signal thus creating an area of silence or poor audibility. (acoustics)
Dead Sync:
An editorial term meaning that sound and picture elements are perfectly aligned. (Film Editing)
Degausser:
A device used to erase recordings on magnetic tapes and films or to demagnetize magnetic recording heads.
Density:
A factor which indicates the light-stopping power of a photographic image.
Depth of Field:
The amount of space within lens view which will maintain acceptable focus at given settings (i.e. camera speed, film speed, lens aperture). (Cinematography)
DGa:
Director's Guild of america. a union which represents directors, assistant directors, production managers, and various video personnel.
Digital:
A reference to a system whereby a continuously variable analog signal is reduced and encoded into discrete binary bits that establish a mathematical model of an original signal or other information.
Digital Recording:
A method of recording in which samples of the original analog signal are encoded on tape or disk as binary information for storage or processing. The signal can then be copied repeatedly with no degradation. (Sound)
Dimmer:
A device for varying power to the lights. (Lighting)
Dingle:
Branches which are placed in front of a light, that acts as a cookie, and provides a shadow pattern. (Grip/Lighting)
Dissolve:
A transition between two scenes where the first merges imperceptibly into the second. (Film/Video)
Distortion:
A modification of the original signal appearing in the output of audio equipment which had not been present in the input. (audio)
Directional Characteristic:
The variation in response or perception for different angles of sound incidence. (acoustics)
Dolby Digital:
This is a 5.1 channel digital film format that if optically recorded on to a film release print in the blocks of space located between the film's sprocket holes. (Sound)
Dolly Shot:
Any shot made from a moving dolly. These may also be called tracking or traveling shots. (Production)
Doorway Dolly:
A plywood dolly with four soft tires which is narrow enough to fit through a doorway. It is used to carry a camera on a tripod or for transporting other heavy items. (Grip)
Dots:
Small nets and flags used to control light. (Grip/Lighting)
Double-System Sound:
Sound and picture on separate transports. This refers to the normal methodology of recording the picture on a camera while recording sound of a separate magnetic tape recorder. (Film)
Drop Frame:
American system of time code generation that adjusts the generated data every minute to compensate for the spread of the NTSC television system running at 29.97 frames per second.
Drop Out:
Loss of a portion of a signal, usually due to a loss of a tape's oxide coating or due to dirt or grease covering a portion of a tape.
Dub:
To make a taped copy of any program source record, CD, tape. also, the copy itself. Sometimes used to refer to the aDR process. (audio/Video)
Dubbing:
An actor's voice synchronization with lip movements which are not the originally recorded sound. This is used to replace unusable dialogue or recordings, and also used to prepare foreign films for new markets. (Post Production)
Dupe:
A copy or duplicate of a negative or film.
Dutch angle:
This is the process where a camera is angled so that the horizontal frame line is not parallel to the horizon. (Production)
Duvetyne:
A heavy black cloth, treated with fire proofing material, which is used for blacking out windows, making teasers, hiding cables, and hundreds of other uses. (Grip)
DVCam:
A variation of the DV format developed by Sony and aimed at the semi-professional and lower-end professional market.
Dynamic Distortion:
Alteration of volume range of a sound when it is transmitted. (acoustics)
Dynamic Range:
The difference in decibels between the loudest and quietest portions of audio. (Sound)
Ear:
To put a flag up on the side of a lighting unit to block light. Better known as a 'sider'. (Grip/Lighting)
Edison Plug:
An ordinary household plug with two flat blades and a ground pin. (Lighting)
Edit Decision List (EDL):
The list of SMPTE codes, in footage and frames, and including instructions for fades, dissolves and other special effects which corresponds to all the segments that the editor of a film or videotape production has decided to use in the final cut.
Edit Master:
Video industry term for the tape containing the finished (edited) program.
Edit Points:
Also known as "edit in" and "edit out." The beginning and end points of an edit when a video program or soundtrack is being assembled.
Effective Output Level:
The microphone sensitivity rating defined as the ratio in dB of the power available relative to sound pressure. (acoustics)
Envelope:
The shape of the graph as amplitude is plotted against time. a sound's envelope includes its attack, decay, sustain and release (aDSR). (Sound)
Environmental Sound:
General low level sound coming from the action of a film, which can either synchronous or nonsynchronous.
Equalization:
The alteration of sound frequencies for a specific purpose, such as to remove 'noise' frequencies or to improve speech clarity.
Equivalent Noise:
A microphone in a completely silent room still generates some residual noise. This noise can be measured and can be computed. That computation is the 'Equivalent Noise'. (acoustics)
Establishing Shot:
Usually a long shot at the beginning of a scene which is intended to inform the audience about a changed locale or time for the scene which follows. (Production)