On your first day on a film set, the talk can sound like a foreign language. The gaffer asks for a double on the Junior. A grip hands over a cookie. The sound mixer calls for room tone, and the camera assistant says “mark it” before the slate claps.
To help students and new crew members find their footing, we put together a Film Terms Glossary with 630 terms used on sets, in editing rooms and in post-production. Each term has a short, plain definition and a tag for the department that uses it most.
Read the Sections That Interest You
You do not have to read all 630 at once. Pick the department you work in, or want to work in, and start there:
Terms everyone on a set should know
Camera terms
Camera directions
Lighting terms
Grip terms
Sound terms
Editing terms
Special effects terms
Crew roles
You can also search the whole list, or jump straight to a letter from A to Z.
Old Words, Still in Use
Many of these terms come from the days of film cameras, labs and flatbed editing tables. A Moviola or a changing bag is rare on a set today, but you will still hear experienced crew use these words, and knowing them helps you understand how the craft of filmmaking grew into what it is now.
Bookmark the Film Terms Glossary and share it with your crew before your next shoot. To learn who does each job on a set, see Film Crew Roles: Who Does What on a Film Set.
