Jeff’s UK-centric Glossary of Animation / Film

Terms in italic have their own entries


 

1 bit

an image that consists only of black and white pixels. In traditonal photography, this would be referred to as a high con(trast) image.
Compare with greyscale
 

acquisition

the means by which video/film material is originated; a movie film, for example, may be acquired on 35mm motion picture stock, other productions may be acquired on video tape etc
 

additive (colours)

when colours are added together, such as when coloured lights shine together, this is known as additive colour. A yellow colour, for example, will be seen when equally bright red and green lights shine on one spot
 

airbrush

the traditional airbrush is a loved / detested paint tool that works similar to a spray can, using compressed air to lay a film of very fine paint droplets down. It is ideal for painting soft fluffy imagery like clouds. Well emulated in digital media
 

alias vs. anti-alias

bitmap images can appear to have ragged edges in their "raw" (aliased) state. A technique called anti-aliasing feathers the edges. See the page here for more
 

alpha channel

means of representing transparency in a computer graphic
 

ambient light

an overall non directional light source. An example of ambient light would be the appearance inside a very heavy daytime fog; everything will be evenly lit without highlights or shadows
 

amplitude

term used in sound = loudness
 

animatic

this is a full length video (or other medium) that is as near as possible to the final production in terms of framing and timing but minus the animation, so it is more like a slide-show. (At its simplest, it may just mean filming the frames of the storyboard).  Also refererred to as a "leica"
 

animation

a tedious way of making moving pictures
 

armature

the "skeleton" of a model such as in clay or plasticine animation that is under the "skin" and can articulate, usually by means of ball and socket joints
 

Antics

the great great grandaddy of all computer ink and paint programs

aspect ratio

the relationship of the width of a video or film frame to its height, the two most common being 1.333:1 (4 x 3) and 1.77:1 (16 x 9). UK cinema widescreen is 1.85:1

AVI

picture file format for moving images (including sound) on computers - more common on PCs (see Quicktime). Depending on the codec being used, AVIs can be pure uncompressed imagery or can be heavily compressed
 

banding

distinct shades seen in colours that should instead appear seamlessly gradated
 

bar sheet

looking a bit like a dope sheet, but in horizontal format - this is a frame breakdown of sound, usually dialogue or music. (It was called "bar sheet" because originally it would have been divided into bars of music). This can then be used as the timing basis for animation. A well designed bar-sheet will use frame spacing the same as on the dope-sheets for the same production so that it can be cut up and pasted in to the sound column of the dope-sheet
here  is a part of a very simple bar-sheet which I designed for breaking down timecoded sound (this is 25 frames per second)
 

bg

abbreviation for "background"
 

bit depth

the accuracy with which digital information is stored
 

bitmap

a computer graphic composed of little (usually square shaped) blocks called pixels.
See also vector graphics

boiling

this is the shimmering effect in hand drawn animation where lines are copied over and over in a sequence of drawings. Originally due just to the mechanics of  trying and failing to copy lines exactly by hand, it is sometimes introduced deliberately as a stylistic feature in computer generated animation - random fluctuations in line quality may make the animation look hand drawn
 

breakdown

the frame by frame analysis of sound tracks so that animation can be frame accurately synchronised to the sound
 

camera shake

a traditional animation cliché - when something violent has occurred, such as an explosion, a heavy weight has hit the ground, or door slammed, the entire scene can be seen to shake
 

cel

traditional: a sheet of clear plastic on to which artwork is painted. A scene would be composed of up to 6 or so layers (levels) of cel.

digital: same usage, but of course the limitations as to number of levels no longer exist.

CGI

computer generated imagery

chroma

colour
 

chromakey

a means of separating a foreground image from its background by use of chroma. Most often used chromakey colours are blue or green
 

click track

a recorded beat used to synchronise animation to
 

clock

a countdown to the start of a film or commercial used to help cue up the start. Often consists of production title, date etc. plus a schematised image of a clock with just a second hand counting down
 

CMYK

four primary colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) of subtractive colour processes. Exclusively used in printed media, not film or video
 

codec

= compress / decompress - think of a codec as being software on your computer that enables you to record or play a specific type of moving image file such as an AVI. Each codec differs in offering various amounts or methods of picture compression, hence quality
 

colo(u)r bars

a still image of vertical strips of saturated colours used by technicians to calibrate colour fidelity
 

colour depth

a value which determines the maximum number of colours and shades that can be used in a computer graphic or digitally generated image
 

colour space

this is a way of describing the range of colours available within graphics systems. There are specialised colour spaces such as Adobe RGB and one widely used colour space called sRGB which has a reduced gamut, but is "understood" by almost all digital graphics devices
 

colour temperature

the colour quality of light (whether it is "warm" or "cool"); it is measured using the Kelvin scale. The colour temperature of daylight, for example, is approx. 5500ºK. If a camera is using film or sensors for a specific colour temperature and the light is not of that colour temperature, the colours will be recorded incorrectly. Colour temperature can be adjusted with filters over lights or the camera's lens. Another, easier, way is to set the camera's white balance for each scene. As a last resort, footage shot with incorrect colour temperature exposure can be tweaked using colour correction in post production.
Colour temperature of a computer or video monitor can also be adjusted. Normally set to somewhere around 6000ºK (adjust until greys look grey and whites look pure)

 

component (video)

system of video signal distribution that offers the best picture quality in terms of colour purity etc.
 

composite (video)

one of the worst forms of video in respect to picture quality. Fortunately dying slowly out
 

compression

many image files, both still and movie, can be greatly reduced in size using compression. Lossless compression gets rid of redundancy but leaves the image pristine. Lossy compression reduces the size of images by throwing away information that the eye should not miss. Done badly, lossy compression can cause visible artefacts
 

crossing the line (don't!)

the rule for composing shots where two characters are speaking. Imagine a line joining the characters. For editing to work unobtrusively, the camera must always stay one side of this imaginary line for every shot within the scene
 

cutout animation

pre-computer: card or paper was animated directly under camera. Computer: programs such as Flash are the digital equivalent
 

cutting frames

extra frames added at the beginning and or end of a shot
 

cycle

any repeatedly looped animation e.g using drawings 1,3,5,7,1,3,5,7  etc.
 

depth of field

photography / live action: depth of field is two numbers which predict how much of a scene will be in focus, given as distance from the camera. The depth of field is affected by how much the lens is "stopped down" - the closer a lens comes to being like a pin hole, the greater the depth of field (the more will be sharp). This effect can be replicated, with some effort, in animation
 

diffuse lighting

3D cgi term. Lighting that is directional but soft, like illuminating something made of velvet or very dry skin
 

dissolve

see mix
 

dither(ing)

method by which the apparent colour depth of a graphic can be increased; derived from the 19th century pointillism painting style.
See this page  for more
 

DivX

a high quality codec especially good for live action
 

dope sheet

or dopesheet or exposure sheet - timing chart written by animators. Extensive notes on writing dope sheets can be found on this site
 

down-res

reducing the resolution of an image or film
 

dpi

= dots per inch. A way of specifying the resolution of a bitmap image in printed media. DPI settings are normally of interest in animation only in order to specify the degree of detail needed when scanning in images
 

DVI

= Digital Visual Interface. For connecting digital video equipment. See also HDMI
 

ease in / out

see fairings
 

elliotropic

live action term - a slow motion hand-held camera style used to evoke a dream state
 

exponential

one type of mathematical curve. If you move towards a target at a constant speed, the target seems to be speeding up the closer you get to it - this apparent acceleration is exponential.
 

fade in / out

a fade in is where the screen starts totally black and lightens until the picture is 100%. A fade out is the opposite. Note that you only come from or go to black in fades. If, say, the screen were to slowly turn 100% blue, this would be dissolving to blue, not fading to blue

fairings / fair in /fair out

acceleration or deceleration at either end of a move, whether of camera or artwork. For instance, a 12 frame fair in means that the move starts from rest, then in half a second accelerates up to speed. The American terms "ease in / out” are sometimes used

feather(ing)

softening the edge line of an object in an image, usually when the object is to be cut out then composited on to another image
 

field  (1)

a unit of area that is the shape of an animation frame. A 12F, (a “12 field”) for example, is a 12 inch field – this being its width. The height of the field will depend on the aspect ratio

field  (2)

in standard TV, a frame is made up from two fields - see interlace

field chart

also known as a graticule. A guide printed on to acetate showing the dimensions of animation fields. Field sizes most often used are between 2F and 16F

field render

It is possible in some animation software to render individual fields. This is done to obviate strobing caused by fast animation whose outer lines are too sharp. I would advise never to use it but instead use any available form of motion blur.
see interlace
 

fill

filling an area on a cel with colour – the job of the cel painters

Flash

vector animation software made by Macromedia (now part of Adobe). Originally developed purely for web use, it is also widely used for broadcast animation work. The newer Flash MX variant, although still an animation tool, is also part of a very complex set of components for highly interactive web content. For straightforward narrative broadcast work, it is far better to use dedicated programs like Anime Studio, Toon Boom and Tab

foley

sound effects that are added after animation has been completed. A classic foley effect is someone treading in a tray filled with gravel to create the sound of footsteps

foot

an imperial measure, equal to 12 inches. When an animator uses the term "foot”, it means 16 frames. This is a historical throwback to the time when 35mm film ran at 16 frames per second, (before sound!). Since there are 16 frames of film per foot of film stock, the terms “second” and “foot” became synonymous and it is has stuck

footage

the length of a film or piece of film. It is now rarely used as a literal measurement (e.g. "6 feet long") but simply means running time and can be expressed in seconds, minutes etc
 

frame rate

the number of frames per second a film is intended to be seen at. Silent films ran at 16 frames per second, cinema films are generally at 24 frames per second, European TV runs at 25 frames per second...and so on
 

frequency

in sound: how high or low a musical note is. This is directly analogous to colour in the visual realm, where different colours are due to their frequency value in the electromagnetic spectrum
 

FX

abbreviation for "effects", which in turn usually means special effects
 

gamma

a setting used that determines the overall contrastiness of images. If in doubt, go for a default value of  2.2. This is suitable for most applications
 

gamut

the range of colours that any specific device (a monitor, for example) can reproduce - this is never going to be all visible colours
 

gate

(film only) the small aperture in a film camera in which the frame of film is exposed to light. The equivalent in a modern video camera will be some variant of a CCD array

GIF

bitmap file type best not used for animation - with the exception of specialised use on the web - note that you can have more than one image within one single "animated gif" and so create very simple looping animation:

animated GIF using 17 separate frames  

grading

the tweaking of colour balance in post production. This can be subtle, as in making the overall image, say, warmer, or be a profound alteration to a scene's appearance. Will usually take place at the telecine stage if footage has been originated on movie stock
 

greyscale

this is one of two possible kinds of black and white images; greyscale is a black and white image that also has tonal information - that is, it is made of black and white pixels plus a range of greys between them. Compare with 1 bit
 

graticule

see field chart

HDMI

(High-Definition Multimedia Interface) uncompressed, digital-only audio video interface. HDMI provides an interface between any audio video source, such as a DVD player and an audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital TV over one cable. Backwardly compatible with DVI
 

HDTV

high definition TV (that is, it's sharper looking and has more picture information than SDTV  - regular TV). Beware! This is not one single standard. Frame rates and actual resolutions vary and there are arguments about the relative merits of interlaced versus progressive scan still to be settled
 

hold

when an action "freezes", that is remains the same for more than one frame, it is a hold
 

HSV or HSB

An alternative way to measure or describe colours to RGB.
HSV or HSB describes a colour using: H = hue (colour) S = saturation V = brightness
 

hue

another word for colour
 

inbetween (-er)

inbetweens are the drawings that fill-in between the keyframes. The inbetweener is the person who draws them

inch

an inch is a so-called “imperial” measurement (see foot as well). It is 2.54 cms. Animation field sizes are normally given in inches

ink

US term for trace
 

interlace

in SD (standard definition) video, each frame is made of two interlaced "fields". An SD TV picture has roughly 600 lines; the first field will show lines 1,3,5...etc and one fiftieth of a second later the second field will display even numbered lines 2,4,6..etc. The viewer's brain combines the two fields which are seen as simultaneous frames shown at 25 per second. See also progressive scan. These figures are for the European PAL system. The American NTSC system runs at 30 frames per second, so each field will be seen for one sixtieth of a second.

HD (high definition) video comes in various flavours some of which use interlace and some don't

See also progressive scan and segmented frame
 

jitter

an image that shakes or fluctuates rapidly is said to jitter
 

JPEG

bitmap file type that uses lossy compression. File extension names:
JPG  JPEG  JPE
 

JPEG2000

a newer type of jpeg file. Uses superior compression method plus lossless compression. Can have alpha channel. File extension names:
JP2  JPC  J2K  JPF
 

key frame
    key animator

a keyframe is a main pose within a sequence of animation. A key animator will draw key poses and indicate the timing and number of inbetween drawings required

layout

a good storyboard frame is almost a miniature layout drawing. The layout should show the placement of characters in a shot, the extremes of their actions, their scale relationships to one another and to the background. It is drawn to the same size as the final animation. If it is not too cluttered, indications of camera moves can also be put on the layout drawing, otherwise the camera moves are indicated on a similar looking but less busy separate camera guide

leica

pronounced like-er. (The name of a German camera). Another word for animatic
 

lightbox

a box with a light in it. Photographers use them to check transparencies, 2D drawn animators use them to animate on
 

line test

the animation drawings are shot on film, tape, or disk so that the movement and timing can be checked before colouring takes place
 

lip sync

the synchronisation of characters’ mouth movements to a soundtrack. Usually in animation, the dialogue soundtracks will be recorded before drawn animation commences as it is far easier that way round

live action

it is not always straightforward to distinguish live action from animation, but as a rule: live action is the photographing of subjects in the real world using a camera that runs continuously, the most common speed being 24 frames per second
 

lossless

see compression
 

lossy

see compression
 

luma / luminance

brightness =shade
 

lumage

a form of cutout animation using backlit semi-transparent plastics
 

luma key

a means of separating a foreground image from its background by use of differences in luma
 

master

this is the general term for a first generation tape etc. A digital copy will normally be identical, but in pre-digital days the master was a unique and irreplaceable item
 

matching

this is where an element of an animation scene must be seen to go behind another element. Often this happens automatically because one element may be in front of another, but there are often instances where one part of a scene is partially in front of and partially behind another part and this is where the bit that would be hidden must be drawn or rendered  that way - it needs to be matched

matte / matting

a matte is usually a black and white image. It represents those parts of one image that will be cut out then pasted on top of another. Mattes are derived from alpha channel, luma key or chromakey information.
 

mix

picture: best thought of as a fade-in happening simultaneously with a fade-out (aka dissolve). The visual effect is of one scene becoming progressively more transparent as, at the same time, a second scene becomes more opaque and replaces the first.
The word "mix" is also used in sound and in this case it is to do with the relative sound balance and equalisation etc. between different tracks

motion blur

this is an effect created in 3D cgi and sometimes faked in 2D; whatever moves in a scene is deliberately blurred. The faster the movement, the greater the degree of blurring. This emulates what happens in live action and can make a scene easier on the eye.
Motion blur is different to a regular blur; a regular blur is like softening an image until it is out of focus. Motion blur should only occur in the direction of movement - like a comet's tail
 

motion capture

key points on (usually) an actor are tracked so that their xyz positions are recorded over time. This data can then be used to transfer realistic movements to computer generated models.
 

motion control

use of computer to capture the movements of a camera in live action or stop motion. Enables moves to be duplicated precisely for special effects work. Readout data from motion control rigs is used in 3D cgi for matching animation to live action.
 

motion tracking

using software to lock on to an area in a shot, then follow that area from frame to frame. For example, using motion tracking, you can replace the number plate of a car in a film sequence
 

MPEG

a (compressed) bitmap file format expressly for moving images including sound; comes in various "flavours", one of which (MPEG-2) is used for publishing programmes on DVD. MPEG4 has better compression and is likely to become standard, for example in high definition and digital TV transmission
 

mp3

the most widely used of several available sound file formats using compression to reduce file-size compared to the "raw" original
 

multiplane

a pseudo 3D effect created in 2D animation by separating artwork at different values in the z axis. (In plain English, the animation cels are placed at varying distances from the camera. Thus, if the camera moves towards the artwork, the distant artwork will seem to move slower towards us and nearer artwork will seem to move faster. The effect is of real depth, though the artwork itself of course remains flat)
 

noise

this is a technical term meaning any random meaningless data added to either a picture or sound. Whilst noise is usually regarded as undesirable, some forms such as film grain may be actually added to produce a less clean and mechanistic look to an image. (See also boiling)
 

NTSC

TV system used in USA, Japan and elsewhere. It runs at 30 frames per second and so broadcasting movie films shot at 24 frames per second requires technical fixes
 

ones

(aka singles) - where one animation drawing or artwork instance is used per frame. In traditional drawn animation, much work can be saved by using twos instead
 

onion skin(ning)

in drawn animation, an animator will draw on sheets of paper that become semi-opaque when illuminated from below as on a lightbox. This effect, of semi-transparency, is often emulated in animation software where it is known as onion-skinning. The idea is that you see up to several consecutive frames of animation on top of each other at one time so you can check that the movement flows smoothly
 

opaque

US term (rare) for paint
 

optical

an effect that used to be carried out in-camera: fade in, fade out, dissolve (aka mix)

original

term used on tapes to indicate that it is raw footage; in live action, this would be the tape that has actually run through a camera. Pretty much meaningless for animation
 

paint(ing)

traditional: the cel, having been traced, was turned over and acrylic paint applied. When it was dry and the cel was turned back the right way, the paint would be almost perfectly flat.

digital: a click of a mouse and a whole area is painted. Usually, the colour is opaque so that when one cel goes over a background or other cel, it obscures what is behind it. (Transparent colours are of course used for such things as water and dust etc.)

PAL

TV system used in most of  W. Europe, Australia and elsewhere. It normally runs at 25 frames per second. Cinema film is shot at 24 frames per second. When film is shown on PAL TV, it is generally run at 25 as the slight speed up is not noticeable, (the exception being for people with perfect pitch)
 

pan

in live-action, a pan is the horizontal swivel of the camera as, for example, when it sits on a static tripod and follows someone walking across a room. (The vertical equivalent is called a “tilt”). In 2D animation, this effect is pretty much impossible to achieve as every element of an image would have to change in perspective. The word “pan” therefore has its own usage in 2D animation and generally means any movement in any direction of either characters or the camera itself except for moves “in z” – that is towards and away from the camera.

Note that the live action term that would best describe an animation “pan” is “dolly” or “track” – that is, a shot where the camera itself is moving through space.

particles animation

2D and 3D cgi software animation option to create many physical effects such as smoke, fire, water etc. based on streams of  "particles". These can be as simple as tiny dots or any other small shape repeated many times
 

path

term often used to describe the non-linear movement of an animation element or the camera within a scene. It will be drawn as a guide on the camera layout.
In vector graphics, this is the line between two control points

pegbar

a thin strip of metal or plastic on to which animation drawi