Visual
Production
Glossary

Here you will find a general video glossary of key terms, phrases and equipment that can help your understanding of video. These terms are not to be learned all at once but this page is to be a source for defining needs that you may come across over the course of your serving.

Compression as it relates to video refers to reducing the amount of data in a video file. While it can take time to compress a video, it will upload faster, and also download quicker for anyone you choose to share the original file with. 

A Confidence Monitor is a video screen (typically a TV) that faces musicians, meeting leaders or speakers who are on stage. Unlike a teleprompter, a confidence monitor typically does not scroll, but rather serves as a point of reference for songs, scripts or notes that have been previously rehearsed.

A Cue is the noted prompt or trigger for an action to be carried out at a specific time. 

An Ethernet cable is a cable that connects a device (computer, rack, etc.) to a network, which, in turn, will allow you to have internet access and interact with shared network resources

Fade is the dissolve transition between a normal image and a black screen. When you dissolve from an image to black, it’s a fade out. When you dissolve from black to an image it’s called a fade in.

Gaff tape (or Gaffers tape) is a type of non-damaging, super durable tape used by production teams. 

HDMI (High-Definition Media Interface) is a digital connector prevalent across electronics and modern computers. HDMI carries both HD video and the audio signal to the TV. 

Latency refers to how much time it takes for a signal to travel to its destination and back. For streaming specifically, it is a reference to the fact that there is a delay between when the video feed gets sent to the encoder and when it appears on screen on our streams. Typically there is a 35-45 second latency between the live camera feeds and the feed on the encoder rack, and a 2 minute latency between the live camera feeds and the online streams. 

Lower Thirds are graphics overlays of text in the lower third portion of a screen. 

Name Cards are a type of lower third which feature the name(s) and title(s) of speaker(s) appearing on screen. They are used to introduce and familiarize viewers with who they are being spoken to by. 

Resolution is a measure of the number of pixels a piece of digital content contains both horizontally and vertically. Some common resolutions are 640×480 (SD) 1280×720 (HD), 1920×1080 (HD). Sometimes these are referred to just by their vertical dimension such as, 480p, 720p or 1080p.

A Runsheet is a one-stop document (which for us, lives in Planning Center) that outlines the order and details of an event. The runsheet breaks the event up into segments and lists who and what will appear when, for how long, what things are needed for their appearance, what transitions need to take place, any cues related to them, and who is responsible for making any given thing happen. For all services and events or shoots, there is a runsheet and it is our source of truth for teams to make sure everyone is accounted for and informed. The runsheet will always be linked on the team site. 

A Slate is a rectangular board and clapstick that produces a sharp ‘clap’ sound. Used for capturing and organizing sound during production, making the job of the editor easier when syncing picture and sound in post.