Television Production Chap 1-2

Front 1

Broadcast-quality video

Back 1

A term to describe video signal that meets FCC standards for television transmission.

Front 2

Camcorder

Back 2

A camcorder and videotape recorder in one unit.

Front 3

Camera Control Unit

Back 3

Rather than mounted on the camera head, CCUs are external controls for making adjustments to studio cameras.

Front 4

Chrominance

Back 4

The part of a video signal conveying information related to colors in the image.

Front 5

Color Bar Generator

Back 5

The circuit provides camera operators with a standard reference signal for use in properly adjusting the viewfinder during shooting, and television monitors and vectorscopes during editing.

Front 6

Color temperature

Back 6

A light source's relative position along the spectrum of visible light, measured in degrees on the Kelvin scale.

Front 7

Luminance

Back 7

The part of a video signal conveying information related to the brightness levels of the image.

Front 8

Remote Control Unit

Back 8

Similar in function to a CCU, the RCU contains the controls to make adjustments to the camera but is designed for ENG and EFP cameras. All RCU controls are duplicated on the ENG/EFP camera, but not all studio camera CCU controls can be adjusted on the camera.

Front 9

Return Video

Back 9

One of the camera's capabilities, this allows the camera operator to view not only the image upon which the camera is focused but also VTR playback or other video sources.

Front 10

Safe title area

Back 10

A viewfinder indicator that shows how tight a shot of a graphic card can be framed so that none of the card's important information is lost during recording and transmission.

Front 11

Split Screen

Back 11

An image containing picture information from more than one video source.

Front 12

Teleprompter

Back 12

A device mounted on the front of a camera that allows talent to read copy while giving viewers the impression of looking directly into the camera.

Front 13

Ultraviolet filter

Back 13

A frequently used lens filter that sharpens colors on overcast days and protects the lens from accidental damage.

Front 14

White balancing

Back 14

Adjusting a camera to compensate for the "color" of the light used to illuminate a given scene.

Front 15

Aperture

Back 15

The opening in the iris through which light passes.

Front 16

Charge-coupled device

Back 16

Also called a chip. A solid-state image-sensing device replacing tubes in modern color cameras.

Front 17

Depth of field

Back 17

The area, beginning with the object closest to the lens which appears in focus and ending with the most distant object in the scene which is still in focus.

Front 18

Electron gun

Back 18

The element of a pickup tube that horizontally scans the signal plate to render picture information.

Front 19

Encoding

Back 19

Conversion by the camera of the video signal into format(s) required by other production equipment.

Front 20

Field

Back 20

A video field is one half, comprised of either the even or the odd scanned lines, of a frame. Two fields comprise one frame of video.

Front 21

Fixed-focal length lenes

Back 21

Also called primse lenses. These are lenses with nonadjustable focal lengths.

Front 22

Focal length

Back 22

Determines how wide or narrow the lens is. Shorter the length-wider the view.

Front 23

Frame

Back 23

A single video picture.

Front 24

F-stop

Back 24

Smaller the number, the larger the opening of the iris.

Front 25

Interlaced scanning

Back 25

The alternate scanning pattern of even and odd lines used in NTSC video and 1080i digital video.

Front 26

Iris

Back 26

A device within a lens consisting of interwoven metallic leaves that adjust to create a larger or smaller aperture, as required to ensure proper exposure.

Front 27

Long focal length lens

Back 27

Any lens with a focal length greater than a normal lens; that is, lenses that make objects appear closer than when viewing with a normal lens.

Front 28

Neutral density filter

Back 28

A frequently used lens filter that reduces the intensity of light reaching the camera's image-sensing device without affecting color values.

Front 29

NTSC

Back 29

The government/industry body that in 1940 assisted the Federal Communications Commision in determining standards for American analog television.

Front 30

Progresive scanning

Back 30

Building an image on a display screen by scanning lines in sequential order, rather than scanning alternate lines in an interlaced pattern.

Front 31

Resolution

Back 31

An engineering term used to define and measure the sharpness and clarity of a TV picture. More lines, higher the resolution.

Front 32

SDTV

Back 32

A digital television signal in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio providing less image resolution than HDTV.

Front 33

Short focal length lenses

Back 33

Any lens with a focal length less than that of a normal lens; lenses that make objecrts appear more distant than when viewing with a normal lens.

Front 34

Zoom ratio

Back 34

The mathematical ratio of a len's longest and shortest focal lengths.