Glossary of Terms
The Glossary of Terms is a curated collection of definitions from the worlds of film, games, art, and design. Whether you're a student, artist, creative director or technical developer, this glossary is made to streamline your workflow and sharpen your understanding. All terms are written with clarity in mind, so you can move from confusion to creation faster.
The glossary includes industry-specific language used in animation, storytelling, production, visual effects, interactive media, conceptual art, and design systems. It’s structured for creative professionals, by creative professionals.Browse through categories like visual language, camera techniques, character design, game mechanics, UI principles, rendering technology, and more.
What is the Glossary of Terms?
The Glossary is a living index of essential concepts across entertainment and creative industries. It helps define and demystify production terms, art direction language, cinematic devices, and technical terminology — all in one place. You can use this glossary to learn the language of the industry, write clearer documentation, improve production notes, or enhance your storytelling vocabulary.
Why use a Glossary?
Many terms in the entertainment industry are often used inconsistently or misunderstood. The Glossary gives you clean, consistent definitions across mediums — helping teams stay aligned, students learn faster, and artists speak the same language. It also supports better communication between departments, whether you're working in pre-production, post, or interactive pipelines.
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A material that allows light to pass through so that objects behind it are clearly visible. In painting, transparent layers allow underlying colors to show through.
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A detailed summary of a movie's story, including major scenes, written in prose form, essential for pitching a film to a studio.
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Triadic colours are three colours equally spaced on the colour wheel, such as red, yellow, and blue. This scheme creates a vibrant design but requires careful balance, with one colour as the dominant hue and the others as accents.
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A work of art consisting of three panels or sections, often hinged together, used to depict a single scene or concept in a segmented form.
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A work of art consisting of three panels or sections, often hinged together, that can be opened or closed, commonly used in altarpieces in religious art.
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A French term meaning ‘deceives the eye’, used to describe paintings that create the illusion of three-dimensionality or realism, often fooling the viewer into seeing reality in the artwork.
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A Brazilian cultural movement of the 1960s that blended popular culture, music, and visual art to resist political oppression, often incorporating Brazilian identity and international influences.
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A shot taken from the trunk of a car, typically showing the interior and often used for action or suspense scenes.
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A style of combat where players and enemies take turns performing actions or making moves, resembling traditional table-top role-playing games.
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A technique in painting where turpentine is applied to the canvas to remove areas of paint, leaving stains and textures, often used to create dramatic effects.
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A close-up or medium shot featuring two people, typically engaged in conversation, framed from the chest up to highlight contrast.
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Type classification refers to the categorization of typefaces based on their stylistic characteristics, such as serif, sans-serif, slab-serif, etc.
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Type properties refer to the specific features of a typeface that affect how its characters fit on a grid, such as stroke weight, spacing, and proportions.
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Type size refers to the height of a typeface, typically measured in points, from the top of the highest ascender to the bottom of the lowest descender.
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The practice of casting an actor in roles that fit their previous performances or established persona, often limiting their range.
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Typeface design is the process of creating a complete set of type characters, including uppercase, lowercase, numerals, punctuation, and other symbols, in a specific style.
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Typesetting involves arranging large amounts of text in a readable format, ensuring proper spacing, alignment, and flow, often used in books, magazines, or other publications.
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The art and technique of arranging type in design, including selecting fonts, point size, line length, and spacing to create aesthetically pleasing and readable text.
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Typography is both the style and arrangement of type in a design, focusing on readability, legibility, and aesthetic appeal. It encompasses everything from font selection to line spacing and text alignment.
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A ¾-inch magnetic tape used in a professional cassette tape format, which has been largely supplanted by digital formats. It was an inferior competing tape format to both beta and VHS.
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UV Mapping is the process of unwrapping a 3D model’s surface into a 2D space, so textures can be applied accurately. It’s akin to flattening a 3D object into a 2D plane, making it easier to apply surface detail like textures and patterns.
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A situation where a player character is underpowered for the difficulty of a certain area or encounter, often resulting in a higher level of challenge.
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The process of slowing down a camera’s frame rate by shooting at a speed slower than the usual 24 frames per second, resulting in the captured images appearing in fast motion.
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When an image is photographed with less light than what would be considered proper exposure, resulting in a dimly-lit, indistinct image that lacks contrast, opposite of an overexposed shot.
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Art associated with countercultural movements, particularly in the 1960s and early 1970s, where artists operated outside mainstream culture and often challenged societal norms.
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An organization that represents the interests of professionals in the motion picture industry, such as writers, actors, and directors. Unions help workers negotiate contracts, pursue rights, and receive recognition, establishing rules and regulations for working conditions.
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A British group formed in 1933 by Paul Nash to promote modern art, architecture, and design, focusing on the development of abstract and progressive artistic ideas in Britain.
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Unity is a real-time development platform for creating 2D and 3D content, commonly used for video game development. It's also utilized in VFX for interactive content, simulations, and real-time rendering, making it a versatile tool in multimedia production.
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Items, characters, abilities, or game modes that become available as a reward for completing specific in-game tasks or challenges.
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A canvas that has not been treated with a primer or gesso before painting, allowing the artist to work directly on the natural surface of the fabric.
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Unreal Engine is a powerful game engine developed by Epic Games, used for real-time 3D rendering, VFX, and interactive content creation. It is widely used in gaming, filmmaking, and virtual production due to its high-quality graphics and real-time capabilities.
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A character whose perspective we follow in the story but lacks credibility, either because they lack necessary information to adequately translate the story or have a clear bias.
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A canvas that has not been treated with a sizing agent, making it more absorbent and creating a different texture for the artist to work with compared to sized canvases.
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A canvas that has not been stretched over wooden stretcher bars, remaining loose and flexible, often used for large-scale works or rolled up for storage and transportation.
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Uppercase refers to the capital letters in a typeface, used for emphasis or at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns. The term comes from the historical practice of keeping capital letters in a separate case.
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The process by which rural areas are transformed into urban areas, often characterized by industrial growth, population migration, and significant cultural shifts.
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A synthetic resin used in various applications, including paints, adhesives, and coatings, known for its strength, durability, and glossy finish.
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V-Ray is a highly efficient rendering engine used in 3D computer graphics for visual effects, offering both CPU and GPU-based rendering. It’s known for producing photorealistic images with advanced lighting and shading capabilities.
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VEX (Vector Expression Language) is a coding language used within Houdini to perform complex tasks such as creating custom shaders, managing simulations, and manipulating geometry. It allows for procedural workflows and greater control over VFX production.
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A VFX reel is a video portfolio showcasing an artist's work in visual effects. It typically includes clips of VFX shots or sequences that demonstrate an artist's skills, from modeling and texturing to compositing and animation, used to apply for jobs or contracts.
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A VFX Runner is an entry-level role in the VFX industry, typically responsible for assisting with various tasks such as preparing assets, organizing files, and supporting the creative team. It’s a starting position that offers experience and learning opportunities.
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A VFX Supervisor is the lead figure in a VFX team, responsible for overseeing the creative and technical execution of visual effects in a production. They manage the workflow, collaborate with directors and producers, and ensure the VFX align with the creative vision.
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Acronym for "virtual reality," a fully immersive gaming experience that uses specialized hardware like headsets and controllers to simulate a 3D virtual environment.
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Acronym for "variable refresh rate," a technology that allows the display to synchronize with the frame rate of the game to reduce screen tearing and stuttering.
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In perspective drawing, the point at which receding parallel lines appear to converge on the horizon, creating the illusion of depth and three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional work.
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A type of still life artwork that includes symbolic objects (e.g., skulls, wilting flowers) meant to remind the viewer of the fragility of life, mortality, and the futility of earthly pleasures.
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A transparent, protective coating applied to a painting or surface to enhance its appearance and safeguard against damage from light, dust, and other environmental factors.
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A theatrical variety show popular in the early 20th century, combining comedy, music, dance, and other acts in a lively, often slapstick format for mass entertainment.
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A vector is a graphic made from mathematical equations, using points, lines, and curves. Vectors can be resized without losing quality, making them ideal for logos and other scalable design elements.
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A substance used to mix with pigment to make paint, typically oils or resins, which allows for smooth application and manipulation of the pigment on a surface.
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In gestural painting, refers to the speed and fluidity of brushstrokes or marks, often used to express the artist’s emotional energy and movement.
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Derived from the Italian term ‘verismo’, meaning realism, this style refers to the depiction of gritty, often harsh, real-life subject matter, focusing on the rough and raw aspects of life.
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Vernacular photography
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A genre of photography that focuses on everyday, informal images, often capturing ordinary moments and scenes that reflect the daily lives of people in non-professional contexts.
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Terms used to describe the front and back sides of a sheet of paper, or the right-hand and left-hand pages of an open book, respectively.
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The vertex is the bottom point where two strokes of a letter meet, often seen in characters like ‘A’ or ‘V’.
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A camera technique achieved by tracking backwards while simultaneously zooming toward the subject, or vice versa, keeping the subject at the center of the image while the surroundings stretch or contract behind them. Also known as a dolly zoom.
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A medium that involves the creation, manipulation, and display of moving images, often used in installations, performances, and digital artworks.
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The process of creating video content, from filming through post-production and distribution.
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The art or practice of capturing moving images, especially in the context of television, film, or digital media.
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A standalone scene in a movie that can be viewed independently, such as the orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally.
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The thickness or stickiness of a liquid, which affects how it spreads or adheres to a surface, often discussed in terms of paint consistency and its application.
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Elements added to a movie that were not in the original shot, including CGI or special techniques like rear projection and double exposures.
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Visual Effects Supervisor
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A professional responsible for overseeing the creation of visual effects in post-production, ensuring they align with the film’s style.
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A genre of game that focuses on narrative and dialogue, often with limited gameplay elements, where players make choices that influence the story’s progression.
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The process of creating visual representations of data, concepts, or ideas to make complex information more accessible and understandable, often through charts, diagrams, and infographics.
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A large glass cabinet or display case used for showcasing art objects or collectibles in a public or private setting.
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The art of providing voices for animated characters or narrating audio for films and other media projects.
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A person who provides the voice for characters in animation, video games, or dubbed films.
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Recorded dialogue from off-screen or unseen in the frame, often used to convey a character’s thoughts or provide narration. In a script, voice-over is abbreviated as “V.O.”
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A British avant-garde movement of the early 20th century, influenced by Futurism and Cubism, focusing on dynamic movement and industrial subjects, characterized by sharp, angular forms.
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A voxel is the 3D equivalent of a pixel, used in 3D art and graphics. Voxel art involves creating 3D environments or objects using cubes instead of polygons, and is often used in games and simulations to create stylized, block-based worlds.
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A common control layout for movement in PC games, where the W, A, S, and D keys on a QWERTY keyboard control the player's direction.
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A scene where two or more characters walk while having a conversation, often used for dialogue-heavy scenes.
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A role with a brief on-screen appearance, typically without dialogue or credit, distinct from extras who may be on screen for longer periods.
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The first rehearsal on a film set, allowing the director to figure out camera positioning, sound, and lighting before filming starts.
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A genre of exploration-focused games where the player navigates the environment at a slow pace, often emphasizing story and atmosphere over action.
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The general term for the costume department or an individual costume and all associated accessories.
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A painting technique using pigments mixed with water to create transparent washes of color, allowing for fluid blending and light effects on paper.
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A mark or image that appears in paper when held up to light, usually created during the papermaking process as a signature or trademark of the maker.
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A decentralized, blockchain-based version of the internet, aiming to give users more control over their digital identity, transactions, and interactions with online content.
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A digital platform that presents and hosts content on the internet, often designed with visual aesthetics and functionality in mind, used to present art, services, and information.
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A term used when a player’s attack narrowly misses the intended target, typically due to poor timing or incorrect aiming.
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A fast horizontal camera movement that creates a blurred effect, often used to transition between scenes or actions.
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A camera setting that establishes the true color of white, providing a baseline for measuring all other colors and correcting for different lighting conditions.
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Refers to a minimalist gallery space characterized by its simple, neutral design, with white walls and often uniform lighting, focusing attention entirely on the artwork displayed.
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White space, or negative space, refers to the empty areas in a design that help create balance, clarity, and focus by allowing the other elements to breathe.
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A shot taken with a lens that captures a wider field of view than a regular lens, exaggerating disparity, depth, and distance between the background and foreground while keeping all objects in focus.
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A rectangular aspect ratio wider than the standard 1:33:1 used before the 1950s, with processes like VistaVision and CinemaScope becoming industry standards.
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Widows are short lines of text or a single word left at the top of a column or page, separated from the rest of the paragraph. Designers aim to avoid them as they create a disruptive, unbalanced layout.
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An optical effect or transitional technique where one shot appears to be wiped off the screen by another shot replacing it, also known as a flip-over or push-over.
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A printmaking technique where an image is carved into a wooden block, inked, and pressed onto paper to create a print, often producing bold, graphic designs.
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Works Progress Administration (WPA)
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A New Deal program in the 1930s that provided employment to artists, helping them create public art, including murals, sculptures, and other cultural works during the Great Depression.
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A camera angle taken from a very low position, looking up at the subject, often used to make the subject appear imposing.
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The completion of shooting for the entire production or a single day, originating from the phrase “Wind, Reel, and Print,” later abbreviated as “WRAP.”
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Slang for when a player or character is easily defeated, often used as a put-down after a dominating victory, also written as "rekt" or "recked."
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A film rating given by the MPAA to indicate that a film is intended for adults only, often due to explicit content.
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X-height refers to the height of lowercase letters, particularly the letter ‘x’, within a given typeface. It significantly affects a font’s legibility, with larger x-heights improving clarity.
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Acronym for "experience points," which are earned through gameplay and used to level up a character, improving their abilities or unlocking new skills.
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A technique where an image created with a photocopy machine (such as a Xerox printer) is transferred to another surface, often used in mixed-media and experimental art.
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Young British Artists (YBA)
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A group of British artists in the late 20th century known for their provocative art, often incorporating shock tactics, entrepreneurial approaches, and interdisciplinary practices.
