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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Contrast in design refers to the use of opposing elements, such as light vs. dark, to create visual interest, focus, or drama within a composition.
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A genre of painting popular in the 18th century, depicting informal group portraits often of families or friends, typically set in a domestic interior or garden.
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Coolers, also known as PC or CPU coolers, are devices used to manage the heat generated by processors during demanding tasks like VFX rendering. They help maintain optimal system performance and prevent overheating.
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A durable fabric made from cotton, commonly used as a painting surface. It is a less expensive alternative to linen, often chosen for its warmth and texture.
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The counter is the enclosed white space within a letterform, such as the space inside letters like ‘o’, ‘p’, and ‘d.’
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Refers to painters employed by royal courts to create portraits of the royal family and their courtiers, often in a formal or idealized manner, symbolizing their status and importance.
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The department responsible for providing food and beverages to the cast and crew during production.
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The process of combining in-game resources to create new items, such as weapons, tools, or consumables, to assist in progression.
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A shot taken from a camera mounted on a crane, allowing for fluid movement in all directions, often used for dramatic overhead shots.
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The concept of manipulating the geography or spatial arrangement within a film to create a particular visual or thematic effect.
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A costume worn by an actor to portray a creature or monster, often enhanced with animatronics or special effects.
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Creep refers to the inside margin of a bound publication, such as a book or magazine. It helps to prevent content from being hidden in the gutter when pages are bound together.
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The process by which different cultures, typically those of European and African descent, merge and form a new, blended cultural identity, often reflected in artistic expressions.
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A design approach that uses speculative ideas and conceptual art to critique current practices and challenge conventional thought about technology and design.
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The ratio between the size of a camera's image sensor and a 35mm film frame, affecting the field of view and focal length.
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Crop marks, or trim marks, are indicators used in printing to show where to cut the paper after printing, ensuring the design is trimmed to the correct size.
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The act of trimming or removing parts of an image, particularly in photography, to focus attention on the most important elements or change the composition.
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A technique of editing that alternates between two or more scenes happening at the same time in different locations to build tension or contrast.
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A lighting technique where light sources are positioned at opposite angles to create depth, contrast, and highlight the subject's features.
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A crossbar is a horizontal stroke that crosses a stem, like the bar in the letters 'A' and 'H.'
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A group of artists who broke away from traditional styles in the 1950s and embraced a modern abstract approach, departing from the traditional views of the St Ives Society.
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A revolutionary art movement in the early 20th century, led by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, which fragmented objects into abstract, geometric shapes and redefined perspectives in visual art.
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A device used in lighting to cast patterned shadows, often used to create textures or simulate natural elements like trees or windows.
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A professional responsible for managing a museum or gallery’s collection, organizing exhibitions, and often curating or selecting artworks for display.
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A transition between two shots, often the most basic form of editing where one scene ends and another begins.
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A shot that zooms into a specific detail of a scene, typically focusing on an object or action within the larger scene.
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A shot that cuts out a section of the scene, removing elements from the frame to emphasize others.
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A shot that briefly interrupts the main action to show something else, often used to provide context or emphasize a detail.
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An editing technique where a cut is made during an action to create a smooth transition and maintain the illusion of continuity.
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A photographic technique that creates images with a distinctive blue tint by exposing photo-sensitive paper to light, often used for reproducing botanical illustrations and architectural plans.
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A large, panoramic mural painted on the interior surface of a cylindrical building, giving the viewer the impression of being surrounded by the depicted scene.
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Acronym for "damage per second," a measure of a character's offensive power, or shorthand for a class that specializes in dealing damage.
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An early 20th-century art movement that embraced chaos, randomness, and anti-art sentiments in reaction to the horrors of World War I, often using unconventional materials and performance art.
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An early photographic process developed by Louis Daguerre in the 1830s, using a silver-coated copper plate to produce sharp, detailed images, often considered the first practical form of photography.
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Copies of the footage shot on the previous day and reviewed. Directors review this footage to ensure continuity and sound quality are correct.
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A performing art form involving rhythmic movement of the body to express emotions, ideas, or stories, often accompanied by music. Dance can be performed in various styles, from classical ballet to modern forms.
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A Korean modernist art movement from the 1950s, focusing on minimalism and abstraction, incorporating repetitive brushstrokes and traditional ink techniques to express philosophical ideas.
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A little-known movie that becomes a massive hit either financially or on the awards circuit, such as Moonlight winning the Best Picture Oscar over La La Land.
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A daily report that tracks the work schedule of actors, including their arrival time and the scenes they will be involved in.
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An actor hired for a single day of filming, typically for a small role or to fill a background part.
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A shot filmed during the day to appear as if it takes place at night, using unique lighting, filters, and lenses.
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The act of distancing from an enemy to cause it to lose its aggression and return to a neutral state, avoiding combat.
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A temporary negative effect applied to an enemy or character, reducing their abilities or making them weaker, often by the use of items or abilities.
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A comedic device where a performer maintains an expressionless demeanor to deliver comedic lines or performances, exemplified by Leslie Neilsen and Buster Keaton.
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A cultural movement emphasizing excess, decay, and a rejection of societal norms, often associated with art that delves into the darker, more spiritual, and morbid aspects of life.
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A technique of creating art by pressing ink or paint between two surfaces, which is then removed to reveal a unique pattern, often used by Surrealist artists to evoke accidental forms.
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A philosophical approach, introduced by Jacques Derrida, that asserts that there is no single, absolute meaning in any work, instead advocating for multiple, often conflicting meanings.
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A method of combining 3D elements with live-action footage in post-production, providing more accurate depth and integration.
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A cinematography technique portraying great depth of field, using wide-angle lenses and small lens apertures to keep both distant and nearby planes in sharp focus.
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A term used by the Nazi regime to describe modern art they deemed "un-German" and contrary to their values, including movements like Expressionism, Surrealism, and Cubism.
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A release strategy where a film’s premiere is delayed in a specific market to coincide with another event or marketing effort.
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The point in a film that immediately follows the climax when everything in the plot is resolved, also known as the resolution.
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The depth of a shot’s focus in relation to the foreground, middle-ground, and background. Shallow depth of field keeps only one plane in focus, while deep depth of field keeps all planes in focus.
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Depth of Field (DOF) is the range of distance in a scene that appears in sharp focus. In VFX, DOF is used to blur out background or foreground elements to create a sense of depth and focus on specific parts of the scene.
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Related to depth of field, it refers to adjustments made so that a camera shot maintains deep focus across various planes.
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Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider)
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A group of artists, including Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, who formed in 1911 to express spiritual and symbolic content through abstraction, playing a pivotal role in the development of Expressionism.
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Descenders are parts of letters that extend below the baseline, seen in letters like g, j, p, and y. This feature helps in legibility and the overall appearance of type.
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The process of creating visual or functional elements for objects, environments, and experiences. Design spans fields from architecture to graphic arts, seeking to meet aesthetic, functional, and commercial needs.
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The resolution of a plot by an external force, often seen as clumsy or contrived, such as the bacteria in War of the Worlds.
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The prolonged period of stalled progress during the development of a game, where it may face numerous delays or changes but is not officially canceled.
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A coach hired to help actors master a specific accent or dialect required for their role.
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The spoken words exchanged between characters in a film, used to convey information, emotion, or narrative.
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The person responsible for editing the audio dialogue in post-production, ensuring clarity and synchronization with the visuals.
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A branching conversation system in RPGs or adventure games, where players choose from different dialogue options to influence outcomes.
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A term referring to the dispersion of a cultural, ethnic, or national group, often seen in the creation of art that reflects the experiences and struggles of these displaced peoples.
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A photographic printmaking process used for reproducing architectural plans, where a light-sensitive surface reacts to exposure to produce an image, typically used for technical purposes.
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A lens that selectively transmits light of different wavelengths, often used in color correction or visual effects.
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Die Brücke (The Bridge)
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A group of Expressionist artists founded in 1905 in Germany, led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who sought to express emotional and psychological states through distorted forms and vivid colors.
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Sound that logically or realistically exists within a scene, like music from a radio or the sound of keys turning in an ignition. If characters can hear it, it's diegetic.
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The bending of light around objects, which can result in blurry or softened images, often considered a lens aberration.
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The softening or reduction of a light’s intensity using a translucent sheet or diffuser in front of the light source to cut down on shadows.
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The use of digital technology to record, edit, and process audio in filmmaking, offering high-quality sound reproduction.
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The use of digital technology for shooting, editing, and projecting films, replacing traditional film stock and analog methods.
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Digital Cinematography
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The practice of using digital cameras and related technologies to capture images, offering advantages in flexibility and post-production.
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The process of combining multiple visual elements into a single image using digital tools, essential for creating effects or complex shots.
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The channel through which media is shared via the internet.
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A format for recording film using digital sensors instead of traditional photographic film stock.
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Digital Image Processing
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The manipulation of digital images through software, allowing for adjustments in color, contrast, and resolution.
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A post-production process where digital files are created from film negatives, allowing for enhanced color grading and effects.
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A digital copy of a film that serves as the master file for further editing and distribution.
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Digital Picture Exchange
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A system for exchanging digital copies of films between studios, production companies, and post-production facilities.
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A movie filmed with digital video using high-resolution cameras, with post-production done via video editing, eliminating the need for 35mm film.
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The process of showing films using digital projectors, often replacing traditional film projectors in theaters.
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Art created or presented using digital technology, including computer graphics, digital photography, and internet-based art. Often focused on innovation and the integration of tech.
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Prints created using digital technology, typically produced through inkjet or laser printing processes, allowing for high-quality reproduction and customization.
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A device used to control the brightness of lighting equipment, allowing for subtle adjustments in scene illumination.
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A two-part artwork, typically consisting of two panels or sections that are either hinged together or displayed side by side, often creating a dual narrative or thematic contrast.
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A documentary filmmaking technique aimed at capturing subjects in real time with minimal interference, allowing the camera to observe events as they unfold naturally without scripted input.
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A technique in sculpture where the artist directly carves or molds the material (often stone or wood), allowing the form to emerge organically without preliminary sketches or models.
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Using frame composition, camera movement, or lighting to highlight the most important element in the frame.
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The artist responsible for total artistic control during all phases of a movie’s production, making decisions about acting, lighting, sound, casting, and editing.
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A version of a movie made by the director without studio interference, representing the director's preferred version of the film.
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Disintegration is a VFX effect used to show the destruction or breaking apart of an object, often used for explosions or other destructive scenes in movies and games.
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Display type refers to fonts designed for high impact and large sizes, often used in headlines, logos, or advertisements to catch attention.
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A transitional edit where the image of one shot is slowly replaced, blended, or superimposed with another image, suggesting a passage of time.
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The process of delivering and promoting a finished film to theaters, digital platforms, or physical media outlets.
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A late 19th-century painting technique, associated with Pointillism, where color is applied in small, distinct strokes or dabs that blend optically to create vibrant color effects.
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A non-fiction film genre focused on real-life subjects, often using interviews, archival footage, and narration to tell a factual story.
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A genre of film that presents factual content about the world, often exploring social issues, historical events, or everyday life in a non-fiction format.
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Documentary photography
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A form of photography that captures real-life events, people, or settings, typically focusing on telling a story or documenting a specific aspect of society or culture.
