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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Green screen, or chroma key, is a technique where live-action footage is shot against a monochromatic green background. In post-production, the green background is replaced with digital elements, allowing for complex VFX integration.
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A term used when a film has received approval to go into production, as opposed to being shelved (redlight).
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Greyscale refers to a design or image made up of varying shades of grey, ranging from black to white, often used for emphasis or nostalgia.
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Greyscale refers to an image without color, consisting only of various shades of grey. It’s often used in VFX to map depth or adjust lighting, and can also be a stylistic choice in visual storytelling.
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A grid is a framework of horizontal and vertical lines used to arrange content in a clear, structured, and balanced manner, ensuring consistency in design.
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The act of intentionally disrupting or harassing other players in an online game, often through tactics that make the game less enjoyable for others.
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Originally a burlesque theater showing exploitation and B-films, popular in the 1960s and '70s. Today, grindhouse films carry on that aesthetic.
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The repetitive act of performing the same tasks, missions, or actions to accumulate points, experience, or resources, often to level up or gain in-game rewards.
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A crew member who sets up dolly tracks, moving props, camera cranes, and other equipment. The key grip coordinates all duties and takes direction from the gaffer.
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Grooming in VFX refers to the process of creating realistic hair, fur, and other textures for characters or objects. It involves simulating the behavior of hair, including movement, interactions, and texture details.
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The total box office revenue a movie earns during its theatrical release, excluding earnings from DVD/Blu-Ray sales or rentals.
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A short-lived avant-garde British art group formed in 1920 by Wyndham Lewis, aimed at pushing modern art beyond traditional boundaries in post-WWI Britain.
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A Brazilian modernist art group formed in the 1950s that rejected figurative painting in favor of geometric abstraction and experimentation with new materials and forms.
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A Brazilian abstract art group formed in the 1950s, seeking to break away from naturalism in favor of abstraction, influenced by European avant-garde movements.
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An Italian abstract art group formed in 1951, promoting simplicity in form and color in contrast to the complexity and emotion of previous abstract styles.
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A low-budget film made without permits, often using non-SAG actors. An example is Escape From Tomorrow, shot without permission in Disneyland.
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An anonymous group of female artists who use activism and art to expose sexism and racism in the art world, advocating for gender and racial equality.
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A movement of alternative video and media artists in the 1960s and 1970s who used portable video cameras to bypass corporate media, documenting political movements and social change.
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A Japanese avant-garde art group founded in 1954, known for their radical and experimental works, including the integration of performance, action, and new media in art.
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Acronym for "high dynamic range," a display technology that improves image quality by expanding the range of light and dark areas, enhancing visual detail and realism.
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High Dynamic Range (HDR) improves the range of color and contrast in images, making them more visually striking and lifelike. In VFX and filmmaking, HDR allows for more vivid, detailed images, enhancing realism.
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A powerful hard light used to replicate sunlight.
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Short for "hit points," referring to the amount of damage a player’s character can withstand before being defeated or incapacitated.
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Acronym for "heads-up display," the on-screen elements during gameplay that provide key information like health, score, and objectives, usually positioned at the edges.
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A feminist photography collective active from 1974 to 1980, known for using their work to challenge gender roles and bring attention to the role of women in society and art.
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Hand-lettering involves creating custom, handcrafted letters and typography for a specific project, adding uniqueness and personality to a design.
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A shot captured with a handheld camera, deliberately designed to appear wobbly, shaky, or unstable, often used in documentaries or Cinéma Vérité.
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A miniature model suspended on wires or other supports for filming, often used in special effects to simulate large objects or creatures.
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Live, participatory events that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, where the audience was often asked to perform actions, blurring the boundaries between artist and viewer, and between art and life.
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A feature in gaming controllers that provides physical sensations, like vibrations, to simulate interactions with the game world, enhancing immersion.
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A lighting style that creates sharp shadows and highlights, often used for dramatic effect or to emphasize texture.
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A style of abstract painting, popular in the 1960s, characterized by geometric shapes and flat color, with clear, sharp boundaries or “edges.”
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Hard return / Soft return
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A hard return creates a new paragraph, while a soft return creates a new line within the same paragraph, often used in word processing and layout design.
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Hard-Surface Modeling
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Hard-surface modeling is the creation of non-organic objects with rigid, smooth surfaces, such as vehicles, machinery, and buildings. This technique contrasts with organic modeling, which focuses on living things.
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A cultural, social, and artistic movement centered in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s, that produced a significant body of literature, music, and visual art that emphasized Black identity and culture.
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A series of censorship restrictions imposed from the 1920s to the late 1960s, dictating what could and couldn’t be shown in films, named after Will Hays.
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A shot where the action comes directly toward the camera, enhancing the audience’s feeling of participation, especially effective in 3D movies.
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A transitional effect in which one scene is replaced by another through the shape of a heart, often used for emotional or romantic moments.
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An Australian art movement from the late 19th century, focusing on outdoor (en plein air) painting, particularly scenes of natural landscapes around Heidelberg, near Melbourne.
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A moving shot, often used as an establishing shot, taken from a bird’s-eye view by a helicopter.
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Another term for the director of a film.
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Hex is a six-digit code used to represent colours in web design, consisting of numbers and letters that correspond to specific colour values, often seen in HTML and CSS.
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A radical art collective in post-war Japan, active in the 1960s, which sought to challenge traditional art practices through social activism and experimental performances.
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Hierarchy in design refers to the arrangement and presentation of text and elements in a way that guides the viewer's attention in a logical and purposeful order.
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A shot filmed from above, making the subject appear small or vulnerable, the opposite of a low angle shot.
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A film that can be easily summarized in a brief sentence or idea, often with a broad, commercial appeal and unique premise.
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An image with a resolution of at least 480 scan lines, with the average being 720 and 1080 scan lines.
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A lighting style that uses bright, even illumination with few shadows, often used in comedies or light-hearted scenes.
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A genre of painting that depicts scenes from history, mythology, or the Bible, with an emphasis on narrative and moral content, considered one of the highest forms of art during the 17th-18th centuries.
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An invisible area around a character or object that determines if a hit or attack lands, often larger than the visible character model in action games.
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For actors, moving to the correct position during rehearsals and filming. Marks are often set with tape on the floor.
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A three-dimensional image created by recording light patterns and reconstructing them in space, producing a visual representation that appears to be floating in mid-air.
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A respectful tribute in film, usually when one movie references another. Many Star Wars films pay homage to classic samurai movies.
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A hook is the curved arch found in letterforms like ‘f’, connecting the stroke to the main body of the letter.
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A genre intended to scare, shock, and thrill, often featuring a central villain or threat that reflects societal fears.
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Houdini is a procedural 3D software used for VFX creation, including modeling, simulation, rendering, and compositing. It’s widely used in the industry for complex visual effects, such as fire, smoke, and destruction.
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A 19th-century American art movement that painted landscapes of the American wilderness, particularly the Hudson River Valley, emphasizing nature’s beauty and sublime qualities.
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The attribute of a color that allows it to be identified by name, such as red, blue, or yellow. Hue refers to the specific gradation or shade of a color.
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A movie that combines elements of two distinct genres, making it hard to classify under a single genre, such as Little Shop of Horrors, a hybrid of horror and musical.
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A genre of painting and sculpture that emerged in the 1970s, known for its extremely detailed and realistic representation, often looking more lifelike than a photograph.
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Short for "invincibility frames," referring to the brief moments in combat when a character cannot be damaged, typically during certain actions like dodging.
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A large-screen film format, about 10 times larger than traditional 35mm, producing high-definition sharpness on enormous screens.
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Icons are graphic symbols used to represent actions or objects. Common examples include the magnifying glass for search, used across digital platforms like Google.
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The use of the imagery within it. An icon or symbol in film to analyze themes and styles, like the rose in Beauty and the Beast.
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The representation and expression of an individual's or group's self-perception, often explored in art to address cultural, political, and social aspects of identity formation.
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A technique in art where the artist creates an illusion of real, three-dimensional objects on a flat surface, making them appear lifelike or in motion.
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A book that incorporates original artwork or illustrations by an artist, often created in collaboration with specialized publishers, typically for a limited edition.
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A painting technique where thick layers of paint are applied to the canvas, creating a textured surface that highlights the brushstrokes and physicality of the medium.
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An art movement that began in France in the 1860s, characterized by the use of light, quick brushstrokes, and vibrant color to capture fleeting moments in nature, often painted en plein air.
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The spontaneous creation of art without prior planning, often involving intuitive actions, whether in music, dance, or visual art.
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Filming scenes in the precise order needed for the final product, reducing the need for post-production editing, often used by amateur filmmakers.
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In-camera effects are special effects that are created during filming, rather than in post-production. This can include practical effects such as using camera tricks, lighting, or physical props to create visual effects.
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A film produced outside the major studio system, typically with lower budgets, and often reflecting unconventional narratives or themes.
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A radical British art collective from the 1950s that challenged modernism and embraced popular culture, influencing movements like pop art and emphasizing new forms of artistic expression.
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A cultural and political movement in Latin America focused on advocating for the rights and recognition of Indigenous peoples through artistic expression and social activism.
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The design of mass-produced goods, focusing on functionality, aesthetics, and the user's experience, often influenced by technological advances and industrialization.
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The process of transition from agrarian economies to industrial-based economies, which had a significant impact on artistic production and the representation of society in visual arts.
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To sign a contract to work on a film, often phrased as “[Actor] inked a deal to star in [film].”
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A traditional drawing material, typically made from carbon pigment mixed with water and a binder, widely used in calligraphy, sketches, and fine art for its permanence and versatility.
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A method of printing that uses a contact-free process where tiny droplets of ink are sprayed onto a surface, most commonly paper, to create high-quality prints with fine details.
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A shot occurring in the middle of a larger shot, typically a close-up of a minor detail to draw the audience’s attention, filmed at a different focal length or angle.
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An obscure joke understood by a select few.
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An art form that transforms a space by incorporating visual elements, materials, and objects, creating an immersive or experiential environment for viewers.
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A form of art that involves creating large-scale, immersive, and often temporary works, usually in a specific space, and often incorporating various media and materials.
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Institutional critique
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A form of conceptual art focused on critiquing art institutions, such as museums and galleries, often questioning their role in the cultural and social construction of art.
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A printmaking process where the image is incised into a surface, such as metal or wood, and ink is applied to the recessed areas, which are then pressed onto paper to produce an image.
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A design approach where data storage, like SSDs, is integrated directly into the main processing unit for faster data transfer and improved performance.
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Intellectual Property (IP)
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Legal rights that protect creative works, such as films, scripts, and characters, allowing creators to control and profit from their creations.
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Art that relies on the active participation of the viewer, where the audience interacts with the piece, altering its form, meaning, or experience.
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A field of design focused on creating engaging experiences between users and digital devices, emphasizing ease of interaction and user satisfaction.
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A series of shots depicting two simultaneous events, alternating to build suspense, often used to show a phone conversation.
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The space or medium through which a user interacts with a system, device, or software, such as a touchscreen, keyboard, or digital application, facilitating communication between human and machine.
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The practice of designing and arranging the interior spaces of buildings, focusing on functionality, aesthetic appeal, and the overall user experience within the space.
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A short, intervening film sequence or scene that appears in a movie, not necessarily tied to the plot.
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A break in the middle of a movie. They provide a chance for the audience to use the restrooms or get more snacks.
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The pacing or rhythm of a scene or sequence, driven by the internal flow of action, dialogue, or music.
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A modernist architectural style that emerged in the 1920s, characterized by simple, geometric forms, the use of glass, steel, and concrete, and an emphasis on functionality over ornamentation.
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An internship in VFX provides early career opportunities to learn from professionals, gain hands-on experience, and build connections. Internships may be paid or unpaid and often serve as entry points for a career in digital arts.
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Text inserted into a film, often between scenes, to convey information, time, or setting.
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A French art movement from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that focused on painting intimate, private scenes, often of domestic interiors or quiet moments.
