Descriptionary

atmospheric effects specialist a special-effects person who simulates fog, rain, thunder, lightning, smoke, and so on.

audio operator the audio technician responsible for a program's sound quality.

back lot studio property where outdoor scenes are occasionally shot.

backtiming a method of ending a live program exactly on time by providing a rehearsed final seg­ment that can be made shorter or longer at will. Also, in news programs, the time when the last segment must be aired to match the time deadline.

balop a large slide of art work, used as a back­ground scene.

bat blacks to fade out or to fade to black.

bear trap slang for an alligator-type clamp used to attach lights in a studio. Also known as a gaffer gnp.

big head a closeup of a performer's head.

billboard the credits at the opening and closing of a program. Also, an announcement made on behalf of the sponsor, such as "This program brought to you by . . ."

bird a satellite used for TV transmission.

bird, lose the to lose the transmission of a TV sig­nal through a satellite.

birding slang for television transmission via satellite.

black level TV control signals that are blocked out of the picture.

blackout the prohibition of local sports coverage due to contract agreements, intended to draw the maximum audience to the local stadium.

block to provide indications or markings of camera or performer placement and their movement during rehearsal.

blunting airing a program of similar content to that of a competing station at the same time.

boom a long, movable arm, crane, or pole used to hold a microphone.

bump to cancel a guest on a talk show.

bumper a transitional device between program seg­ments, such as a fade-out, or an announcement such as, "We'll return after these messages."

cable puller a studio assistant responsible for power, sound, and picture cables who follows camera movements and pulls cables out of the way to prevent entanglement.

call sheet a schedule sheet showing the dates and times a cast and crew must appear for a production.

camera cue a red warning light indicating when a camera is actually shooting. Also known as a cue light or tally light.

camera mixing mixing shots in succession from two or more studio cameras.

camera rehearsal a full dress rehearsal in which cam­era placement and movements are planned or blocked.

camera riser a platform that elevates a camera.

canned prerecorded, such as canned laughter.

cast to hire a performer for an acting part. Also, the collective term for all of the performers in a show.

casting director the director who casts the perform­ers for a show.

casting file a file of performer biographies.

cattle call an open audition, usually mobbed by act­ing hopefuls, for a bit or minor part in a program.

catwalk a narrow walkway or scaffolding above the studio, from which lights can be hung and accessed.

CBS Columbia Broadcasting System.

cc closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired; the superimposing of captions over a TV program, seen only by those viewers with special decoders.

chain break during a program break, a brief spot for station identification. Also, a local commercial up to 20 seconds long.

cherry picker a mobile crane holding a boom and camera for moving, outdoor shots; it has three seats, for the director, the camera operator, and the camera assistant.

cinemobile a large vehicle containing dressing rooms and store rooms, used when taping on location.

circle-in a transitional optical effect in which the picture forms a circle and diminishes, while a new scene enlarges from a small circle. Also known as iris-in.

circle wipe an optical effect in which a scene begins as a dot on the screen and enlarges to wipe out the previous scene.

clean entrance a direction to a performer to enter a scene from off-camera, as distinguished from the camera following the performer into the action.

closed set a set or studio closed to the public.

color bar a vertical strip of graduating colors for color testing of TV transmission. The colors are white, yellow, cyan, green, magenta, red, blue, and black. Also known as a colorburst.

come in a director's command to move the camera in closer on the subject.

control room the technical room where the director and engineers control the audio and video.

cover shot a wide shot revealing location at the start of a scene.

crab shot a shot in which the camera moves left or right on its dolly or truck.

crane a cherry picker.

crane grip the crane or cherry picker operator.

crawl the moving credits at the end of a TV show. Also, any text seen moving across the bottom of the TV screen, as a weather or news bulletin.