The video-craft encyclopedia.
Every shot, edit, audio trick, and crew role, defined in Cue's voice. Plain English. Industry-fluent.
Dolly Shot
Camera physically moves toward or away on a track or wheeled rig. The most cinematic move you can make.
READ THE ENTRY →Most useful.
The terms that come up first on a real shoot, and the ones Cue reaches for when it writes your shot list.
Camera pulled back so the subject reads small against their environment. Sets the world before you let people care about who is in it.
Subject framed from the waist up. The workhorse of dialogue scenes - close enough for performance, wide enough for gesture.
Face fills most of the frame. Used when an emotion is doing more work than a line.
Shot from behind one character toward another. The visual grammar of two people listening.
Frame the world through a character's eyes. Use sparingly - it commits the audience to a perspective.
Camera tilted off the horizon. Unease, disorientation, or - when overused - a film-school cliché.
Camera physically moves toward or away on a track or wheeled rig. The most cinematic move you can make.
Camera lifts or descends on a mechanical arm. Cheap drones replaced 70% of these. The other 30% are why you still rent a crane.
Browse by taxonomy.
- Wide ShotCamera pulled back so the subject reads small against their environment. Sets the world before you let people care about who is in it.
- Medium ShotSubject framed from the waist up. The workhorse of dialogue scenes - close enough for performance, wide enough for gesture.
- Close-UpFace fills most of the frame. Used when an emotion is doing more work than a line.
- J-CutAudio from the next shot starts before the picture cuts. Smooths conversation. Named for the shape it makes on a timeline.
- L-CutAudio from the previous shot continues over the next picture. Twin of the J-cut. Together they hide 80% of edits.
- Match CutTwo shots linked by visual or motion similarity. The bone-to-spaceship cut in 2001 set the bar.
- Room ToneThe silence of a specific room. Always record 30 seconds. Editors patch with it forever.
- FoleyCustom sound effects performed in sync with picture. Footsteps, fabric, kisses. The reason your film feels real.
- Musical StingA short, sharp musical hit. Punctuates moments. Used in news graphics, trailers, comedy buttons.
- Lower ThirdName-and-title text overlay in the bottom third of the frame. Broadcast TV's name tag.
- ChyronGeneric name for on-screen text generated by a character generator. The hardware vendor became the noun.
- Network BugThe tiny channel logo in the corner of broadcast TV. Ad-blocker bait.
- DirectorThe person who decides what the audience sees and feels. Owns vision, casting, performance, final edit.
- EditorCuts the film. Where stories are actually written for the last time.
- Director of Photography (DP)Owns image - camera, lighting, lens choice. Director's closest creative partner.
- YouTube Long-Form8–25 minute videos optimized for retention and watch-time. The platform's most profitable shape.
- YouTube ShortsVertical 9:16 video under 60 seconds. YouTube's answer to TikTok.
- TikTokVertical short-form (15s–10min). Algorithm-driven, sound-on, captions-on.