THE INNOVATORS
GLOSSARY
an interesting aspect of Cine Gear 2019 and
the economics of indie film production. As
producers, we rely on our crew to have their
kit—that’s why there is a line in the budget
for “kit rental,” and that kit costs money to
maintain. So, to the producers reading this:
Make sure you put money in that line item—
even a little something. The guys and gals
shooting your film, lighting your sets, and
flying your drones have spent a lot of their
time and a good chunk of change buying
equipment and getting trained up in it so
they can make that shot—for you. Once you
address that line item, you’ll start to find the
gear that’s best for your wallet, your crew,
and your film’s bottom lines. MMLCND (LIQUID CRYSTAL
NEUTRAL DENSITY) FILTER
A lens filter designed not to impact
color or contrast that generates
variable degrees of darkness by using
electrified liquid crystals sandwiched
between optical elements.
ISO
Film negative is rated by ASA
or DIN numbers. The equivalent,
the sensor or chip in digital
cameras, is rated by ISO. Higher
ISO ratings equate to faster film
stocks, needing less light to record
an image. Unlike film, some digital
camera have variable ISOs, with the
same caveat that higher numbers
can cause image quality to suffer.
MATTE BOX
A detachable lens shade that
prevents lens flares and usually
incorporates filter holders.
STOPS
The increments of a particular lens’
aperture. If a lens has opening at
�1.4, �2.0, �2.8, �4.0, going from
�4.0 to �2.0 would be opening up
two Stops. This comes from the fact
that still lenses have indents that
you can feel and “stop” you in the
exact spot. Cinema lenses generally
do not, so that assistants can make
smooth in-shot transitions.
PRESTON FIZ WIRELESS
CONTROL
A widely used, industry standard
third controller for motion picture
cameras that can remotely operate
numerous actions, such as focus,
zoom, iris, on/off, etc.
POLARIZATION AND
CIRCULAR POLARIZER
Like in your sunglasses, Polarization
is using an optical filter to block
certain waves of light whileletting others pass through. The
cameraperson aligns the filter, by
eye, to reduce glare or reflections
with either a linear or circular filter.
IRIS/APERTURE
The opening thru which the light
travels to the sensor (or film).
Calibrated in � stops on still
photography lenses and T Stops
on cinema lenses, the higher the
number, i.e.; �16, the smaller the
opening and the lower the amount
of light reaching the film or sensor.
BOKEH
Bokeh is the way a lens handles
the out of focus area. A lens or
image may have good bokeh or bad
bokeh, depending on your needs.
A typical example is the way car
headlights, in the deep background
on a night shoot, turn into colored,
blurry lights.
LINER SYSTEMS
Videotape based editorial systems.
Only one shot a time can be moved
or adjusted. The opposite of non-
linear or non-destructive systems
such as AVID, Final Cut, Premiere,
etc.
RAW CODEC
RAW refers to the native, highest
quality image a camera can
capture. More quality requires
more everything: processor
speed, sensor speed, storage, etc.
Compressing the files is a tradeoff
between quality and storage
and speed. For Blackmagic, their
particular codec of RAW comes
in various levels of compression,
Q0 representing the largest, least
compressed file.
MICRO FOUR THIRDS
(MFT) SENSOR
The Micro Four Thirds system.Panasonic, Olympic, Blackmagic,
DJI, JVC, etc., is the Super16 of the
digital world. The sensor has a 4:3
aspect ratio and is essentially half
the size of 35mm film frame.
FILTER KIT
A group of lens filters and holders
and adapters sold as a set or kit.
NEUTRAL DENSITY GRADS
A filter that goes from little or
no image enhancement on one
endto heavy or complete image
enhancement on the other. Useful
for bringing down the brightness
in the sky while not impacting
the rest of a scene.
BARN DOORS
The adjustable flaps on the on the
side of a light used to control and
shape the output of the lamp.
D -TA P
A standardized Digital Power Tap
that allows various accessories
on different brands to be powered
from a variety of sources.
AAS (NIMH OR LI-ION)
High quality Double-A size batteries.
CRI RATING
The Color Rendering Index rates a
light’s ability to faithfully reproduce
an object as compared to natural
light. Higher ratings are better.
3150-6300 KELVIN
Degrees Kelvin is a way
of measuring the color light.
To accurately capture an image, the
sensor (or film stock) should match
the color of the light being used.
3200 K is generally the color of
light used for indoor photography,
tungstens, and photofloods, so
the camera should be set to 3200.
6500K is bright sunlight.MOVIEMAKER.COM SUMMER 2019 21