Encyclopedia

2106 entries · Page 34 of 36

• Ultrabounce

  A large reflective fabric used to redirect sunlight or fixture output into a broad source.

• Unbalanced audio

  A signal connection using one signal conductor and a shared return or shield.

• Underlying rights

  Rights in pre-existing material or real-world subject matter on which a screen project depends.

• Underwater camera housing

  A pressure-rated enclosure that lets a camera and lens operate below water.

• Unit call

  The general time at which the shooting unit is expected to be ready to begin its scheduled workday.

• Unit Director

  A Unit Director directs an assigned production unit or defined body of material under the project’s principal creative direction. They lead performers and crew for that work, plan coverage, coordinate safety and logistics with the AD team, and deliver footage that matches the story, performances, continuity, and visual language of the main production.

• Unit Manager

  A Unit Manager coordinates the practical services surrounding a production unit, particularly on location. They organize facilities, parking, base camp, transport interfaces, crew services, local vendors, access, and daily logistics so the shooting company can arrive, work, move, and wrap efficiently.

• Unit Production Manager

  A Unit Production Manager, or UPM, oversees the practical preparation and operation of a film or television production unit. Under the employer’s supervision, they coordinate budget, schedule, locations, personnel, travel, transportation, reporting, and day-to-day production decisions so the unit can deliver the planned work.

• Unit Still Photographer

  A Unit Still Photographer creates approved publicity and production photographs during filming. They capture performances, key scenes, behind-the-scenes activity, cast and filmmaker portraits, and continuity or reference needs while staying quiet, avoiding camera frames, respecting closed sets and embargoes, and preserving accurate metadata and secure image delivery.

• Unit-base plan

  A layout and operations plan for trailers, holding, catering, transport, parking, waste, and support services.

• Universe patch

  The mapping of console fixtures or parameters to addresses within one or more lighting-control universes.

• Unpremultiply

  The operation of dividing color channels by alpha to recover unassociated color values where defined.

• Unprotected side or edge

  A side or edge of a walking-working surface lacking the required wall, guardrail, or equivalent protection.

• Upper explosive limit

  The concentration above which a fuel-air mixture is too rich to propagate flame under stated conditions.

• Upstage

  The area or direction farther from the audience on a conventional stage.

• User seal check

  A wearer-performed positive or negative pressure check each time a tight-fitting respirator is donned.

• Utility Sound Technician

  A Utility Sound Technician is the production sound crew’s versatile third position, supporting the Mixer and Boom Operator with wireless microphones, second boom, timecode, batteries, listening devices, carts, cables, noise control, equipment records, and cast care. They solve small technical and logistical problems before those problems stop production.

• UV pass

  A rendered pass carrying surface texture coordinates for post-production texture placement or repair.

• Variable bit rate

  An encoding mode allocating more or fewer bits as picture or sound complexity changes.

• VCA group

  An analog control group changing assigned channel gains without summing their audio into a bus.

• Vectorscope

  A scope that plots color direction and saturation to evaluate chroma balance and signal limits.

• Vehicle process-trailer shot

  Photography of performers in a picture vehicle carried or towed on a specialized process trailer.

• Vendor

  A person or business that supplies goods, rentals, facilities, or services to a production.

• Vendor onboarding

  The process of approving a supplier’s identity, tax, insurance, payment, safety, and contract information.

• Venomous-reptile safety

  Specialized containment, handling, exclusion, and medical controls for venomous snakes or other reptiles.

• Venue technical pack

  A controlled document describing venue dimensions, systems, inventory, access, power, rigging, and policies.

• Verbal pitch

  A spoken presentation of a project delivered in a meeting, room, call, or recorded setting.

• Version File DCP

  A supplemental digital-cinema package that reuses assets from an Original Version while replacing selected components.

• Vertical hitch

  A straight sling connection carrying load between one upper and one lower attachment.

• Vertical interval timecode

  Legacy timecode encoded into lines of the vertical blanking interval of an analog video signal.

• Vertical lifeline

  A flexible line anchored overhead that supports a compatible traveling fall-arrest connection.

• VFX bid

  A vendor estimate assigning scope, methodology, labor, schedule, assumptions, and price to visual-effects work.

• VFX breakdown

  A shot- or scene-level analysis of visual-effects requirements, methods, elements, complexity, and dependencies.

• VFX Coordinator

  A VFX Coordinator runs the daily information flow for visual-effects production. They maintain shot records, schedules, review agendas, notes, submissions, vendor contacts, turnovers, delivery logs, meetings, and follow-ups so artists, supervisors, producers, editorial, and post teams are always working from current versions, priorities, and approvals.

• VFX Data Wrangler

  A VFX Data Wrangler captures, labels, verifies, and delivers the technical reference needed to reconstruct photographed scenes for visual effects. They record camera and lens settings, measurements, witness images, HDR panoramas, gray and chrome balls, texture photography, lighting and set reference, slate information, and file relationships without delaying the shooting unit.

• VFX Editor

  A VFX Editor manages the editorial representation of visual-effects shots from turnover through final delivery. They identify and track shot versions, pulls, handles, frame ranges, plates, temp comps, retimes, reframes, and cut changes; prepare review sequences; compare vendor deliveries against the current edit; and keep editorial, VFX, post, and production aligned on exactly what belongs in the picture.

• VFX Lighting Artist

  A VFX Lighting Artist lights computer-generated characters, creatures, objects, and environments to match photographed plates or establish a fully digital scene. They place and shape sources, reproduce exposure and color, manage shadows and reflections, choose render settings and passes, troubleshoot noise and artifacts, and deliver images that compositors can integrate efficiently.

• VFX Paint Artist

  A VFX Paint Artist removes or repairs unwanted visual material such as wires, rigs, markers, crew, reflections, logos, blemishes, tracking points, and set damage. They reconstruct clean backgrounds across moving frames, match grain and texture, preserve natural motion and parallax, and deliver repaired plates that compositors can integrate without visible artifacts.

• VFX plate

  A photographed source element intended to be combined with digital effects or other layers.

• VFX Producer

  A VFX Producer manages the budget, schedule, vendor strategy, staffing, bids, approvals, turnovers, reviews, and delivery logistics for visual effects. Working with the VFX Supervisor and production leadership, they translate a changing creative scope into accountable shot plans, negotiate resources, forecast costs, surface risks, and keep hundreds or thousands of interdependent tasks moving toward final delivery.

• VFX Production Assistant

  A VFX Production Assistant supports the administrative and logistical work that keeps a visual-effects team organized. They prepare review rooms and playlists, update records, distribute notes, move files and reference, schedule meetings, check submissions, organize deliveries, and handle assigned office or set tasks while learning shot terminology, version control, and production workflow.

• VFX Supervisor

  A VFX Supervisor leads the creative and technical strategy for visual effects across prep, photography, post-production, and final approval. They decide how effects should be achieved, plan plates and data capture, advise the Director and Cinematographer on set, brief vendors, review shots, solve continuity and realism problems, and protect the intended result within schedule and budget.

• VFX turnover plan

  A specification for transferring approved editorial shots, plates, references, metadata, and instructions to visual-effects vendors.

• Video Control Operator

  A Video Control Operator manages technical video signals for recording, playback, monitoring, transfer, or live and post-production workflows. They route and verify sources, align levels and color where authorized, monitor sync and signal integrity, label recordings, communicate faults, follow the show’s technical plan, and maintain accurate records so picture reaches downstream systems in the expected format and quality.

• Video keyer

  A switcher or processor function combining foreground and background through transparency information.

• Video scaler

  A processor converting input raster size and timing to a required output format.

• Video switcher

  A device selecting and combining multiple live video sources into one or more outputs.

• Video village

  The designated monitoring area where authorized personnel view production camera feeds.

• Video wall

  A large display assembled from panels or tiles and controlled as a coordinated image surface.

• Videographer

  A Videographer plans and records video, often with a compact crew or as a solo operator who may also handle lighting, sound, media, and basic producing. They translate a brief or event into usable coverage, choose practical equipment, capture clear images and audio, protect media, and organize material for editing.

• Virtual Production Supervisor

  A Virtual Production Supervisor leads the integration of real-time engines, LED volumes or other displays, camera tracking, lens data, playback, digital environments, color, lighting, and on-set workflows used to combine physical and virtual production. They design tests and technical plans, align creative departments, validate assets and calibration, supervise stage operation, troubleshoot latency or mismatch, and preserve data and decisions for post-production.

• Virtual soundcheck

  A soundcheck workflow that plays back previously recorded multitrack inputs through a live console and system.

• Visual Development Artist

  A Visual Development Artist explores and defines the project’s visual world before and during production. They create concept paintings, character and environment studies, color and lighting keys, shape-language experiments, prop ideas, and style frames that help Directors and Production Designers choose how the story should look and give downstream departments a coherent design target.

• Visual reference board

  A curated board of images used to align design, camera, color, wardrobe, or location direction.

• Voice Actor

  A Voice Actor creates characters, narration, dialogue, efforts, or announcements using vocal performance without relying on an on-camera face. They interpret scripts, establish voice and character choices, take direction, control timing and microphone technique, repeat or match lines, protect vocal health, and deliver clean, editable performances for animation, games, dubbing, commercials, documentaries, and other media.

• Voice Casting Director

  A Voice Casting Director identifies and recommends performers whose voices, acting range, chemistry, language, timing, and availability fit animated, dubbed, game, commercial, narration, or other voice projects. They interpret character briefs, source and audition talent, direct or organize reads, present choices, coordinate representatives and deals, track ensembles and alternates, and support pickups while separating casting decisions from later performance direction unless assigned both roles.

• Voice Director

  A Voice Director guides performers through recorded dialogue for animation, games, dubbing, or other voice-driven productions. They interpret character and story intent, communicate context without completed visuals, shape performance, pace, reactions, efforts, and pronunciation, coordinate script changes, and capture technically usable takes that editorial and animation can build upon.

• Voice-Over Performer

  A Voice-Over Performer records spoken material heard over picture, graphics, animation, radio, or other content without necessarily appearing on screen. They interpret copy, establish tone and audience relationship, pronounce names accurately, control pace and duration, take direction, manage microphone technique, deliver alternate readings, and maintain vocal continuity across pickups, versions, and revised scripts.

• VOLINDEX

  A DCP document identifying the volume within a multi-volume package.

• Voltage

  Electrical potential difference that can drive current through a circuit or person.

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