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A film’s emulsion type refers to the composition of its emulsion, whether it was manufactured to be fast, slow, grainy, fine-grained, colorful, pastel, black and white or color, daylight balanced, tungsten balanced, etc. The emulsion type is represented by a number. For Kodak it is a series of four numbers, such as 7248. The “72” always stands for 16mm camera stock, and the same emulsion type is found in 35mm as 5248, “52” being the designation of 35mm. Fuji uses a system where the film’s emulsion type is a little more telling, such as 250D, which is daylight balanced film with an Exposure Index of 250. When picking out a stock to use the film speed, and in the case of color film, whether the film is daylight or tungsten, are the primary reasons for choosing a certain emulsion type. Allowances might also be made to achieve a certain look, as in using Kodak Vision, or Fuji film. Several different emulsion types are usually used on a project, fast for night scenes, slow for daylight scenes, etc. However, unless you are trying something novel, it is a good idea to shoot a single unbroken sequence with one emulsion type.
a brand name for Polyester Base.
A special lamp in the projector used for the playback of Optical Sound. The projector reads the track by passing it between the exciter lamp a light-sensitive photo-electric cell.
This is the sensitivity to light of a particular type of film. It is the specific number used to measure Film Speed. Your film will list an E.I. number on the box or the film can as the film speed. It is the same as A.S.A. and I.S.O. on your light meter.
These are a handy way to turn any long lens into a macro lens for ultra-close shooting. They are hollow metal tubes that are mounted between the camera and the lens. Typically they come in a set of different lengths which can be combined. It is a good idea to open up the lens a little when using an extension tube, as a little light is lost. It should be noted that they do not work when used with wide lenses.
Eye line is the direction an actor should look off-screen to match a reverse angle or a P.O.V. shot. It is best to give the actor an actual thing or spot to look at rather than a blank spot on an empty wall or an empty space in mid air.
The scale used to measure the size of the opening of the iris on a lens. Opening the iris wider lets in more light, and closing it down, smaller, lets in less light. F-stops can be a little confusing, because the larger the number, the smaller the opening of the iris, and conversely the smaller the number, the larger the opening. The typical f-stop scale is 1.4 – 2 – 2.8 – 4 – 5.6 – 8 – 11 – 16 – 22. When the reading is between stops, this should be accounted for it setting the lens, however, it is much more clear, even if it sounds grammatically incorrect to the mathematically inclined, to say “One third above 5.6” rather than “5.8” because it is very hard to judge the distance in decimals between numbers like 5.6 and 8, whereas 1/3rd above 5.6 is perfectly clear.
A transition from a shot to black where the image gradually becomes darker is a Fade Out; or from black where the image gradually becomes brighter is a Fade In. Fades are done at the lab in the printing phase, but prepared by the negative cutter, who cuts in an overlap of black into the A&B rolls. Labs will only do fades in fixed amounts, such as 24 frames, 48 frames, etc.
Filler is scrap film, most often used to keep a sound track running the same length as the picture, even though there is just silence. When used this way in can also be called sound fill. Filler is usually a print with the emulsion scraped off the center all the way along, perhaps to prevent bootlegging, but also useful in that a mark can be seen on both sides through this wide scratch.
A liquid that is actually not a glue, but a chemical that melts and fuses two pieces of film together.
The film plane is the plane of depth from the lens of the film, behind the gate, in the camera. It is also the point from where the distances on the focusing ring should be measured from, and is indicated on the outside of the camera with a little symbol that looks like the planet Saturn turned on its side.
The sensitivity to light for proper exposure of a given film stock. This is primarily a result of the size of the silver halides in the emulsion, the larger the grain, the less light is needed for exposure. Film stocks are generally spoken of as being fast or slow, a fast film having large grains and needing less light, a slow film having smaller grain and needing more light.
A tinted glass or small tinted plastic sheet placed in front of the lens or behind the lens in a filter holder, used to change the color rendition of the entire shot. Filters are used to convert tungsten balanced film for use in daylight or vice versa. The can also be used for aesthetic reasons, such as a red filter to darken the sky when filming in black and white.
see Prime Lens.
This has two meanings. 1.: It can be a large black cloth on a frame used on a shoot to keep light out of part of the composition. 2.: In the cutting room it is a small piece of tape attached to a shot in a roll and used exactly as you would use a bookmark. The flag sticks out the side of the roll, making it easy to find that shot again quickly.
