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Like the iris of the eye, a valve within a lens to control the amount of light that passes through. Opening the iris permits more light to pass through the lens and closing the iris less. The degree to which the iris is open or closed is measured in F-Stops, and on some lenses supplemented by T-Stops.
Jump Cut – Basically, two similar shots cut together with a jump in continuity, camera position or time.
K – “K” has two different meanings, and both apply to movie lights, so one should be careful to differentiate one from the other. 1.: An abbreviation for Kilowatts. There are 1,000 Watts in 1 Kilowatt. It is used when talking about quartz lights or HMIs, as a way to measure their brightness based on their power consumption. A “1K” is a 1,000 Watt light, a “2K” a 2,000 Watt light, etc. 2.: An abbreviation for Kelvin, such as 3,200K for tungsten balance, 5,400K for daylight, etc.
Kelvin – This is the Color Temperature scale that takes its name from the scientist Lord Kelvin.
L.F.O.A. – This stands for Last Frame of Action, and basically it is just what it sounds like: the last frame of image and sound on a reel. It is important to the people who mix your film (it should be written on the cue sheet), especially if you need to do Pull Ups.
Lab Roll – A large roll (usually up to 1,000 feet) made up of camera rolls joined together by the lab for printing.
Latent Edge Numbers – Precisely, the edge numbers, and not inked-on code numbers. see Edge Numbers.
Latitude – The degree to which a certain film stock can tolerate under- or overexposure. Reversal film, for all practical purposes, has a very little latitude. Color negative has a higher latitude, and particular of its latitude it is tolerant of much more overexposure than underexposure.
Lens Flare – It is caused when light strikes the lens and either causes the entire image to be fogged in appearance, or for a little row of polygons (the silhouette of the iris) to appear from the light hitting the surfaces of the many elements in the lens. It is solved by flagging the lens.
Lightleak – Stray light that penetrates into a camera giving the film little patches of fog. Also the term for the access point itself. Typically light leaks occur around the camera door or where the magazine is joined to the camera body. Often they can be easily prevented with camera tape around the door.
Lights – see Timing Lights.
Lip Sync – Another way of saying Sync Sound. Most film videos use lip sync.
Loading Booth – A small darkroom sometimes found on a sound stage for loading film into magazines as a roomier alternative to a Changing Bag.
Location Sound – This is the sync sound, or any other sort of wild track or room tone that was recorded at the shoot. Same as Production Sound.
Locked Cut – The so-called final cut of a film when there are to be no more changes to picture.
