If you're working with even one other person on your video project, you need to have a basic understanding of the lingo so you can communicate your needs. The first job a camera department trainee typically lands is as a grip. Grips are the crew technicians who hustle between "the truck" and the set with work gloves flopping out of their back pockets, making sure that the DP (director of photography) gets the right fixture, gel, camera rigging, scrim, net, diffusion, half blue, extension, scissor mount, gator grip, reflector, whatever, and right now, if not sooner.

I Want it "Cowboy"

Camera department jargon is the language of a unique tribe on a film set. It won't be long before even the tea lady knows the meaning of "Let's shoot it cowboy," (frame up the shot at holster level) or "I want it shallow focus," (with the background soft). Does this mean that as a director you need to keep pace with the DP's mastery of image control and start speaking in f-stops? Not at all, that's their job. It also doesn't mean you have to impress your cinematographer with your knowledge of, and enthusiasm for gear. DPs like it best when directors put their attention on script, actors and action.

But in truth, effective visual storytelling in a film is the collective responsibility of director and craftspeople in both camera and art departments. In film and video production, when we refer to the head of the camera department, these terms are generally understood to be interchangeable: film cameraman/woman, cinematographer, lighting cameraman/woman and most typically director of photography (DP or DOP). Cinematographers are expected to be more than camera placers, lens changers and camera movers. The most valued DPs are visual consultants who can execute camera direction from the director to achieve the desired emotional effect of a scene. The basic categories of camera direction include motion, focus, angle, speed and composition.

Moving It

It's almost too obvious to say, but one of the main objectives in motion picture photography is motion. Well-executed camera movement is a powerful storytelling tool that not only enhances the visual experience of a scene, but also its emotional impact.

• If you want vertical camera movement, ask for a "crane up" or a "crane down" shot.
• Directives for lateral camera movement are expressed as "truck left" and "truck right."
• A "counter-move to action" is a dynamic lateral move where the camera glides against the flow of the action accelerating the pace of a shot.
• For camera movement front to back (along the z-axis) ask for a "dolly in" or a "dolly out." "Leading" is a dolly shot where the camera leads the actor, shot from the front. A "follow" is a dolly shot or "tracking shot" where the camera follows the actor from behind.
• Maybe you just want a short dolly move for dramatic effect, "push in" and "push out" are the directions.
• A director who wants something shot "on the mag" or "on the boom" is asking for camera orientation to be in line with the action axis.

Focus Critical

Focus is another obvious cinematography requirement. Selective focus directs the attention to where the director wants it in the frame.

• If you want to go soft on the center of attention in the shot, ask for a simple "in" or "out".
• "Split focus," also called "rack focus," is achieved by "pulling" focus from one object to another, from foreground to background or the reverse.



• "Shallow focus" is usually shot on a "long lens" (zoomed in). Shallow because only a selective short depth of focus draws the eye to the important object or person in the shot while foreground and background elements remain soft or blurry.
• When a director wants to shoot a scene "deep focus" They are asking for everything to be in focus, from the furthest away object in the shot to the item nearest the camera, back to front. Gregg Toland's innovative techniques allowed him to achieve the ultimate deep focus movie, Citizen Kane.