Working with lights requires a knowledge of lighting lingo. Even if you know how to use lighting equipment, referring to your gear as “that doo-hickey” and “the one thing with that knobby-thing on it” will make you lose credibility with your clients and your production crew.

Knowing the proper terms for your equipment will not only make you sound more professional, but will help you better communicate on the set. The following are some commonly used lighting terms and definitions.

• Fresnel: Pronounced “Fra-NEL,” this light has a lens with circular ridges in the glass that focus the light beam, creating a greater throw. Fresnels are spot/flood adjustable.
• Floodlight: Characterized by its wider light beam, this scattered light is less harsh than a spotlight, making shadows softer.
• Spotlight: Characterized by its long throws and focused light. Because it creates harsh light with crisp shadows, it’s great for stylistic lighting, such as the film nior style.
• Barndoors: This accessory mounts on the front of your light to help control the spill. The hinged flaps allow you to adjust the doors to mask areas you don’t want illuminated.
• Scrims: Made of a mesh-like material and used for controlling the output of light. The mesh-like material dims the light without diffusing it or affecting the color temperature.
• Softbox: A box-like enclosure that fits over almost any light, while allowing the light to shine through. The result is a soft and diffused, even light void of hot spots.
• C-stand: Short for Century stand, this is a three-legged, height-adjustable stand with the option of attaching an arm. C-stands have a number of uses, but are most commonly used to hold accessories, such as flags and cookies, in place.
• Cookie: Also known as a cucaloris, this large board has a variety of patterns or shapes cut out of it. It is placed in front of a spot light in order to throw a textured shadow or a silhouette onto the background.
• Reflector: A reflector is an accessories made of reflective material that allows you to bounce light from the light source and onto your subject. These are great for redirecting light and lighting locations your powered lights can’t reach.

This is just the tip of the lighting lingo iceberg. To learn more terms that will help you sound professional, check out Jargon: Lighting Terms. Before you know it, you’ll have a firm grasp on the proper terms for your equipment, and will never again have to settle with a “whatchamacallit.”

Interested in more tips on lighting for video? Sign up for Videomaker’s free Video Lighting Course. This free tip series is designed to help you improve your video production skills, fast. Learn More.

It’s been known that people will sit through bad video much longer than they will sit through bad audio. For this reason, capturing great audio is invaluable to the process of making a video. Unfortunately, audio is often considered to be something that can easily be fixed in post production. Video producers have had to learn the hard way that there is no substitution for properly recorded audio.

To help you capture the best audio possible, Videomaker’s Audio for Video Webinar covers types of mics and their pick-up patterns, which mics are the best fit for each situation and tips on how to capture quality audio every time you shoot.

In addition to valuable information, our Audio for Video Webinar will also include a live Q&A segment; our team answering your questions. Videomaker’s Audio for Video Webinar starts at 11:00 AM (Wednesday, October 20^th), so be sure to sign up soon!

Not interested in Audio for Video? Videomaker’s Webinar Training series provides a wide variety of webinars that cover topics including Advanced Editing, Documentary Production, Lighting for Video, Advanced Shooting, Green Screens and Special Effects, and much more.

Our August workshop is off and out the door and what a workshop it was! 31 attendees spread out over 4 classes.

For those of you who have never attended a Videomaker Workshop the idea is to hunker down and drill as much knowledge into the brains of our readers that we can! Read the rest of this entry »