English vocabulary for professionals in the movie industry

5 minutes

Updated 21 Feb 2024

Before delving into the specifics of the film industry, let's first define basic words. You'll often hear these film vocabulary words in conversations about movies:

• A full-length feature film usually lasts between 70 and 210 minutes.
• A short film is much faster than a feature film, generally lasting less than 40 minutes.
• The film's screenplay includes dialogue, character descriptions, and action scenes.
• The person in charge of directing the creative components of a film is known as the director.
• Producer is the person overseeing the film production process, from finance to post-production.
• A cinematographer, often a Director of Photography (DP), controls the camera and lighting teams.
• The person who edits and puts together the film to make the final output is known as an editor.
• All of the actors and actresses who appear in a film are referred to as the cast.
• Crew is the people that work behind the scenes to make the film.
• The entire income generated by a film from ticket sales is referred to as the box office.

These fundamentals will serve as a solid basis for your future research. If you want to learn how to speak English professionally, you can look here - https://livexp.com/blog/how-to-speak-professional-english/.

Filmmaking Vocabulary

The production process is complex from the conception of a story idea until the film's release. Here is a collection of significant film terminology words:

• Pre-production: The preparation step that occurs before the start of filming, which includes scriptwriting, casting, and site scouting.
• Production: The stage during which the film is shot.
• Post-production is the editing stage that takes place after filming is completed, including video editing, sound editing, and special effects.
• Principal Photography: The phase of filming during which most of the film is shot.
• A storyboard is a series of drawings that represent the shots that will be used in a film.
• A shot is a single, continuous piece of film that serves as the foundation of a scene.
• Consider the following scenario: a single continuous recorded performance of a scene.
• A cut is a transition from one shot to the next in the editing process of a film.
• Wrap: The completion of filming for a film or a specific actor.
• The public release of a film.

You'll have a better idea of what goes into making the films you enjoy if you know these film production words.