Film and television professionals have their own vocabulary for communicating with each other. The technical jargon used by then should naturally encompass the entire gamut of production work. The list of terms is rather long because of television which is a technology intensive medium.

Film & television glossary. compiled by Asian Academy of Film & Television is based on the perception of the terms considered worth knowing. I hope and trust this glossary will be useful to the new entrant to the fascinating world of film & television production.

  
  
One of the concerns of the user of the moving images as an art form or means of mass communication is to ensure that the pictures reaching the viewer are sharp, crisp, steady, free from extraneous disturbances and with true colours. Similarly, the sound accompanying the picture is also of the highest quality. Expressed differently, everyone expects that the original picture and the sound will not suffer any degradation during their processing or transmission. All this has been made possible by digital technology.
All natural phenomena on begin life in continuos analogue form and end up as such. Human perceptual system is inherently analogue! Analogue electrical signals representing picture and sound are time continuous. and amplitude continuous. Whereas analogue data is continuous, digital data is discrete and have just two stages on or off, 1 or 0.
  
Digital video and audio are indeed technological magic. Translating picture and sound in the analogue form to digital form is currently the fastest and the most efficient way to handle them. Converting an analogue television picture and the accompanying sound into digital form results in the creation or incredibly large amount of data. Same, perhaps, is true of the vocabulary relating to digital television. We have attempted to compress the list of terms currently being used by the professionals in this field, to the extent possible. I hope and trust this companion to the glossary of terms published earlier will serve its intended purpose.
  
  
The principal tool of the actor's trade are voice and speech. The actor needs utmost skill in the use of voice, speech and language to do his work.

Voice is the sound itself. Speech is the form, shape and meaning we give to sound. Language is derived from assigning meaning to vocal sounds. Control of language concerns the actor's ability to articulate, enunciate and pronounce words properly. It has also to do with phrasing and grouping words to facilitate a listeners understanding.


The actor has not only to speak clearly, but he must also pronounce the words correctly. There are techniques for improving voice speech and language. I hope and trust that the valuable contents of this booklet will be useful to the actors in making.

 

  
This monograph is intended to provide a brief overview of the technical basis of television. The treatment possible in a work of this size is necessarily restricted. Topics covered here are a subject matter of more than one complete text book and to many these may appear to be superficial. As we enter the twenty first century, television is not what it used to be in 1960's, nor it is yet what it is going to be. Digital revolution is, significantly affecting the established practices in the production and distribution of television programmes. Personal computers have invaded the television industry.
  
Technology is only a tool in the hands of a creative person. However, the knowledge of the fundamentals of analog and digital television is anytime helpful.