Glossary

Life Story Video

The film or video art of presenting deep aspects of a person's life through carefully woven moments.

Editing

Most master editors do not shoot film or video. Instead, they put the footage together into an irresistible sequence of sound and images
— a story.

If filmmaking is like fine cuisine, then the editor is the chef that goes through all the ingredients (film, sound, photos) combining and balancing them to make a sumptuous dish. Editing is the end of the line, the last creative stop in the filmmaking process that often involves the prior contribution of many others' time and talent.

Videography

Any time someone gets behind a camera that records moving images on video, it's videography, and they are a videographer — an operator of a video camera. Some editors do videography, (the "many hats approach") but that is something I leave to trusted colleagues so I can go deeply into what I do best as a storyteller.

Cinematography

Originally, cinematography was the art of those who had attained mastery using film to capture moving images for projection in the cinema. A cinematographer has a great understanding of light and texture and is able to visually compose a scene for a director. Today, some cinematographers shoot entire movies onto High Definition (HD) video cards. In either case, "cinematographer" carries more weight and scope than "videographer."
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sunset at beach, Limantour, Point Reyes

Postproduction

All the steps that happen after Production: editing, music design, special effects, sound effects, visual effects, sound design, mixing.

Mixing

Also called audio mixing. Once all the sound elements for the final film or video are ready, one adjusts the levels (loudness), audio quality, and placement of all the sounds that will be heard when the film is complete.

Production

Any part of the filmmaking (or video making) process in which recorded sound and images are being produced (usually called the "shooting" process) is called Production.

Sound design

This field emerged in the last ten years as a specialty to produce sounds that may bear no resemblance to real-world sounds. Think of the sounds you hear in a movie like "The Matrix" when we hear the sound of a bullet slowing to a halt or a character changing from one physical form to another. Sound design is like sound effects for dreams.
A professional film and video editor takes your vision into WONDER on the screen.