Production Glossary
18 August 2026 · Surumi Sulaiman
Every industry hides behind its vocabulary. This is the vocabulary we use on Gloworks jobs, written out plainly, so that a client reading a quote or standing in a control room knows what is being said.
If a term you have been quoted is not here, ask us and we will add it.
Video signal
SDI — Serial Digital Interface. Professional video over coaxial cable with a locking BNC connector. Runs long distances reliably. The standard for anything at a venue.
HDMI — the consumer video connector. Fine short, unreliable long, and the connector does not lock.
12G-SDI — SDI fast enough to carry 4K over a single cable.
NDI — video sent over a computer network instead of dedicated cable. Elegant when you control the network.
Clean feed — a video output with no menus, focus boxes or battery icons overlaid. What a switcher needs.
Genlock — a shared timing reference that keeps multiple cameras in step.
Timecode — a clock embedded in the recording, used to sync cameras and audio in the edit.
Frame rate — how many images per second. India works in 25 and 50; much of the US works in 30 and 60. Mixing them causes problems.
Live production
Switcher / vision mixer — the device that selects which camera goes to air.
Programme (PGM) — the output currently going out.
Preview (PVW) — the shot lined up to go next.
ISO recording — recording each camera separately alongside the programme, so a live switch can be re-edited later.
Encoder — the device that compresses video into a stream for the internet.
RTMP — the protocol most platforms accept a stream over.
Bonding — combining multiple internet connections (usually SIMs) into one, for resilience.
Lower third — the name graphic across the bottom of the screen.
Tally — the light telling an operator or presenter which camera is live.
Talkback — the intercom between the director and the crew.
Camera
Full frame / Super 35 / Micro Four Thirds — sensor sizes, largest to smallest. Larger generally means better low-light and shallower depth of field.
Aperture (f-stop) — how much light the lens lets in. Lower number, more light, shallower focus.
ND filter — neutral density; sunglasses for the lens, used to control exposure without changing aperture.
Depth of field — how much of the scene is in focus front-to-back.
Log — a flat recording profile that preserves detail for grading. Looks washed out until it is graded.
Parfocal — a lens that stays in focus while zooming.
Rolling shutter — the skew you see when a camera pans quickly or a flash fires.
Audio
XLR — the professional three-pin audio connector. Balanced and locking.
Balanced — a wiring scheme that cancels interference picked up along a cable run.
Phantom power (48V) — power sent up the cable to a condenser microphone.
Lavalier / lav — the small clip-on microphone.
Shotgun — a directional microphone on a boom.
DI box — converts an unbalanced signal to balanced; used to take a feed from a laptop or a house desk.
Ground loop — a hum caused by two devices earthed at different points. Fixed with an isolator.
House feed / desk feed — audio taken from the venue's own mixing desk.
Room tone — a recording of the empty room, used to smooth edits.
Post
Ingest — copying footage off cards and backing it up.
Proxy — a small, easy-to-edit copy of a large file.
Rough cut — the first assembled version.
Picture lock — the point at which no further edits will be made, so audio and grading can finish.
Colour correction — making shots technically correct and matched.
Colour grading — giving the finished piece a look.
Cutdown — a shorter version of a finished video, usually for social.
Deliverable — a specific final file. "Three deliverables" means three videos, not three versions.
Commercial
Call time — when the crew arrives, which is not when the event starts.
Site recce — the visit to the venue before the shoot.
Run of show — the minute-by-minute plan for the event.
Turnaround — how long after the shoot the edit is delivered.
Revision round — one cycle of client feedback and changes.
Gloworks is a video production and live streaming studio in Bengaluru.