A Working Glossary of Film and TV Set Terms for Actors

Theatre teaches you one vocabulary. A film set uses a different one, and nobody stops to explain it. Your first day you will hear that they are going again for coverage, that you are stepping on the line, and that this is the martini, and you are expected to know what all of it means.

This is the practical version. Where a term has a formal definition and a working one, the working one is here. For stage vocabulary, see our glossary of theatre terms.

Abby Singer

The second-to-last shot of the day. Named for a production manager who habitually announced one more shot before wrap. When you hear it, you have two setups left, not one.

Back to one

Return to your starting position for another take. "One" is where you began the shot, not where you happen to be standing. Going back to one includes your props, your hands, and anything you were holding, which is why continuity is watching you.

Blocking rehearsal

The run-through before cameras roll, where the director sets movement and the crew watches to plan lighting and camera. This is the take where you find out your beautiful instinct to cross left is impossible because the dolly track is there.

Checking the gate

A holdover from film, still said on digital sets. It means someone is confirming the last take is clean before the crew moves on. If you flubbed a line and want another go, this is your last chance to say so.

Coverage

All the additional angles shot of a scene beyond the master: singles, over-the-shoulders, inserts. Coverage is why you will perform the same two minutes fifteen times, and why consistency matters more on camera than it does on stage. Your performance has to match across every angle or it cannot be cut together.

Craft services

The snack table. Distinct from catering, which is the actual meal. Learning this distinction early saves you one embarrassing question.

Eyeline

Where you are looking. Off-camera actors, or a mark on a stand, give you something to play to when your scene partner is not there. Eyeline errors are invisible to you and glaring in the edit, so if the camera operator asks you to shift your gaze two inches, do it exactly.

First team / second team

First team is the actors. Second team is the stand-ins, who occupy your positions while the crew lights the scene. When you hear "first team in," you are wanted on set now.

Hitting your mark

Arriving at a taped spot on the floor at the right moment without looking down. Focus and framing depend on it. The skill is finding the mark with your feet while your eyes stay in the scene, and it is one of the genuinely learnable differences between stage and screen work.

Honeywagon

The trailer with the bathrooms and small dressing rooms. Not glamorous, universally referenced.

Martini shot

The last shot of the day. The next one is at the bar, hence the name.

Master

The wide take covering the whole scene, usually shot first. Everything after it is coverage, and everything after it has to match it.

MOS

Shot without sound. Playback of dialogue may still happen, but nothing is being recorded. Do not adjust your performance volume; play it as written.

Picture's up

Filming is about to start. Conversation stops, movement stops. The call after it is usually "sound speed," then "rolling," then "action."

Room tone

Thirty to sixty seconds of the set's ambient silence, recorded with everyone standing still. It gets laid under the edit so cuts do not pop. It happens at the end of a scene and you will be asked not to move.

Sides

The pages you are working from, either for an audition or the day's shooting. In auditions, sides are the excerpt you read. On set, sides are the scenes being shot that day, printed half-size. See how to prepare for a cold read for the audition version.

Slate

The clapperboard, and the act of using it. Also what you do at the top of a self-tape: state your name, and sometimes your height, location, or representation. See how to memorize lines for a self-tape audition for the rest of that workflow.

Stepping on the line

Starting your line before the other actor has finished. Natural in life, a problem on set, because overlapping dialogue cannot be cut apart cleanly. You will be asked to leave a beat even where the overlap feels more truthful.

Turning around

Repositioning the camera to shoot the reverse angle. It takes time, and it is when you are most likely to be released briefly. It is also when your off-camera work matters: give your scene partner the same performance when the camera is pointed away from you.

Video village

The cluster of monitors where the director and others watch. Being invited to look at playback is normal. Wandering over uninvited to critique your own take is not.

Wrap

The end of shooting, for the day or the production. "That's a wrap on [your name]" means you are done and released.

What actually transfers from stage

Most of it. Preparation, listening, playing a want, being off book. The differences are technical and learnable in a week.

The one that catches theatre actors out is repetition. On stage you do a scene once a night and it can be a little different each time, and the variation is part of what is alive about it. On camera you do it fifteen times and the takes have to match closely enough to intercut, while still being alive on every one. That combination is the skill.

Being solidly off book is what makes it possible. If part of your attention is retrieving words, you cannot also be tracking eyeline, marks, and continuity. Call for Line scores your accuracy line by line so you know the words are actually automatic before you get to a set where fifteen takes are the normal ask.