Technology advancement is changing a lot of things, and photography and videography are also being affected. This means that everyone involved in film making including actors should understand different tech terms and phrases involved in their work. Actors may not know much about the technicalities in the film making, but at least they should know the basics, and when new technologies come, it will become easy to catch up. Here is a list of tech terms that every actor should know when on and off the set. It is one of the things that will help them to stand out.
ADR/ Looping
Automated dialogue replacement (ADR) which is also known as looping is a situation where an actor is expected to have his lines recorded in a sound studio. In this case, his scene will be played back while recording his lines, and it is usually because of the outside sound which most probably was not edible. Wood Harris says that as an actor, you need to understand why this step is important and get to learn how to perfect it and cooperate while on set.
Format
The format is a term usually used to refer to the standard of recording used for different performances. These formats include PAL, NTSC, M4V, WMV, SD, MOV and HD among others. As an actor, you need to understand these formats because when you visit your reel editor to help you create a reel, you will have to specify the format you want your clip to be recorded and preserved in. It is good then to have an answer to avoid delay in your work as you do research or disappointment when your work comes out with a format that you do not love.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a service that helps people in transferring large files such as a film or any other large video to someone else. Most people rely on services such as Dropbox to send a large file from one person to another, but as an actor who might be required to send and receive large video files over and over, it is good to use the newest and more efficient tech programs such as FTP.
Capture
Sometimes you may have a video that is not available as a file. In such a case, you will hear of tech terms such as recorded or captured which is a process that helps in playing your video back in the computer. According to Wood Harris, this process can be very challenging, and it is also considered illegal to record or capture a copy of a protected video. However, if it is a video in which you are part of as an actor, then a good film producer should be able to help you get access to this work. The problem is that if you do not know about the existence of such a helpful process, you will not have access to your work when you need it.
Host
When videos and films are made, the files get stored digitally for playback on websites. As an actor, you need to know where such videos are stored especially those that you are involved in because it will be easy to gain access to them. One of the hosts that is most popular in video hosting is YouTube, and it has helped many producers to host the videos and films they make safely.
Producers and directors use numerous tech terms and phrases, and you as an actor should know them to be able to follow along. It is not only the complex technicalities about making, storing and hosting of films and videos that you need to understand as an actor but other tech terms used on set as well. For instance, when a producer tells you to cheat on camera, big eyes, room tone or camera left-right among other terms, you should know what to do and do it perfectly.