• BREAKING NEWS: News that is covered as it is happening, or soon after.

• BUILDUP:  A sequence of title frames, each one adding a new line of information.

• CHARACTER ARC: The growth, development, or simply change in a character during the course of a script.

• CONFLICT: The struggle between opposing sides that creates dramatic action.

• DRAMATIC ACTION: The essential storyline of a script; the plot.

• DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: The organization of a story to build interest and excitement.

• GENRE: A category of video, such as fiction, documentary, or training program.

• INFORMERCIAL: A program-length commercial designed to resemble a regular TV program.

• INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN: The craft of organizing an effective education or training script.

• LIBRARY FOOTAGE: Film or video collected, organized, and maintained to be rented for use in documentary programs. Also called stock footage.

• PICKUP: video and/ or audio material recorded later than the principal production, to add to or replace parts of material already recorded. Also, extra shots at the end of a shooting session.

• PRESENTER: An on-camera narrator who speaks directly to the viewer.

• RECONSTRUCTION: A re-enactment of past events that are recorded and used in a program. 

• ROSTRUM CAMERA: A camera rigged for moving around still images to record different details of them. (Now largely replaced by digital manipulation of scanned images.)

• SIGNPOST: In a training or documentary program, a reminder to viewers of what has been covered and what will come next.

• STAND UP: A report presented on camera, usually by a reporter.

• BUDGETING: Predicting the costs of every aspect of production, and allocating funds to cover it.

• CAST: Collective term that refers to all the on-camera performers in a production.

• CODEC: A particular computer protocol for encoding audio-visual data to record it and decoding it to display it.

• CREW: Production staff members who work behind the camera. In larger professional productions, the producer, director, and management staff are not considered "crew."

• DRESS: To add functional and decorative items to a set or location. Such items are called set dressing.

• PROPERTIES: All the items that appear in a program. Usually shortened to props.

• RELEASES: Legal documents granting permission to include people, places, objects, and music in a program.

• TALENT: Every production member who performs for the camera.

• TRANSCODING: The process of translating material from one codec into another.

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