Glossary
Video editing glossary
400 terms from action cameras, drones and video editing, explained in plain English - from stabilization and codecs to drone shots and AI editing.
63 of 400 terms match in Editing & storytelling · Show all terms
A
B
- Editing & storytelling B-roll Supporting shots around the main action, such as landscapes, gear, faces and travel moments, used to give a video context, a sense of place and pacing.
- Editing & storytelling Beat sync Timing video cuts, transitions and effects to the rhythm of the music, so shot changes land on beats and the edit feels driven by the soundtrack.
C
- Editing & storytelling Clip A single piece of video, from one press of record to the stop, or a section of it placed on an editing timeline. Edits are built from many clips.
- Editing & storytelling Color correction The technical first pass on color: fixing exposure, white balance and contrast so clips look natural and match each other before any creative look is added.
- Editing & storytelling Color grading The creative stage of color work that gives footage a deliberate look or mood - warm, cool, punchy or film-like - after it has been technically corrected.
- Editing & storytelling Color matching Adjusting clips so their color, brightness and contrast look consistent, especially when footage comes from different cameras, settings or times of day.
- Editing & storytelling Contrast The difference between dark and bright parts of an image. Higher contrast looks punchy and deep; lower contrast looks soft, flat or hazy.
- Editing & storytelling Cross dissolve A transition where one clip gradually fades out while the next fades in, overlapping for a moment. It suggests a gentle passage of time or a change of mood.
- Editing & storytelling Cut The point where one clip ends and the next begins with no transition effect. Most edits are made almost entirely of well-timed cuts.
- Editing & storytelling Cutaway A shot of something other than the main action, inserted briefly before cutting back. It adds context, hides jumps and gives the edit breathing room.
D
- Editing & storytelling Dead time The stretches of a recording where nothing interesting happens, such as lift rides, climbs, setup and waiting, which fill most raw action footage.
- Editing & storytelling Denoise Editing tools that reduce grain and color speckles in footage shot in low light, using spatial and temporal analysis. Strong settings soften real detail.
E
F
- Editing & storytelling Fade to black A transition where the picture gradually darkens to black, usually to end a video or a chapter. The reverse, fading in from black, often opens one.
- Editing & storytelling Film grain A fine, random texture added to digital video to imitate the look of film, soften an overly clean image or hide banding and compression artifacts.
- Editing & storytelling Final cut The finished version of an edit, after the structure is locked and cuts, color, sound and titles are complete, ready to export and share.
- Editing & storytelling Frame interpolation Creating new frames between existing ones to raise frame rate or slow motion down smoothly, using optical flow or AI models.
- Editing & storytelling Freeze frame Holding a single frame of video on screen for a moment, stopping the action at its peak for emphasis, a title or a dramatic ending.
H
- Editing & storytelling Highlight reel A short edited video that keeps only the best moments from hours of footage, cut tightly and usually to music, so a whole trip fits into one short video.
- Editing & storytelling Hook The opening moment of a video designed to grab attention immediately, so viewers keep watching instead of scrolling past. Crucial on social platforms.
I
- Editing & storytelling Insert shot A close shot of a detail within the main scene, such as hands on brakes or a boot clicking into a binding, inserted to show what matters.
- Editing & storytelling Instant replay Repeating a key moment right after it happens, often in slow motion or from another angle, so viewers can see a jump, trick or crash in detail.
J
- Editing & storytelling J-cut and L-cut Split edits where sound and picture change at different moments: in a J-cut the next clip's audio starts early, in an L-cut the previous audio carries on.
- Editing & storytelling Jump cut An edit between two shots of the same subject from nearly the same angle, so time visibly skips forward. Used to compress long takes or add energy.
K
- Editing & storytelling Ken Burns effect Slowly panning across and zooming into a still image or static shot to add motion, named after the documentary filmmaker who made it famous.
- Editing & storytelling Keyframe animation Setting values for position, scale, opacity, speed or effects at specific points on the timeline, so the editor animates smoothly between them.
L
- Editing & storytelling Letterbox Black bars added above and below a video to give it a wider, cinematic aspect ratio, or to fit wide footage inside a taller frame.
- Editing & storytelling Lower third A text graphic in the lower part of the frame that names a person, place or detail, such as a rider name and trick, without covering the action.
- Editing & storytelling LUT A lookup table: a file that maps every input color to a new output color, used to convert log footage to normal contrast or to apply a ready-made look.
M
- Editing & storytelling Markers Flags placed on a timeline or clip to mark important moments, such as music beats, the best part of a run or notes for later edits.
- Editing & storytelling Match cut A cut that links two different shots through a shared shape, movement or composition, so the change of scene feels connected rather than abrupt.
- Editing & storytelling Montage A sequence of short shots cut together, usually to music, to compress time, show progression or build energy. The backbone of most action edits.
- Editing & storytelling Multicam editing Editing footage from several cameras that recorded the same moment, synced together so you can switch between angles like a live director.
N
O
- Editing & storytelling Opening sequence The first section of a video that sets the mood, place and promise of what follows, often with establishing shots, music build and a title.
- Editing & storytelling Optical flow A technique that analyzes how pixels move between frames, used to create new in-between frames for smooth slow motion or to stabilize and stitch footage.
P
- Editing & storytelling Pacing How fast or slow an edit feels, controlled by shot length, cut frequency and how quickly new information appears. Good pacing keeps viewers watching.
- Editing & storytelling Proxy editing Editing with small, low-resolution copies of your footage instead of the heavy originals, then switching back to full quality for the final export.
- Editing & storytelling Punch-in Zooming into a clip in the edit, either as a sudden cut to a tighter frame or a smooth push, to emphasize a moment or create a second angle.
R
- Editing & storytelling Raw footage The original, unedited video files straight from the camera, before any trimming, cutting or color work. The source material every edit is built from.
- Editing & storytelling Reaction shot A shot of someone responding to the action, such as friends cheering, a rider laughing or a gasp after a crash, adding emotion and human connection.
- Editing & storytelling Rendering and export The final step of editing, where the software calculates every frame of the timeline and encodes it into one playable file, such as an H.264 MP4.
- Editing & storytelling Reverse playback Playing a clip backwards, so water flies back into the lake or a rider jumps up onto a ledge. Used for fun, surprise or rewind-style transitions.
- Editing & storytelling Rhythm editing Editing where the timing of cuts follows a rhythm, usually the music, so picture and sound feel locked together. It goes beyond hitting every beat.
- Editing & storytelling Rough cut An early version of an edit that puts the chosen clips in order to show the overall story and length, before fine-tuning cuts, color and sound.
- Editing & storytelling Royalty-free music Music licensed once or by subscription, with no per-play royalties owed for covered uses. It is still copyrighted, and the license sets the rules for use.
S
- Editing & storytelling Saturation How intense or vivid colors look, from gray at zero to strong, pure colors at high values. A key setting in camera profiles and color grading.
- Editing & storytelling Sharpening An editing adjustment that increases contrast along edges so details look crisper. A little helps soft footage; too much creates halos and grain.
- Editing & storytelling Skin tones The colors of human skin in footage. Viewers are very sensitive to them, so natural-looking skin is a key goal of color correction and grading.
- Editing & storytelling Speed ramping Smoothly changing playback speed within one clip - say, real time into slow motion at the peak of a jump and back - to put weight on a key moment.
- Editing & storytelling Story arc The shape of a story from beginning through rising tension to a peak and resolution. Even short action edits feel stronger with a clear arc.
- Editing & storytelling Subtitles and captions On-screen text of spoken words or sounds. Subtitles translate or transcribe dialogue; captions also describe sounds. Most social videos are watched muted.
- Editing & storytelling Supercut A fast-paced compilation of many short clips sharing a theme, such as every powder turn of a season or all the best waves of a trip.
T
- Editing & storytelling Timeline The main workspace of a video editor, where clips, audio and effects are arranged in order along a horizontal time axis to build the final video.
- Editing & storytelling Time remapping Changing the playback speed of a clip over time with keyframes, so it can slow down, speed up or freeze smoothly within one shot.
- Editing & storytelling Title card A screen of text in a video, such as the film name, a location or a chapter heading, shown full-frame or over footage to orient the viewer.
- Editing & storytelling Transition The way one clip changes into the next, from a plain cut or crossfade to whips, zooms and wipes. Good transitions support pacing rather than draw attention.
- Editing & storytelling Trim Shortening a clip by moving its start or end point, removing unwanted frames before or after the action while keeping the original file untouched.
V
- Editing & storytelling Vertical video (9:16) Video framed taller than it is wide, at a 9:16 aspect ratio, made for phone screens and short-form platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
- Editing & storytelling Vignette Darkening (or lightening) toward the edges of the frame. It happens naturally with some lenses and is added in editing to draw attention to the center.
W
- Editing & storytelling Warp stabilizer Editing software stabilization that analyzes a shaky clip and warps or crops frames to smooth the motion. It helps clips shot without stabilization.
- Editing & storytelling Whip pan transition A transition built from very fast camera pans that blur the image, hiding the cut between two shots and creating an energetic jump to a new scene.