P
 

Packaging

A combination of several creative elements such as a script, actor/s, and director which is used to attract interest in a production for the purposes of obtaining financing or distribution.

Page count:

Total number of pages in a book including blanks.

PAL

Programmable array logic. An IC containing a large number of logic gates whose interconnections are programmable for specific applications.

PAL (phase alternate line)

The name of the color television system in which the E'v component of burst is inverted in phase from one line to the next in order to minimize hue errors that may occur in color transmission. PAL-B (also called PAL-I) is a European color TV system featuring 625 lines per frame, 50 fields per second, and a 4.43361875 MHz subcarrier. It is used mainly in Europe, China, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and parts of Africa. PAL-M is a Brazilian color TV system with phase alternation by line, but using 525 lines per frame, 60 fields per second, and a 3.57671149 MHz subcarrier.

PAL (Phase Alternating Line)

The European color television standard that specifies a 25Hz frame rate and 625 lines per frame.

Palette

palette -- In DVD-Video, a set of 16 colors available for use in subpictures. Can be defined for each program chain. Subpicture and subtitle images must be defined with only four colors, but these can be mapped to a palette color and contrast level (transparency) when the subpicture is displayed.

Pan

A horizontal movement of a camera on a fixed axis.

Pan and Scan

pan and scan -- A technique used to crop a widescreen film (with a 16:9 aspect ratio) to store and display it at standard 4:3 aspect ratio. Instead of just cutting off the two sides of the widescreen image, an operator pans a 4:3 window within the full widescreen frame in order to show the most important speaker or action. See also aspect ratio, letterbox.

Panels & Pages

panel refers to paper & folds; page refers to print. For example, a 1panel/2page insert is a 4.75" x 4.75" piece of paper printed on both sides. A 2panel/4page insert is 9.5" x 4.75", printed on both sides and folded once.

PANS

Pretty amazing new services. Usually used jokingly for fancy telephony services.

Pantone colour

In order to ensure you get the colour you require in your printed material, you need to convey to the printer what the colour is. However, it's no good telling him 'dark green' or 'sky blue' because his interpretation of your descriptions will almost certainly be different to yours. The Pantone reference system identifies colour with a unique identification that can be interpreted in exactly the same way by everyone. There are other colour systems, and they all have their particular reasons why they are best, but Pantone is the most widely used and the chances are that if you specify a colour to a printer as Pantone colour then you will get what you want. Most Pantone reference colours cannot be reproduced from the four colour process, even though applications allow you to attempt to do so. Telling a printer to match a Pantone colour from four colour will usually result in an exasperated groan!

Parallel data

Transmission of data bits in groups along a collection of wires (called a bus). Analogous to the rows of a marching band passing a review point. A typical parallel bus may accommodate transmission of one 8-, 16-, or 32-bit byte at a time.

Parallel video mixer

Video mixing architecture where two identical sets of multipliers are used to create a multilevel effect.

Parallel video processing

A mixing architecture where the outputs of several video multipliers are summed to create a composite effect.

Parallels

Temporary Scaffolding, used as a platform for the camera, lighting, or other rigging. (Grip/Lighting)

Parental Controls

parental controls -- The DVD Video mechanism that permits a parent to prohibit a DVD player from playing DVD discs with more mature material. This feature depends on DVD discs being properly marked with an appropriate ratings level and then using the Setup menu in the DVD player to restrict playback of movies above a specified level. See also content protection.

Parity

A method of verifying the accuracy of transmitted or recorded data. An extra bit appended to an array of data as an accuracy check during transmission. Parity may be even or add. For odd parity, if the number of 1's in the array is even, a 1 is added in the parity bit to make the total odd. For even parity, if the number of 1's in the array is odd, a 1 is added in the parity bit to make the total even. The receiving computer checks the parity bit and indicates a data error if the number of ones does not add up to the proper even or odd total.

Path

path -- A flow of playback through different elements of a DVD production. Also, the order in which buttons on a menu highlight as the viewer presses the up, down, left, and right buttons on the DVD Remote Control. See also link, navigation.

Path

In digital picture manipulators, the values of the field rate information produced by inbetweening two key frames. Visually, the path corresponds to the motion route that the image on the screen takes to move from one key frame to the next. May also include size changes, picture rotation, etc.

Pay or Play

A contract provision which commits the production company to compensate a cast or crew member for a project whether or not that project ever goes into production.

PCB

Printed circuit board. An insulating board onto which a circuit has been printed or etched.

PCM

PCM -- Acronym for Pulse Code Modulation. An uncompressed (lossless) digital audio format. The format used for CD-Audio and one of the required audio formats for DVD-Video Players. See also Dolby Digital, MPEG audio.

Peak

The point of highest amplitude of a waveform or voltage.

Peak-to-peak (P-P)

The amplitude (voltage) difference between the most positive and the most negative excursions (peaks) of an electrical signal.

Perfect bind:

A type of binding that glues the edge of sheets to a cover like a telephone book, Microsoft software manual, or Country Living Magazine.

Perfecting press:

A sheet fed printing press that prints both sides of a sheet in one pass.

Phantom Power

A method of remotely powering the preamplifier or impedance converter which is buitlt into many microphones by sending a voltage along the audio cable. (Audio)

Phase

The timing relationship between two signals. (Audio/Electronics)

Phase (chroma phase, hue, tint)--

The relative timing of a signal in relation to another signal. If the time for one cycle of a signal is represented as 360— along a time axis, the phase position for the second signal is called phase angle expressed in degrees. The subcarrier phase of TV colors can be adjusted, and this changes the hue of the colors themselves.

Phase Distortion

This is a shifting of output voltage relative to input by an amount which is disproportional to frequency. This will not detectable until it an amplifier. (Acoustics)

Phase inversion

The condition whereby the output of a circuit produces a wave of the same shape and frequency but 180 degrees out of phase with the input.

Phase lock

The phase of a signal follows exactly the phase of a reference signal.

Phase Locked Loop (PLL)

A circuit containing an oscillator whose output phase or frequency locks onto and tracks the phase or frequency of a reference input signal. To produce the locked condition, the circuit detects any phase difference between the two signals and generates a correction voltage that is applied to the oscillator to adjust its phase or frequency.

Phase shift

The displacement of a waveform in time. Some electrical components introduce phase shift into a signal. When various frequencies are displaced differently, distortion occurs. Electrical cancellation may occur when two equal signals are out of phase by 1~3()¡. However, this may also be used are a encoding method where the shift is removed on playback (similar to the method in which a Dolby Surround sound track is encoded and played back. (Post Production)

Phasing

Adjusting the delay of a video signal to match a reference video signal. This includes horizontal and subcarrier timing.

phthalocyanine

An organic dye used to form the data layer in some CD-Recordable discs. Mitsui Toatsu Corporation holds the patent on this dye, but has licensed its formula to some other manufacturers.

Pica:

Unit of measure in typesetting. One pica = 1/6 inch.

Picking:

Printers nightmare that occurs as the surface of a sheet lifts off during printing. Generally a paper manufactures quality control problem.

Pick-up Shot

Reshooting a portion of a scene, the rest of which was acceptably filmed in a previous take.

Pilot Tone

A sine wave signal, recorded by various field audio recorders at a known frequency, which is used to resolve the tape speed on playback to retain sync with film camera footage.

Pin

A component of a camera or printer mechanism which engages with a perforation hole to move and locate film for exposure.

Pin register:

A standard used to fit film to film and film to plates and plates to press to assure the proper registration of printer colors.

Pink noise

A sound signal that has an equal amount of energy per octave or fraction of an octave. (Sound)

Pitch

The distance between two successive perforations along a strip of film.(Film) The frequency of audible sound (Sound).

pits & lands

In a "pressed" or mass-replicated CD, the bumps and grooves that represent the binary data on a disc's substrate are pressed into it during manufacture. CD-R discs do not have true pits and lands, but the unmelted, clear areas and melted, opaque places in the dye layer fulfill the same function as pits and lands on a pressed disc.

Pixel

When a picture is scanned it is broken down into a grid of small squares called pixels. Each pixel is given a value by the scanning software which represents a level of grey or colour to correspond to the original image. When the file is opened on a computer or output, the value of each pixel is interpreted by the software so it displays or outputs with the correct colours. The size of the pixels is determined by the resolution; the higher the resolution the smaller the pixel size.

Pixel

The smallest distinguishable and resolvable area in a video image. A single point on the screen. In digital video, a single sample of the picture. Derived from the words picture element.

Plate

A background for any type of process shot. (Laboratory)

Plate gap:

Gripper space. The area where the grippers hold the sheet as it passes through the press.

Playback

A technique of filming music action first, the playing the music through loudspeakers while performers dance, sing, etc.

Playlist

playlist -- Typically, a list of songs to be played in a specified order. Used to organize collections to download to a portable audio player or burn to a CD.

PMS:

The abbreviated name of the Pantone Color Matching System.

PMT:

 Abbreviated name for photomechanical transfer. Often used to make position prints.

Point:

For paper, a unit of thickness equaling 1/1000 inch. for typesetting, a unit of height equaling 1/72 inch.

Positive Scratch

The black image on a print of a scratch on the positive from which the print was made. (Film Editing)

Post production

The editing process after the video footage has been shot.

Post-Production

The period in a project's development that takes place after the picture is delivered, or "after the production." This term might also be applied to video/film editing or refer to audio post-production.

PostScript

The standard page description language developed by Adobe that is used to describe a page containing text and graphics. The PostScript information is processed by a RIP and sent to an output device to to be imaged to paper, film or plate.

PostScript:

The computer language most recognized by printing devices.

Potentiometer (pot)

A resistor that has a variable contact so that a portion of the potential applied between its ends may be selected.

POTS

Plain old telephony service. Typically analog basic phone services; as opposed to ISDN or intelligent network services.

Practical

Any light that appears in the scene. (Lighting)

Preamplifier

An electronic device that boosts extremely weak signal voltages, such as those from microphones or mag heads, to a level that is usable by power amplifiers. (Electronics)

Preamplifier

An amplifier that raises the gain of a low-level signal so that it may be further processed without appreciable degradation in the signal-to-noise ratio.

Pre-Blacked

A video tape which has already had a control track, usually with SMPTE encoded time code, but without any picture or sound. This is done to facilitate the video editing or assembly process.

Premaster

premaster -- The process of preparing the disc image format ready to record to a DVD disc or to transfer to a replication facility for manufacturing. See also format, layout.

Pre-mastering

the process of compiling all audio & data in preparation for making a glassmaster (for molded CD replication), or a master disc (for CD-R and cassette short run duplication.)

Preroll

A specific amount of time allowed for tape machines to run prior to an edit in order to get them up to speed and synchronized for the edit. In preparation for the edit, tapes are cued to a point ahead of the edit point to provide a proper preroll. The amount of preroll required varies with each type of VTR.

Prescoring

Recording of music or other sound prior to the shooting of the picture which is to accompany it. The most common usage is in animated film. (Sound)

Presentation switcher (master control switch)

Another term for "master control switcher" used in Europe and some other countries outside the US. There are minor differences applicable to the specific area of use.

Preset

To select a video source in preparation for taking it to air.

Preset bus

In video and audio switchers, a row of crosspoint pushbuttons used to select the video or audio input that will be placed on-air during the next background transition. Also called preset background bus.

Press number:

A method of numbering manufacturing business forms or tickets.

Pressure-sensitive paper:

Paper material with self sticking adhesive covered by a backing sheet.

Principal Photography

The main photography of a film and the time period during which it takes place. (Production)

Printing Sync

The relation between the picture and sound components in which they are printed to give the necessary displacement for projection as a composite print. (Laboratory)

Prism Shutter

A device used on many film viewers, editing machines, and some high-speed cameras, consisting of a rotating prism of four or more sides through which the viewer light passes as film is pulled continuously through it. (Film Editing)

Process blue:

The blue or cyan color in process printing.

Process colors:

Cyan (blue), magenta (process red), yellow (process yellow), black (process black).

Process Shot

A shot that will be composited from two other shots. The background part of this process is called a 'plate'. (Laboratory)

Production Dupe

A duplicate negative prepared in the final form for release printing. (Laboratory)

Production Sound

Recording and/or mixing sound on location during the film or video shoot. Typically this has been recorded to an analog Nagra reel-to-reel machine, though DAT recorders and other digital formats are now making significant inroads.

Program

program (PG) -- The DVD Video data element within a program chain that typically contains a sequential piece of material such as a video chapter. See also cell.

Program Chain

program chain (PGC) -- The DVD Video data element within a title that is the basic unit of playback used for both playback and navigation. A PGC can define a list of materials to be played in a specified order to present alternate versions of the same program material. The basic navigation of a DVD consists of playing each program chain (that is, a video clip), and then specifying pre- and post-commands to control the navigation between PGCs.

Projection Leader

A short length of film having standard markings on it, used to enable projectionists to make instant changeovers from one projector to another. (Film Editing)

Projection-Contrast Original

An original reversal film which is designed to have normal contrast when projected. (Film Editing)

PROM

Programmable read only memory. A ROM that can be prograrmmed by the equipment manufacturer (rather than the PROM manufacturer).

Pulse distribution amplifier (DA)

A device used to replicate an input timing signal, typically providing 6 outputs, each of which is identical to the input signal. May also perform cable equalization or pulse regeneration.

Pulse level

The voltage amplitude of a pulse.

Punch

A device for punching a hole in film leader to locate a starting point for editorial or printing synchronization. (Film Editing). Also refers to specular light. (Lighting)

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