Movement – The parts of a camera or projector that move the film intermittently: the pulldown claw, the rollers before and after the loops, and the gears connecting these parts form the movement. If there is a registration pin, this is also part of the movement. Sometimes the shutter can also be considered part of the movement.
Moviola – An Upright Moviola. Moviola is the company that makes this machine. They also make flatbeds, but when someone says “Moviola” the generally mean an upright. This is a film viewer, often used on an editing bench.
Negative – The original film that is used in the camera, from which a positive print is made for editing. The negative is assembled to match the edited workprint, and an answer print, for projection of the completed film, is struck from the negative.
Negative Cutter – The person who cuts and assembles the original negative to match the edited workprint, which then goes to the lab for the answer print.
Negative Matcher – same as Negative Cutter.
Non-Reflex – A camera that does not have a “through the lens” view-finding system, but gives you an image in the viewfinder through a separate lens. Older Bolexes and Bell & Howell cameras are non-reflex.
Normal Lens – In 16mm this is the 25mm lens. In 35mm it is the 50mm lens. It is the point between the widening of the image by the wide angle lens and the magnifiying of the image by the telephoto lens.
Nose Grease – Just what it sounds like. Used in the old trick among camerapersons to lubricate the pressure plate by wiping it along the side of the nose. Nose grease has the scientific name of squalene which is also found in shark’s liver oil.
O.C.N. – O.C.N. stands for Original Color Negative. It is simply your developed negative.
One Light – The alternative to a Timed Print, a one light is a print that has not been corrected shot by shot, but shows what all the shots look like with the same printing lights in contrast to each other. Sometimes this can be helpful to know the range of fluctuation in exposure and color. (But it is curiously common for a lab to do some timing, even on a one light print, at the change of locations, at the change of rolls, or if one shot is so drastically off from the rest and it would be practically unseeable otherwise.)
Optical Printing – Basically, rephotographying film frame by frame. this is a way to make a copy of a film with many more possibilities than contact printing, but, at least with 16mm, resulting in a little added contrast and a little loss of clarity.
Optical Sound – Optical Sound is the system used by a projector to play back sound from a film print. The sound is exposed onto the film as a clear modulating line against black. It corresponds to the moduations of the sound. The projector reads the track by passing it between the exciter lamp a light-sensitive photo-electric cell which generates a voltage that is amplified and fed into a speaker.
Optical Track – An intermediate step from going from your mix master to your final print is to have an optical track struck. An optical track is photographed onto a blank piece of special high contract stock by the facility where the mix is done, or by the lab. The optical track is a separate roll of film from the original negative and is combined with picture when a print is struck. (The track itself still remains a separate element from the A&B Rolls, it is printed in a separate pass through the contract printer.)