If you`re ever on a TV or movie set and overhear someone yell, ”Kill the baby,” before you send for the police, you might want to whip out a copy of the ”Filmmaker`s Dictionary.”
Every industry develops its own distinct lingo-the slang, jargon and special terms that act as a shortcut when professionals communicate. Film and TV are especially prone to puzzling terminology that bewilders the outsider.
To demythologize this jargon, Ralph S. Singleton, an Emmy award-winning producer of the ”Cagney & Lacey” TV series who also worked in the movie business for 16 years as a production manager and assistant director, has just published the ”Filmmaker`s Dictionary.” Singleton said he began collecting the more than 1,500 terms defined in his book five years ago. He asked people from all industry areas-accounting legal, post-production, etc.-to contribute everyday words and phrases.
”A lot of people in the business, unless they use the terms in their area, don`t know these terms either,” said Singleton. ”When I came out here from New York and heard people talk about a `murder your wife` brick, I didn`t know what they meant.” Turned out that this was a synthetic brick made of fiberglass, which could be painted any color. It was first used on the film
”How to Murder Your Wife” (1965), thus its name.
Film lingo mixes languages of different cultures. For instance, MOS, used for a shot made without accompanying synchronized sound, is an abbreviation of Mit Out Sound. Legend has it that a German director with an imperfect command of English instructed his crew to do the next shot ”mit out sound.”
”Filmmaker`s Dictionary” is available in bookstores. It`s published by Lone Eaglem a publishing company Singleton and his editor-wife, Joan, operate that specializes in professional film books.
Oh, and by the way, ”kill the baby” is simply a request for someone to turn off a small spotlight.
