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Show dictionary

Broadcast and streaming terms

The vocabulary that arrives with cameras and leaves on the uplink. IFB, mix-minus, and the press mult have full entries; these are the rest of the words the truck says over comms.

Clean feed

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A program feed without graphics, lower thirds, or bugs: the pictures only. International partners and archives take clean feeds so they can dress the program their own way; the dressed version is the dirty feed.

Program feed

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The switched final output of the show: what the audience, stream, or network receives. Every other feed (ISO cameras, clean, mix-minus returns) is defined by how it differs from program.

ISO (isolated recording)

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An ISO is a continuous recording of a single camera or source, independent of the switched program. ISOs are the safety net of live production: the edit can rebuild any moment from them.

REMI

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REMI (remote integration, "at-home" production) sends camera feeds from the venue to a control room elsewhere, where the show is switched and mixed. It trades trucks and travel for connectivity and latency management.

Backhaul

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Backhaul is the transport of program or camera feeds from the event site to the broadcaster or control room: fiber, satellite, bonded cellular, or managed internet circuits. The advance decides which, with a backup.

Slate

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A slate is the identification frame or announcement at the head of a feed or recording: show name, date, feed type, audio channel assignments. Thirty seconds of slate saves an hour of guessing in the edit.

Bars and tone

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Color bars with reference audio tone, sent ahead of program so downstream engineers can align video levels and audio reference. The tone level is stated against the alignment standards on the audio reference chart.

Pool feed

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A single shared feed provided to all media outlets when individual coverage is impractical: one camera position and one mult, distributed to everyone. Standard at courtrooms, government events, and space-limited pressers.

Press riser

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The elevated camera platform at the back or side of the house reserved for media cameras, positioned on the centerline sightline with power and the mult box within reach.

Standup

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A reporter’s on-camera piece delivered live or to tape at the event site, usually framed against the stage or floor. Standup positions want clean backgrounds, light, and a feed of program audio.

B-roll

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Supplementary footage (crowd shots, wide beauty shots, load-in timelapses) cut over interviews and voiceover. Events shoot B-roll deliberately because sponsors and comms teams always ask for it after the fact.

Lower third

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The graphic in the lower portion of the frame identifying a speaker or topic. Built as key-and-fill or rendered by the switcher or graphics system; the spelling of names on lower thirds is checked three times and still wrong once.

As-live

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Recorded as if live: shot in real time with the full live workflow but taped for later playout. As-live segments keep live discipline (no stopping) without the transmission risk.

Related resources

Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.