Technology / Television (TV) Glossary

Impressions: Number of homes or individuals exposed to an advertisement or group of advertisements.

Improvisation: Technique of method acting style used mostly in rehearsal: the actor puts him/herself into the mind of the character, places the character into imagined situations and proceeds to invent dia . . . View Full Definition

Impulse Pay Per View (PPV): The ability to buy a particular program on a last-minute decision. Pushing the 'buy' button on the remote control instead of having to make a phone call.

Independent Station: Stations not affiliated with any network, usually refers to commercial stations only.

Indexical Sign (Index): In semiotics, a type of sign in which the signifier is physically caused by the signified. For example, where there is smoke, there is fire. Thus the signifier (smoke) is physically caused b . . . View Full Definition

Industry Standard: A term applied to a machine or format that is commonly used within a certain area of production.

Infomercial: A television commercial that is similar in appearance to a news program or talk show format, usually 30-minutes in length.

Interactive Mode: Type of television text in which the historical world is mixed with that of the video/film maker--according to Bill Nichols's approach to nonfiction television and film. This occurs in one o . . . View Full Definition

Interactive Television: An anticipated use of television with interactive content and enhancements, enabling the viewer to interact with the program. Interactive television, in theory, would enhance the entertainme . . . View Full Definition

Interconnect: Two or more cable systems distributing a commercial signal simultaneously, and offering a multiple system buy in which only one contract need be negotiated. Interconnects can be hard, where . . . View Full Definition

Interior Scenes: Scenes set inside, in particular on studio sets, though also including location interiors.

Interlace: The method of presenting a video display a half picture at a time, showing only every other line at a time. PAL and NTSC video standards for television employs an interlaced signal.

Interlaced Scan: The means by which traditional television picture tubes create images on screen. An interlaced-scanning tube sends information to each pixel in the even-numbered rows of pixels on a screen, . . . View Full Definition

Interlaced Scanning: In a television display, interlaced scanning refers to the process of re-assembling a picture from a series of electrical (video) signals. The 'standard' NTSC system uses 525 scanning lines . . . View Full Definition

Interlaced Video: TV frames consist of two fields of alternating lines that are scanned onto the picture display unit (e.g., picture tube) in rapid sequence to produce an interlaced video image.

Intertextuality: The intertextual, self-reflexive quality--as when one television text (e.g., a commercial) refers to another (e.g., a program or commercial) or to other types of media texts.

Jump Cut: An editing technique wherein one shot does not match the preceding shot, resulting in a disruptive gap in space and/or time.

Kbps: Kbps stands for kilobits per second and refers to the speed of a signal transmission.

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37