Dailies are copies of the footage shot on the previous day and reviewed. Directors will review the dailies at the end of the day (or start of the next day) to see what they have so far. Dailies are vital for making sure continuity is correct and sound quality is good.

Dark horse is a term used in reference to little-known movie that becomes a massive hit either financially or on the awards circuit. "Moonlight" was the dark horse winner for the Best Picture Oscar over "La La Land."

Day-and-date is a film release where it is available to view in multiple platforms (ie. theaters and streaming platforms) on the same day.

A day-for-night show is a cinematographic technique for using shots filmed during the day to appear as moonlit night shots on the screen by using different lenses, filters, special lighting and underexposure. Day-for-night shots were very common during the 1950s-60s, but rarely used in present-day films.

A day player is an actor who perform for a single day as opposed to a longer-term contract.

Deadpan is a specific type of comedic device in which the performer assumes an expressionless (deadpan) quality to their face demonstrating absolutely no emotion or feeling. Leslie Neilsen and Buster Keaton had famous deadpan deliveries.

Debt is funding provided to the production of the film that must be paid back with interest at a stipulated maturity date before any other financiers are paid back

Decoupage is a French term referring to the design of a film, meaning the arrangement of its shots.

A deep focus shot is a style or technique of cinematography and staging with great depth of field, preferred by realists, that uses lighting, relatively wide-angle lenses and small lens apertures to simultaneously render in sharp focus both close and distant planes (including the three levels of foreground, middle-ground, and extreme background objects) in the same shot. A deep focus shot is in contrast to "shallow focus" in which only one plane is in sharp focus.

Deferments are amounts paid to above-the-line talent and other production personnel in exchange for their services that the individuals contractually agree to postpone receiving until the film begins generating gross receipts.

Deleted scene refers to a scene edited out of a film's final cut, for several possible reasons: the scene was poorly done, the scene was unnecessary, the film's running time needed truncation, the film was avoiding an R or NC-17 rating, the film's studio disapproved of it, etc. Deleted scenes are now commonly included on DVDs, either re-edited into a director's cut or as a separate feature.

The denouement is the point in a film that immediately follows the climax when everything in the plot has been resolved. The denouement is typically the final scene in a movie. Also known as a "tag." See "resolution."

Depth of field is a shot’s focus in relation to the foreground, middle-ground and background. Shallow depth of field might keep only one of those planes in focus, while a deep depth of field would keep all of them in focus.

Related to "depth of field,” depth of focus refers to an adjustment made technically to ensure that a camera shot retains its deep focus throughout all the various planes (fore, middle, and back).

Literally, deus ex machina is the resolution of the plot by the device of a god ("deus") arriving onstage by means of a piece of equipment ("machina") and solving all the characters' problems. The resolution of a plot by what is basically a force from God. It usually refers to a clumsy, contrived, or illogical intervention that alleviates the tension through something other than a character’s actions. The bacteria in War of the Worlds could be considered a deus ex machina, one of many cliches to avoid.

Dialogue is any spoken lines in a film by an actor/actress usually based upon a script. Dialogue may be considered overlapping if two or more characters speak simultaneously. In filmmaking, recording dialogue to match lip movements on previously-recorded film is called "dubbing" or "looping."

Diegetic, or diegesis, simply means realistic or logically existing, such as the music that plays on a character's radio in a scene. More generally, diabetic refers to the narrative elements of a film (such as spoken dialogue, other sounds, action) that appear in, are shown, or naturally originate within the content of the film frame. The opposite is "non-diegetic" elements, such as sounds (e.g., background music, the musical score, a voice-over, or other sounds) without an origin within the film frame itself. In an objective shot, the most common camera shot, it simply presents what is before the camera in the diegesis of the narrative.

Diffusion is a reduction or softening of the harshness or intensity of light achieved by using a diffuser or translucent sheet (lace or silk) in front of the light to cut down shadows. Diffusion materials include screen, glass, filters, gauze, wire mesh, or smoke. Also see "soft-focus."

Digital production refers to filming on digital video using high-resolution digital cameras, and afterward, post-production entirely using video editing methods. Digital production completely eliminates traditional 35mm film.

Direct sound involves recording sound simultaneously with the recording of the image.

Directing the eye is a cinematographic term for using light and dark lighting and frame composition to emphasize what is important within the frame.

The director is the artist responsible for total artistic control during all phases of a movie’s production. The director makes day-to-day decisions about acting, lighting, sound, casting, and editing. More than anyone else, the director is the single person most responsible for ensuring a film comes to fruition.

A director’s cut is the rough cut (first completely edited version) of a film without studio interference as the director would like it to be viewed before the final cut (the last version of the film that is released) is made by the studio. Arguably, the most famous director’s cut is that of "Blade Runner," which audiences and critics alike seemed to agree was superior to the theatrical version.

The discovery shot happens when the moving or panning camera in a film scene unexpectedly comes upon or 'discovers' an object or person previously undisclosed to the viewer.

Disney-fication, or “Disney-fied,” refers to the making of an adapted, sanitized, "family-friendly" version of a book or play by removing objectionable elements (such as crude language, sexuality, or violence) and modifying plot elements to make the tale more acceptable, entertaining, predictable, and popular for mass consumption by audiences, as first exercised by Disney Studios in the 50s. Now, Disney-fication is used as a derogatory term for how popular culture has been homogenized and cultural diversity has been minimized. See also "bowdlerize(d)."

Dissolves are a transitional edit between two scenes, shots, or sequences in which the image of one shot is slowly replaced, blended, or superimposed with a different image. A dissolve, or lap dissolve, is usually done to suggest a passage of time. "Lap dissolve" is shorthand for "over'lap dissolve." Also known as a "soft transition" or "dissolve to." In contrast to "cross-fade."

A distribution fee is contractually charged by a distributor to the gross receipts it collects from the commercial exploitation of a film.

The distributor is the entity that buys the rights from the producer or sales agent to show a film in specific territories.

DIT, short for digital imaging technician, is the individual who manages and troubleshoots all aspects of the digital workflow on set. The DIT reports to the DP and ensure that the footage meets the production’s aesthetic needs.

A documentary is a non-fiction (factual), narrative film with real people (not performers or actors). Typically a documentary that is low-budget, journalistic record of an event, person, or place. A documentary filmmaker should be an unobtrusive observer, like a fly-on-the-wall, capturing reality as it happens. Also known as a "doc," "docu," "docudrama," or "direct cinema." In contrast with "cinema verite" and "mockumentary."

Dogme 95 is a collective of film directors founded in Denmark in 1995 led by Lars von Trier, with a distinctive democratizing philosophy and set of rules (termed "the vow of chastity") that rejected special effects and contrived lighting/staging and camera work, and espoused returning to more "truthful" and honest, "non-Hollywood" forms of cinema. The ten rules included shooting on location, use of hand-held cameras, natural lighting only, no props, use of digital-video (DV), lack of credits for the director, etc.

Dolby stereo is a stereo-sound process for motion pictures created by Dolby Laboratories, Inc., used to improve sound quality; 35mm prints have two optical soundtracks (Dolby can decode and playback on four channels), while 70mm prints have six magnetic tracks for multi-channel playback. By the 1990s, Dolby Stereo was superseded by advanced digitally-recorded sound.

A dolly shot refers to a moving shot in which the perspective of the subject and background is changed. The dolly shot is taken from a camera that is mounted on a simple tripod, or on a hydraulically-powered wheeled camera platform (sometimes referred to as a truck or dolly), pushed on rails (special tracks or dolly tracks), and moved smoothly and noiselessly during filming while the camera is running. The dolly carries the camera equipment and often some of the camera crew and occasionally the director. A pull-back shot (or dolly out) is the moving back ("tracking back") of the camera from a scene to reveal a character or object that was previously out of the frame. "Dolly" in is when the camera moves closer ("tracking in") towards the subject, and dollying along with (or "tracking within") refers to the camera moving beside the subject. Also known as tracking shot, trucking shot, follow shot, or traveling shot. In contrast to "zoom shots."

Domestic sales is the act of selling a film to distributors in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Doppelgänger is a German word literally meaning "doublewalker." A reference to the fact that a shadow-self, duplicate, counterpart, or double (spiritual, ghostly, or real) accompanies every individual.

Double refers to the person who temporarily takes the leading player's place for a dangerous or difficult stunt or to photographically stand-in for the actor (when the latter is not available or when the actor wants a body double for a nude scene, etc.).

Double exposure means to expose a single frame twice so that elements of both images are visible in the finished product; produces an effect similar to superimposition and is often used to produce "ghostly" effects.

A double take is a comedic convention that refers to how an actor first looks at an object (subject, event, scene, etc.), then looks away, and then snaps his head back to the situation for a second look with surprise, disgust, sexual longing, etc. A variation on double take is a "spit-take" (the double-take causes the character to spit out whatever they are drinking).

A drive-in is an outdoor movie theatre in which the patrons viewed a film from their automobile. Films projected were often B-films or low-budget films; reached their peak in terms of popularity and numbers in the 1970s. Also called a "passion pit" or "ozoner." In contrast with a "hardtop" (or indoor movie theatre).

Dub, or dubbing, is the process of inserting a new soundtrack into a movie or adding a new soundtrack of music, sound effects, or dialogue following production. A dub will match the lip movements and actions of the filmed shots to make it seem natural. This is in contrast to "direct sound" where sound is recorded on the scene and synched with the shot.

Dunning is the process or technique of combining shots filmed in a studio with background footage shot elsewhere.

A dutch angle, also called a dutch tilt or canted angle, is a shot made with the camera leaning to one side and filming at a diagonal angle (the horizon is not parallel with the bottom of the frame). See also "camera angle."

Dynamic frame is a photographic technique used to mask the projected image size and shape to any ratio that seems appropriate for the scene (e.g., the image narrows as an actor passes through a narrow passageway and then widens as he emerges).

Dystopia is an imaginary, wretched, dehumanized, dismal, fearful, bad, oppressive place or landscape, often initiated by a major world crisis (post-war destruction) coupled with an oppressive government, crime, abnormal behavior, etc. Dystopia is the opposite of "utopia" (a state of ideal perfection). See also "nihilism."

Stage 32 Glossary

dailies

dark horse

day-and-date

day-for-night shot

day player

deadpan

debt

decoupage

deep focus shot

deferments

deleted scene

denouement

depth of field

depth of focus

deus ex machina

dialogue

diegetic (diegesis)

diffusion

digital production

direct sound

directing the eye

director (directing)

director's cut

discovery shot

Disney-fication (Disney-fied)

dissolve (lap dissolve)

distribution fee

distributor

DIT (digital imaging technician)

documentary

Dogme 95

Dolby stereo

dolly (shot)

domestic sales

doppelganger

double

double exposure

double take

drive-in

dub (or dubbing)

dunning

dutch angle (dutch tilt; canted angle)

dynamic frame

dystopia