Video editing & creator glossary
Plain-English definitions for the terms editors, strategists, and YouTubers throw around. If you've ever felt like everyone was speaking a different language — this is the cheat sheet.
Editing
- B-roll
- Secondary footage cut over the main shot (the "A-roll"). Used to illustrate what's being said, hide cuts, or add visual variety. A 10-minute YouTube edit typically uses 50–150 B-roll inserts.
- A-roll
- The primary footage — usually the talking head or main subject. The structural backbone of the edit, before B-roll is layered in.
- Cold open
- The first 0–10 seconds of a video, before the title card or branded intro. The job of the cold open is to hook the viewer and prove the video is worth watching.
- L-cut
- An edit where the audio from the previous shot continues over the next visual cut. Makes transitions feel smoother and more conversational.
- J-cut
- The opposite of an L-cut — the audio of the next clip starts before the visual cut. Common in interview/dialogue editing.
- Jump cut
- A hard cut between two similar shots that creates a "jump" in the subject's position. Used to compress time, punch up pacing, or create comedic effect (very common in YouTube vlogs).
- Match cut
- An edit where two shots are visually or thematically linked, making the cut feel intentional. Famous example: the bone-to-spaceship cut in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- Pickup
- Re-recorded narration or footage shot after the main session, used to fix mistakes or fill gaps the editor flags during the cut.
- Rough cut / V1
- The first complete pass of the edit. Structure is locked but color, sound, and graphics are placeholder. The version sent for client review.
- Final cut / V-final
- The fully finished export — color graded, sound mixed, motion graphics complete, captions burned or attached. Ready to publish.
- Multi-cam editing
- Editing footage from multiple cameras simultaneously, switching between angles. Standard for podcasts and interviews. Tools like AutoPod automate the cuts based on who's talking.
Strategy & analytics
- Retention curve
- A graph in YouTube Studio showing what percentage of viewers are still watching at each second of your video. The single most important metric for YouTube growth — flat curves get pushed, dropping curves get buried.
- APV (Average Percentage Viewed)
- The average % of a video that viewers watch. 50%+ is great for long-form, 40%+ is solid. YouTube's algorithm heavily weights APV.
- AVD (Average View Duration)
- The average time (in seconds/minutes) viewers spend on your video. Less useful than APV because it scales with video length.
- CTR (Click-Through Rate)
- The percentage of viewers who click your thumbnail when YouTube shows it to them. 4–10% is normal. Above 10% is exceptional. Below 3% means the thumbnail or title is broken.
- Watch time
- Total minutes watched across all your videos. The currency YouTube cares about most. 4,000 hours in a year qualifies you for monetization.
- Impressions
- The number of times YouTube showed your thumbnail to a viewer. Combined with CTR, this is how YouTube decides whether to keep promoting your video.
- Suggested feed
- The "Up Next" videos shown next to or after the one a viewer is watching. Most successful YouTube videos get 50–80% of their views from suggested.
- End screen
- The last 5–20 seconds of a YouTube video where you can place clickable cards linking to other videos, playlists, or your channel. Boosts session time when used well.
- Hook
- The opening line, question, or visual that gets viewers past the 30-second cliff. The single highest-leverage thing in any video.
- Pattern interrupt
- A visual or audio change (cut, zoom, sound effect, on-screen text) used every 5–15 seconds to reset attention and prevent retention drop-off.
Audio
- LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale)
- The standard for measuring audio loudness across platforms. YouTube targets -14 LUFS, Spotify -14, broadcast TV -23. Mixing too loud just gets your video turned down by the platform.
- Sound design
- Adding non-music audio elements — whooshes, impacts, ambience, foley — to make the video feel produced. Roughly 50% of "this looks expensive" energy comes from sound design, not visuals.
- Foley
- Custom-recorded sound effects synced to on-screen action (footsteps, fabric movement, etc.). Borrowed from filmmaking; used sparingly in YouTube edits.
- Diegetic sound
- Sound that exists in the world of the video (the subject's voice, ambient room tone). Opposite of non-diegetic (music, narration, sound effects layered in post).
- Sidechain compression
- An audio effect where one track ducks volume when another plays. Used to lower background music when narration is speaking, automatically.
- Noise floor
- The constant low-level background hiss on a recording. Good editors clean it up with tools like iZotope RX or Adobe Speech Enhancement before mixing.
Color & visuals
- Color correction
- The first pass of color work — fixing white balance, exposure, and mismatches between cameras. Makes the footage technically correct.
- Color grading
- The creative pass after correction — applying a "look" (cinematic, warm, desaturated, etc.) that establishes mood. The second half of color work.
- LUT (Look-Up Table)
- A preset color transform applied to footage. Cinematic LUTs are a quick way to get a consistent look across an edit.
- Log footage
- Footage shot in a flat, low-contrast color profile (S-Log, V-Log, C-Log, etc.) to preserve maximum dynamic range for grading. Looks washed out before color work.
- Vignette
- A subtle darkening of the edges of the frame to draw the eye to the center. Can be done in-camera or in post.
- Lower third
- A graphic in the lower portion of the screen identifying a speaker or topic. Standard for podcasts, interviews, and educational content.
Design & packaging
- Thumbnail
- The static image that previews your video on YouTube, in suggested, on the homepage. Combined with the title, the highest-leverage piece of design on the platform.
- Packaging
- The combined work of title, thumbnail, and first frame — everything that decides whether viewers click. YouTube creators talk about "packaging" as a discipline distinct from editing.
- End screen template
- A reusable layout for the last segment of a video showing related videos, subscribe button, and CTA. Standard branding element.
- Channel art / banner
- The header image at the top of a YouTube channel page. Sized for desktop, tablet, and mobile views; design matters most on mobile.
- Brand kit
- The collection of visual assets defining a brand — logo, color palette, typography, motion principles, sound logo. Editors reference the brand kit on every project.
Business & brand deals
- CPM (Cost Per Mille)
- The amount advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions. Creator CPMs vary wildly by niche — finance/business creators often see $20+ CPMs, gaming creators $4–8.
- RPM (Revenue Per Mille)
- The amount a creator actually earns per 1,000 video views, after YouTube's cut. Always lower than CPM. The number that shows up in your YouTube Studio dashboard.
- Whitelisting
- A brand deal arrangement where the brand can run paid ads from your creator account. Effectively boosts a sponsored video into a paid ad. Doubles the value of many deals.
- Usage rights
- The terms defining where and how long a brand can use sponsored content. Six months of organic-only usage is standard; expanded usage costs more.
- Exclusivity
- A clause preventing you from working with competing brands for a specified period. Usually paid as a separate line item.
- Integration
- A brand mention woven into the body of a video (not a pre-roll or post-roll). The most common form of YouTube sponsorship.
- ROAS (Return On Ad Spend)
- Revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads. The metric that determines whether a video ad is "working" for an e-commerce brand.
Term we missed?
Email us at contact@markstudios.com with the term and we'll add a definition. The glossary grows from real client questions — no jargon for jargon's sake.
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