Watt:
Unit of power; equivalent to one joule per second. 1 watt (W) = 1 volt (V) x 1 amp (A)
Wattage:
Amount of electrical power, in watts.
Waveform:
The shape (form) of a wave, or a representation of this form.
Waveform monitor:
An oscilloscope specifically designed to display the waveforms of video signals. Used to monitor signal strength, sync timing, etc.
See also: vectorscope
Wavelength:
The distance between any point on a wave and the equivalent point on the next phase.
White balance:
A camera function which gives a reference to "true white", in order for the camera to interpret all colours correctly.
More info: Video camera white balance
White noise:
Random noise that contains an equal amount of energy in all frequency bands.
More info: White noise, Noise colors
Whizz-pan:
A very fast camera pan, usually such that individual frames are severely blurred.
Wide screen:
Generally refers to any video aspect ratio greater than 4:3.
More info: Aspect ratio, Why go widescreen?
Wideshot (WS):
A framing term, meaning a camera shot which shows the whole of the subject.
More info: Wide shot, camera shot types
Wild sound:
Another name for ambient audio, i.e. the background sound of a film scene.
More info: Wild Sound, Ambient Audio
Wipe:
A video transition in which parts of one shot are successively replaced by equivalent parts of the next shot.
More info: Video wipes
Wow:
Wavering of audio reproduction due to speed fluctuations.
Wrap:
The end of shooting. This could refer to a single day's shoot or to the entire production phase.
(WS):
See Wide-shot.