182 team names

Movie Trivia Team Names

Press Pick 5 new team names for crew jargon, plot devices and popcorn puns to copy or print.

All 182

Speaker Still on the WindowFrom 1941, drive-in speakers hung on the car window, and drivers often pulled away with one still attached.
Box Office FlopsHuge budget, empty seats. It can happen to anyone.
Art House RegularsThe small theater that shows subtitled and independent films, and the people who never miss one.
Rough CutThe first assembled version of a film, before the fine trimming. Like a first guess on the answer sheet.
Indie DarlingsA small independent film that the festival crowd adores.

Next step Roll a letter, name 12 things Warm up with a trivia question

All 182 team names

On set and crew 24

Apple Box Standers An apple box is a wooden crate the grips use to prop up anything, including an actor who needs a few more inches.
Back to One The call that sends everyone to their starting positions for another take. Useful after a rough round.
Best Boys In the credits, the best boy is the chief assistant to the gaffer or the key grip. A real job title, not a boast.
Boom in the Shot The boom operator holds a microphone on a pole just outside the frame. When it dips into view, it counts as a famous kind of mistake.
Check the Gate Called after a shot on film: an assistant checks the camera's gate for a sliver of debris, known as a hair, before the crew moves on.
Clapper Loaders The second assistant camera, who loads the film and claps the slate so picture and sound can be lined up later.
Continuity Errors The mug that refills itself between shots. A script supervisor takes notes on every take to stop that happening.
Cut to the Chase Film editing slang that became an everyday saying: skip ahead to the exciting part. For a team that answers fast.
Dolly Grips The dolly grip operates the dolly, the wheeled platform that carries the camera along its track.
First on the Call Sheet The call sheet is the daily schedule that tells cast and crew where and when to turn up. The assistant director oversees it.
Gaffer Tape Fixes Everything Cloth tape that tears by hand, has a matte finish so it does not shine under the lights, and peels off cleanly. Crews hold cables down with it.
The Gaffers A gaffer is the head electrician on a set, in charge of the lighting. The title has been used on film sets since the 1920s.
Get a Key Grip Get a grip, plus the key grip, who heads the department that moves and supports the camera.
Half Apple, Quarter Apple, Pancake The apple box sizes below a full one, each a fraction of it. A pancake is one inch tall.
Here for Craft Services Craft service is the snack table that stays open all day for the crew. Catering handles the full meals.
Hit Your Mark A mark is a piece of tape on the floor that shows an actor where to stop. Hit it and you are in focus and in the light.
Lights, Camera, Answers Lights, camera, action, with the last word swapped for what you came here to give.
Location Scouts The people who find the real street, diner or mountain where a scene will be filmed. Send yours to find a table near the host.
Magic Hour What cinematographers call the golden hour, just after sunrise or before sunset, when the light is redder and softer.
Quiet on the Set The call that goes out before the camera rolls. Also what happens at your table when the host asks about geography.
Second Unit A separate crew that films scenery, stunts and inserts while the main unit works with the lead actors.
Shooting Day for Night Night scenes filmed in daylight, underexposed and tinted blue. In France the trick is called the American night.
Tail Slate A clapperboard filmed as a take ends, not as it starts, is held upside down. A name for a team that finishes strong.
Take Forty-Seven Each attempt at a shot is a take, and its number goes on the slate. This team needed a few.

Plot and script 25

The Book Was Better Said in the lobby after every adaptation, by somebody who wants you to know they read it.
Called the Twist Early The person who whispers the ending forty minutes in. Every table has one, and at trivia they are useful.
The Cliffhangers The word was first recorded in 1936, for film serials that ended every episode in a desperate spot.
Deus Ex Machina Latin for god from the machine. In Greek theater a crane lowered an actor playing a god to fix the unfixable. A lucky last-round guess.
Exposition Dump When a character explains the whole backstory in one breath, usually starting with As you know.
Fade In, Fade Out The traditional first and last directions in a screenplay.
Heavy-Handed Foreshadowing A cough in the first act, a slow look at a loose railing. You know what is coming.
Interior, Quiz Night Every scene in a screenplay opens with a slug line: interior or exterior, the location, and the time of day.
It Was All a Dream The ending that undoes everything before it. Audiences rarely forgive it.
Loosely Based on a True Story The caption that lets a film change anything it likes. Also how this team treats the facts.
The MacGuffins A MacGuffin is the object everyone in the story is chasing. It drives the plot and hardly matters in itself.
Meet Cute Screenwriters' term for the scene where a future couple first meet, usually by accident. It has been in print since 1941.
One Page a Minute The screenplay rule of thumb: one page is roughly one minute of screen time. Scripts are typed in 12-point Courier to keep it so.
Plot Armor Fan slang for the invisible protection that keeps a main character safe because the story still needs them.
Plot Holes Gaps in a story's logic that you only notice on the drive home. Also the gaps in this team's knowledge.
Plot Twist: We Studied Nobody saw it coming, least of all the team that usually beats you.
Script Doctors Writers brought in, often without credit, to fix a screenplay that is not working. Offer the same service to your answer sheet.
Show, Don't Tell The first rule of screenwriting. At trivia, sadly, you have to tell.
Spoiler Alert The warning before somebody gives away the ending. Here the ending is that you win.
Third Act Problems Most screenplays run in three acts, and the last is the hardest to land. So is the final round.
Ticking Clock A deadline written into the story to keep the pressure on. Your host has one too.
To Be Continued The three words that send an audience home without an ending.
Training Montage Months of practice squeezed into two minutes of short clips and music. This team skipped it.
Untitled Quiz Project Films in development are often listed as an untitled project until somebody thinks of a name. Same problem here.
Villain Monologuers The villain explains the entire plan instead of getting on with it, which gives the hero time to escape.

Cast and acting 18

Blink-and-Miss-It Cameo A cameo is a brief appearance by a well-known face. The word comes from the small carved gemstone.
Breaking Character When an actor drops the role mid-scene, usually by laughing. It ends up in the blooper reel.
Cast of Thousands What posters promised for the old epics, when a crowd scene needed a real crowd. For the largest table in the room.
Character Actors Actors known for distinctive supporting parts, not leads. You know the face and not the name.
Chewing the Scenery Theater slang for overacting so hard there are tooth marks on the set.
The Comic Sidekicks Never the hero, always the one with the good line.
Dramatic Pause The silence before the line that matters. Also the silence before your captain admits nobody knows.
Ensemble Cast A film with no single lead, where the main parts share the screen about equally. How a good trivia team works.
Extras With No Lines Background actors fill the street or the restaurant and never speak. Here to make the room look full.
Miscast as Experts Wrong for the role and doing it anyway.
Scene Stealers A supporting player who takes over every scene they are in.
Screen Test A filmed audition, to see how an actor looks and sounds on camera.
The Stand-Ins A stand-in takes the actor's place while the crew sets the lights and the focus, and does not appear on camera.
Stunt Doubles The performers who take the falls on camera so the lead actor does not have to.
Supporting Roles Everyone at the table who is not the captain.
Table Read The first time the cast sits down together and reads the script aloud, start to finish.
That Guy From That Thing The character actor you recognize at once and cannot name. A whole trivia round in one phrase.
Typecast as the Smart Ones An actor who keeps getting the same kind of part is typecast. There are worse parts to be stuck with.

Camera and shots 25

24 Frames a Second The standard speed for sound film, settled between 1927 and 1930. Silent films were hand-cranked at anything from 16 to 24.
All in One Take A long take runs for minutes without a cut, so one mistake sends everybody back to the start.
B-Roll Extra footage cut in over the main shots: hands, streets, clouds. The team that fills the gaps.
Crossing the Line The 180-degree rule keeps the camera on one side of an imaginary line between two actors. Crossing it flips them on screen.
Cue Mark Spotters The dot that flashes in the upper right corner about 8 seconds before a reel ends tells the projectionist to get ready to change over.
Depth of Field How much of the picture is sharp from front to back. This team's is shallow but pretty.
Dolly Zoom The camera rolls one way while the lens zooms the other, so the subject stays the same size and the background seems to stretch.
Dutch Angle A shot with the camera tilted so the horizon slopes, used to make a scene feel uneasy. Tilt your head at the hard questions.
Establishing Shot The wide view at the start of a scene that tells you where you are: the skyline, the house, the school.
Extreme Close-Up A shot that fills the screen with one detail, such as an eye or a ticking watch.
Focus Pullers The first assistant camera, who keeps a moving actor sharp by adjusting the focus distance as they go.
Fourth Wall Breakers The fourth wall is the imaginary one between the actors and the audience. Looking into the camera and talking breaks it.
Freeze Frame One frame held still on screen, a favorite way to end a film.
Keeping It Reel The oldest pun in the projection booth, and still the easiest for a host to read out.
Lens Flare Streaks and circles of stray light when the lens points near a bright source. Once a flaw, now often added on purpose.
Long Shots A long shot shows the whole figure from far away. It is also what most of this team's answers are.
Low Angle Heroes A camera placed low and looking up makes a character seem powerful. Film your captain this way.
Over the Shoulder The standard shot for a conversation, filmed from behind one speaker. Not a way to read the next table's sheet.
POV Shot A point-of-view shot shows what a character sees, as if the camera were their eyes.
Rack Focus Shifting the focus from one subject to another during a shot, so your eye moves with it.
Reel Talk Real talk, spelled the way film used to arrive at a theater: on reels.
Shaky Cam Handheld camerawork that wobbles on purpose, to make a scene feel like news footage.
Slightly Out of Focus A fair description of this team by the last round.
Two-Shot A shot that frames two people. A name for a team of two.
Whip Pan A pan so fast the picture blurs into streaks, often used to jump between scenes.

Editing, sound and effects 29

Blooper Reel The collected mistakes: fluffed lines, giggles and doors that would not open.
Coconut Shell Hooves The classic Foley trick: coconut shells cut in half and clopped together sound like a horse.
Cornstarch Snow Foley artists squeeze cornstarch in a leather pouch to make the crunch of footsteps in snow.
Director's Cut The version of a film edited the way the director wanted, often released later and usually longer.
Dubbed in Later Dialogue re-recorded in a studio after the shoot and matched to the actor's lips.
Fix It in Post Post is post-production, everything after the shoot. The phrase is how a crew talks itself out of another take.
Foley Artists Foley is the craft of re-creating everyday sounds in a studio after filming: footsteps, doors, rustling coats.
Forced Perspective An optical illusion that makes something look larger, smaller, nearer or farther than it is, by where it stands relative to the camera.
Green Screen Scene Actors perform in front of a plain green backdrop and a computer swaps the green for anything. Green works because no skin tone is close to it.
Jump Cuts A cut that removes a piece from the middle of one continuous shot, so the action seems to skip ahead in time.
Left on the Cutting Room Floor Where unused footage went when film was cut by hand. Where this team's right answers go after a debate.
Matte Painters A matte painting is a painted landscape or set combined with live footage. They were traditionally painted on large sheets of glass.
Practical Effects Effects done for real in front of the camera, with models, makeup and rigs, not on a computer.
Rhubarb, Rhubarb What British actors mutter to make background crowd noise. American sound crews call the same murmur walla.
Roll Credits What you say when the last answer is in and there is nothing more to be done.
Room Tone The recorded silence of a location, laid under the dialogue so the edits never drop to dead quiet. Every room has its own.
Rotoscopers Rotoscoping is tracing over live footage frame by frame to get lifelike animated movement. The technique was invented in 1915.
Rough Cut The first assembled version of a film, before the fine trimming. Like a first guess on the answer sheet.
Slow Dissolve One picture melting gradually into the next, usually to show time passing.
Smash Cut An abrupt cut from one scene to a very different one, for a shock or a laugh.
Stay Through the Credits For the extra scene some films tuck in after the names have rolled. Also sound advice for the bonus round.
Stock Footage Film shot for something else and reused: a skyline, a rocket launch, a crowd. This team reuses old answers too.
Stop-Motion Thinkers Stop motion moves a puppet or model a tiny amount between photographs, so it seems to move on its own. Slow, careful work, like this team.
Subtitles On For the team that likes to read the dialogue too. It helps with the names.
Sugar Glass Windows The glass that shatters so safely on screen is often brittle, clear sugar, boiled to the hard crack stage like candy.
The Talkies What sound films were called when they arrived. The first feature sold as a talkie opened on October 6, 1927.
Title Cards Printed text cut into a silent film to give the dialogue or explain the action. The proper name is intertitles.
Walla Group The performers who record background crowd murmur. By one account the name comes from early radio, where people simply repeated the word walla.
Widescreen Thinkers A wide film on a narrower screen gets dark bands above and below, called letterboxing, so nothing is cropped.

At the movie theater 36

3D Glasses Over Regular Glasses Two pairs at once, neither sitting straight. A team of people who wear glasses will understand.
Aisle Seat Strategists Leg room, a clear path out, and nobody to climb over. The thinking person's seat.
Armrest Negotiators Two seats, one armrest, no treaty. The middle seat gets both, by ancient custom.
Art House Regulars The small theater that shows subtitled and independent films, and the people who never miss one.
B-Movie Buffs The B movie was the cheaper second half of a double feature, often 70 minutes or less.
Back Row Critics Far enough from the screen to whisper a review of every scene.
Box Office Flops Huge budget, empty seats. It can happen to anyone.
Coming Soon to a Table Near You The line that ends every trailer, with a change of venue.
Could Have Been Ninety Minutes The review that fits most films over two and a half hours.
Cult Classics Films that were ignored on release and found devoted fans later.
Double Feature Two films for one ticket. A name for a pair, or for a team that plans to win twice.
Drive-In Regulars The first patented drive-in opened on June 6, 1933, in New Jersey. Later ones sent the soundtrack to the car radio.
Extra Butter The only upgrade that matters at the counter.
Front Row Neck Craners The only seats left, a screen three stories tall, and a stiff neck by the end credits.
Intermission Snack Run Long films once stopped in the middle for a break. Also when this team compares notes.
Kernel Knowledge Kernels pop when the water inside turns to steam, and swell to 20 to 50 times their size. Say it aloud and it is Colonel Knowledge.
Limited Release A film that opens in only a few theaters. A name for a small team.
Matinee Pricing A matinee is a morning or afternoon showing, often at a lower price. The word is French, and in Old French it meant morning.
Missed the Trailers Arrived late on purpose and calls it a strategy.
Mixed Reviews Some critics loved it and some walked out. About right for this team's last outing.
No Concessions The concession stand sells the snacks. This team gives none.
Nominated, Never Won Always on the shortlist, never on the stage. There is dignity in it.
Opening Night Crowd In line early, in costume if allowed, and clapping when the lights go down.
Our Feature Presentation The card that comes up after the trailers, when the talking is supposed to stop.
Please Silence Your Phones The last message before the feature, and a fair rule for quiz night too.
Popcorn for Dinner Theaters have sold popcorn since the 1930s. Owners disliked it at first because they thought it distracted from the films.
The Projectionists The person in the booth who, in the days of film, swapped reels without you noticing, on the cue of a dot in the corner.
The Shushers Every showing needs one. Every trivia table has one too, usually during the music round.
Sleeper Hit A film that opens quietly, then becomes a surprise success by word of mouth. Watch this team in round four.
Sneak Preview A showing ahead of the official release, often unannounced.
Speaker Still on the Window From 1941, drive-in speakers hung on the car window, and drivers often pulled away with one still attached.
Sticky Floor Survivors Every old theater has one patch of floor that holds on to your shoe.
Straight to Streaming A film that skips theaters and turns up on your couch. Not always a bad sign.
Test Audience Studios show unfinished films to a preview crowd, collect questionnaires, and sometimes change the ending.
Ticket Stub Collectors A shoebox of paper stubs going back years, each one a film and a night out.
The Trailers Were Better Trailers got the name because they were first shown after the feature, trailing it. People left, so they moved to the front.

Genres and sequels 25

Animated Shorts A short cartoon shown before the feature. Also a fair name for a lively team in summer clothes.
Based on the Board Game Films have been adapted from novels, comics, toys and, yes, board games. Yours is next.
Coming-of-Age Story One summer changes everything. A good name for a team of students.
Film Noir-It-Alls Film noir is French for black film, a label first given to shadowy Hollywood pictures in 1946. Know-it-alls, in a hat.
The Gritty Reboot The same characters, but it rains all the time and nobody smiles.
In a World of Wrong Answers In a world: the two words that opened a generation of trailers, in the deepest voice available.
Indie Darlings A small independent film that the festival crowd adores.
Mismatched Buddy Comedy Two people with nothing in common are forced to work together. So, any trivia team.
Mockumentary Crew A mockumentary is fiction filmed as if it were a documentary. The word is a blend of mock and documentary.
Nobody Listens to the Scientist The first rule of the disaster movie. The second is that the dog survives.
Origin Story How the hero got started. Yours involved a free evening and somebody's cousin.
Rom-Com Airport Dash The romantic comedy ending where somebody sprints through a terminal to say what they should have said an hour ago.
Screwball Comedians Screwball comedy, a fast-talking style of the 1930s and 1940s, is named after a baseball pitch that breaks the wrong way.
The Sequel Nobody Asked For Back for another week whether the room wanted it or not.
Shot-for-Shot Remake A remake that copies the original one camera setup at a time. For the team that writes down what last week's winners wrote.
Slapstick Thinkers Slapstick is named after a stage prop: two thin wooden slats that make a loud slap without hurting anybody.
Space Opera Adventure among the stars on the grandest scale, with more feelings than physics.
Spaghetti Westerners The nickname for the westerns made mostly by Italian directors in the mid-1960s, many of them filmed in Almeria, Spain.
Spin-Off Material A side character popular enough to get a film of their own. Every team has one.
Spontaneous Musical Number In a musical, the whole street knows the choreography and nobody asks why.
Summer Blockbusters Blockbuster was first used of a film in 1943. The summer kind dates from the mid-1970s.
Summer Popcorn Flick A film that asks nothing of you but two hours and a large bucket.
The Tearjerkers Bring tissues. Mostly for the scores.
The Third One Is Never as Good The rule of trilogies. A team of three can argue about the exceptions.
Unnecessary Prequel The story of what happened before the story, which nobody needed explained.

How it works

These movie trivia team names come from how films get made, not from the films: crew titles, screenplay terms, camera shots, sound tricks and the popcorn counter. No title, character or studio is named. Press Pick 5 new team names for five of the 182; to keep any that gets a laugh, take the others away with × and press again.

Read the full guide

The lobby needs no film knowledge

The All team names menu under the button holds seven groups. At the movie theater is the largest: 36 names anybody who has bought a ticket will get, from Armrest Negotiators to Sticky Floor Survivors. The one few people guess is Editing, sound and effects, with 29, where a name often carries a fact. Sugar Glass Windows: the glass that shatters safely on screen is often brittle, clear sugar. Rhubarb, Rhubarb is what British actors mutter to make crowd noise.

The end credits are a list of jobs

Sit through the crawl and the odd titles start to make sense. The gaffer is the head lighting electrician. The key grip runs the crew that moves and supports the camera. Each has a chief assistant, credited as the best boy. Foley artists re-create footsteps and door slams in a studio, and two halves of a coconut shell stand in for a horse. All four are names in this deck.

Two-Shot and Double Feature are written for a pair, Limited Release suits a small table, and Cast of Thousands the biggest.
Kernel Knowledge is for the microphone: read aloud, it turns into Colonel Knowledge. Interior, Quiz Night is the opposite, a joke only the answer sheet can tell.
Choose Plot and script, press Add another until the list holds 10 and ask which name describes your last outing. Third Act Problems wins more often than it should.

Questions and answers

What is a MacGuffin?

The object everybody in the story is chasing. It drives the plot and hardly matters in itself. The MacGuffins is in Plot and script, next to Deus Ex Machina. That is Latin for god from the machine. A crane lowered an actor playing a god onto the Greek stage.

Why are previews called trailers when they come first?

Because they used to come last. Early previews ran after the feature, trailing it, and the name stuck. Audiences tended to leave once the film ended, so theaters moved them to the front. The Trailers Were Better is in At the movie theater.

Is this list only for a film quiz?

No. Plot Holes, Roll Credits and Mixed Reviews make sense at any general quiz. Check the Gate and Half Apple, Quarter Apple, Pancake are deeper crew jargon. They suit a film club, a film class or an awards-night party, where somebody will enjoy explaining them.