FREEZE-FRAME

noun and verb Also written freeze frame (Lifestyle and Leisure) (Science and Technology) noun: A still picture forming part of a motion sequence; a facility on video recorders allowing one to stop the action and view the picture currently on the screen as a still. intransitive or transitive verb: To use the freeze-frame facility; to pause (action or a picture) in this way. Etymology: Formed by compounding; freeze-frame is effectively a contraction of the technical phrase freeze the frame as used in cinematography. History and Usage: Freeze-frame was first used as a noun in cinematography in the early sixties; at that time, before the advent of home videos, the effect was achieved by printing the same frame repeatedly rather than actually stopping on a particular frame, and was also known simply as a freeze. The word freeze-frame became popularized in the early eighties by the appearance on the general market of video recorders which had the facility; most manufacturers chose to label the control freeze-frame, and so it was a natural step to the development of a verb in this form to replace the more cumbersome phrase freeze the frame. You can freeze-frame sequences for close analysis. Listener 12 May 1983, p. 2 Don't use 'freeze frame'...for longer than necessary--it increases tape and head wear. Which? June 1984, p. 250