on-camera

[on-kam-er-uh, -kam-ruh, awn-]

adjective

1. within the range of a motion-picture or television camera; while being filmed or televised.

   on-camera blunders; The assassination happened on-camera.

Word History and Origins

Origin of on-camera¹

First recorded in 1960–65

Idioms and Phrases

Being filmed, as in When the talk-show host began, I wasn't sure if we were on camera. This usage dates from the first half of the 1900s, soon after the birth of motion-picture and television filming. The same is true of the antonym off camera, meaning “outside the view of a movie or TV camera,” as in Go ahead and scratch—we're off camera now.