Shot Types:
Extreme Long Shot (XLS)
- Traditionally used in exterior shooting
- Captures a large field of view
- Showing a large amount of environment within film space
- Shows location; often used as an establishing shot
- Also shows the time; day, night, winter, summer, past and present.
Very Long Shot(VLS)
Similar ro XLS but can also be used in interior when enough width and height.
- Object of interest more visible
- Establishing shot; character in an environment
- Shows where, when and bit more of who
Long Shot(LS)
- Full body is in shot, can see bottom of feet and top of head in frame
- Interior or exterior shooting
- Object of interest takes attention away from the surroundings, but still visible
- Shows where, when and who - gender, clothing, movements and facial expressions visible.
Medium Long Shot (MLS)
- Framing subject from the knee
- Object of interest is prominent, details in clothing, gender, facial expressions, props and accessories
- Showing more of who than where and when. But is still visable.
Medium Shot (MS)
- Framing object from the waist
- Object of interest is most prominent and see more detail - eyes and the direction they look, clothing, hair, facial expressions, body movement
- Restricts freedom of gesture. Don't break frame - body part touch or go out of frame
Medium Close-Up (MCU)
- Referred to as ' two button' as it frames subject from chest
- Commonly used when character is speaking, listening, or performing an action that doesn't require much body or head movement
- Audience watching face, surroundings hold little importance.
Close Up (CU)
- Referred to as 'head shot', as the framing may cut off at top of hair and at bottom of chin
- More intimate full face shot than MCU- showing subtle emotions across eyes, mouth and facial muscles
- Audience totally focused on face
Big Close Up (BCU)
- Face or object of interest occupies whole of frame
- Such an intimate shot puts the audience directly in the face of the subject - every detail of the face is highly visible
- Can show how characters feels, but be subtle and restrict movement
Extreme Close Up (XCU)
- Purely a detail shot - framing just one aspect- such an eye, mouth, ear; hand
- No point of reference to surrounding environment, audience has no context in which to place this body part
- Good shot to draw attention and show detail
High Angle
Implies that the person is smaller, weaker; subserveint, diminutive, less powerful from position of camera. If the person was looking at the lens it would position the POV( point of view) as powerful over person in frame.
Neutral Angle/ Eye Level
Used to observe people, actions or events from the same height - positioning you within the film
Low Angle
Makes the person appear powerful, confident, more significant. If it used as POV, so if character in frame was looking at lens, it would appear the character of whos perspective we are looking from is weaker than person in frame
Shot -> Reverse -> Shot
Often referred to as over the shoulder, shot- reverse- shot is used to amerce the audience withing the conversation, cutting betwee the two angles to create a feeling you are part of the conversation
Two Shot
This shot captures two characters, usually in conversation and used with shot-reverse-shot to establish a relationship. This example is a medium shot, other shot types can be used for two shot to create different meanings
180 Degree Rule
This rule is a basic guideline for spatial relationship between two characters or subjects in frame. Simply, the two characters in a scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If you break the 180 degree rule it disrupts the continuity and disorients the audience
Rule of thirds
Its easy to remember and very simple to execute. Take your frame and divide it up into thirds both vertically and horizontally. This rule is used in photography and film to make sure your shot is balanced with the content in the foreground and background. If you imagine this grid when filming and place objects of interest across lines. e.g eye line of person
Camera Movements:
Track
Using a dolly the camera would track the movement of somebody or something of somebody or something by moving with them'it, it is tracking. Movement includes all directions.
Pan
This movement is static, the camera will be on a tripod and move left and right often to follow movement or show something significant
Tilt
This movement is used to show the whole person for the more close up shots, so for example, pan from the feet to the face. The camera is static on a tripod
