Camera Shots and Angles
Camera Shots and Angles
Camera Shots and Angles
TYPES OF SHOTS
Abbreviation/ meaning/ description/ effect:
ECU – extreme close up of eyes/face: aggression, discomfort
CU – close up of head/reaction: intimacy
CU head and shoulders – 2–3 people
MS – medium shot: to waist, 2–3 people
MLS – medium-long shot: full-body normal view
LS – long shot: room, normal view
ELS – extreme long shot: house, establishing the setting
ES – establishing shot: city, establishing the venue
CAMERA ANGLES
Low angle: camera looks up – subject looks large – creates an
impression of power
Normal or straight angle: camera looks at the subject from eye-level –
subject looks equal to viewer, who feels equal to, and may even identify
with, subject
High angle: camera looks down – subject appears small – creates an
impression of weakness
FILM TERMS
Frame: a single still picture or image
Shot: the images that are filmed from the time the camera starts to the
time it stops, with no cuts
Sequence: a series of shots on the same subject
Cut: stop one shot / abruptly start second; creates the impression of
different places, same time
Fade out/in: go to black / go from black to picture; suggests passage of
time, change of place
Pan: camera moves from left-to-right or right-to-left across scene from
one subject to another – can be used to create suspense
Zoom: camera moves in (tight) or out (wide)
Tilt: camera moves vertically, up or down
Extreme Long Shot: This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a Close-Up: This shows very little background, and concentrates on
mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is
It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of
landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of
war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone’s
shot, it’s meant to give a general impression rather than specific face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we
information. only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face –
mothers, children and lovers, usually – so a close up of a face is a very
Long Shot: This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra
generally one which shows the image as approximately “life” size ie comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and
corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the required framing.
screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall).
This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human Extreme Close-Up: As its name suggests, an extreme version of the
body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would
bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance,
still emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right are in a Western- would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail
style setting, for instance. whatsoever. This is a very artificial shot, and can be used for dramatic
effect. The tight focus required means that extra care must be taken
Medium Shot: Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is when setting up and lighting the shot – the slightest camera shake or
normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. error in focal length is very noticeable.
Two Shot and Three Shot: Variations of the Medium Shot but with
two (two shot) or three people (three shot) in the shot. Any more
than three figures and the shot tends to become a long shot.
Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been
established earlier in the scene – the audience already know where
they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character interation.