Rule of Thirds 180 degree rule Types of shots Extreme wide shot The extreme wide shot or extreme long shot is all about showing the world in which the story takes place. In an extreme wide you will see large landscapes in the frame. Whether it is the desert or outer space, the audience should get a feel for the time and the place they are about to spend the next two hours. Though characters can be introduced in an extreme wide, they would be very tiny in context to the backdrop, which is what you are highlighting with this shot. An extreme wide shot is often an establishing shot, which is explained below. Wide shot / Long shot (Master shot) A wide shot, often referred to as a long shot, puts characters in context to the backdrop you establish in an extreme wide shot. The characters can be seen from head to toe and you see them in relation to the location or each other. You can use a wide shot to show how your character is small in relation to the vast surroundings, like a little girl in awe of a large painting or a woman carrying water over a large plain. Of course, a wide shot might not have a character in it at all and it, too, can be used as an establishing shot. A wide shot can also be a master shot, which is used to introduce a new location like a dining room or restaurant. It gives the audience a sense of geography so when the camera goes in tighter, they can understand who is where. Full shot A full shot is different from the wide because it focuses more on the character in the frame. The character is full body from head to toe again, but the location is no longer the focus. In this shot you might want to show how a character dresses or how a character moves: awkwardly, confidently, etc. You can also reveal what they are doing, like packing a suitcase or ordering a train ticket. You can give the viewer information but not all of it, yet. Medium Shot The medium shot shows your character from the waist up. (There is a debate about this, but you will get a feel for it.) In the old westerns, the character was often shown from the hip up which is now known as a cowboy shot. Again, this shot is about revealing information. You can see more detail than you can in a wide shot. The reason the westerns had to reveal the hips is because of the gun holsters. If you didn’t show the hips, when a cowboy was ready to draw you would lose a lot of important action. Medium shots are often used in dialog scenes. As we get closer to our subjects we can see things that we wouldn’t catch in a wide, like body language. We can see crossed arms or someone who talks with their hands. Medium close-up Shot Halfway between the close-up and the medium shot is the medium close-up that frames the subject from the shoulders up. This shot might be used if you want to show more body language as you capture some emotion and facial expressions. You might also use it if you are building up to an emotional climax. You can reveal more information with a medium close-up, but it is not as intimate as a close-up. Over the shoulder Shot Did you know an OTS shot is used to show dialogue or interaction between two characters, keeping them in context with each other? Yes, just make sure you keep the eyeline consistent between characters Extreme Close-up Shot An extreme close-up frames even tighter on a face (or subject), highlighting facial features more. It usually frames a particular part of the face like the eyes or the mouth. It is even more intimate than the close-up and is almost uncomfortably close, so the viewer is more apt to feel whatever the Actor is conveying, which is why it is used to show more intense emotion and is often used as drama increases. Establishing shot The establishing shot is included in this list because it’s so important to let the viewers know where they are as the story moves from location to location in a film. The establishing shot can be a mixture of shot sizes, so it is technically not a shot type. It tells the viewer where in the world the story takes place. It can be an extreme wide sweeping shot with a crane or a drone to show a particular time period or details of a location, like a burned forest or traffic jam or it can be a wide exterior of a building like a museum. You can also use tighter shots that show pieces of a location like an office. Advanced shots Arc shot An arc shot is where the camera moves around the subject in a semi-circle. This movement is usually used to give the audience a more detailed perspective of the setting and the object being captured. The arc shot also adds a sense of drama to the scene. An example of this would be its use in The Matrix and The Avengers. Zoom/Dolly Zoom A zoom is a shot where the image is magnified towards or away from a certain object making it appear to change size. This is used to isolate the object and to signify its importance to the audience. A zoom is also technically not a camera movement because although there is movement within the shot, the camera is not moved to create it as the image is simply being magnified. This also means that the camera can still be moved towards or away from the object to create a "Dolly zoom" which is often used to symbolise an "Oh no" moment. Dutch Angle / Dutch tilt A zoom is a shot where the image is magnified towards or away from a certain object making it appear to change size. This is used to isolate the object and to signify its importance to the audience. A zoom is also technically not a camera movement because although there is movement within the shot, the camera is not moved to create it as the image is simply being magnified. This also means that the camera can still be moved towards or away from the object to create a "Dolly zoom" which is often used to symbolise an "Oh no" moment.
