Camera Shots / Movements

By A.S, J.H, L.W

Two shot

This shot is as simple as you would think the name applies. It is basically a cinema or a television show which depicts two people together. It is most commonly seen being used in interviews or conversation scenes in film and TV. It is very good when it is used for establishing a relationship between two characters. Two shot is generically used in tv shows to show discussion between two of the supporting cast it would be anything too serious to comedy all it shows is two people from mainly a sideways angle and it might change to an over the shoulder shot when they start to talk.

L.W

Over the shoulder

This is a third-person shot showing the audience a character or object, over the shoulder of another character. The camera will show the back of the shoulder and head of this character, this can be used to create suspension in a thriller or just an interesting angle of a situation. This is also a very good shot for establishing a relationship between two characters. This shot is most commonly post two shot. When the two shot is showing two people talking there is a high chance is could change to an OTS shot just to change up the camera angle and this wouldn’t be hard to utilise this shot as it is very simple.

L.W

Point of view

This is a first-person shot which will show the audience what the character can see. This put the audience in the shoes of the onscreen character, making them become more involved with the story. Point of view can also be called P.O.V it is used so you can see whatever the character it is following. P.O.V could be used in an action scene you don’t mainly see point of views shots used since it can be difficult to pull off. The shot is rarely used because the mid shot or other basic shots are more easily used and also easier to film.

L.W

Master shot

This is usually the first shot within a production, it is used to establish the settings and characters. The master shot usually comes in the form of an extreme long shot, this is because an ELS will fully show the setting and the characters. If a particular shot has been corrupted or suffers from unexpected problems, you can simply refer back to the master shot and use it as a safety shot. The master shot would usually sit below the shots on the timeline in the editing software and you can cut away to close ups or long shots and if anything fails you will have the master shot as a backup file so you will always have a shot for the time line.

L.W

Long shot

This shot in generically a head to toe shot of a character or two. This shot can be also be called a “Full body shot” which is straight forward as a shot which shows the character's body language. You could get the idea of what their dress sense is or maybe one of the characters had been in a car accident and the long shot would show the full extent of the characters injuries for example soap operas will use full body shots when introducing a new character into the show or when they show a character they will introduce their characteristics maybe the character dresses in sparkles so they would have to show this off in a long shot or a master shot.

A.S

Extreme long shot

This shot even though it is so closely named like the long shot but it is completely different this shot could mainly be used to show a person but mainly show their surroundings around them for example if a person was having a picture taken at the eiffel tower they would mainly focus on getting the tower into the shot instead of the character. This shot could be mainly used as a setting shot since it is used to get the audience to know where the character is for example in a movie if it spent the whole show and a long shot and mid shots you would never know where the person is unless they mention it. With a ELS you could get an idea from it.

A.S

Mid shot

Mid shot could be the most basic of the shots. It it usually from the waist to head mainly used to capture speech between characters and facial expression. Mid shots are the most common use of a shot since it could serve every purpose near enough but it might not look as good as if you had the characters speaking in a two shot or maybe an OTS shot. People mainly use a mid shot as a less awkward way of showing someone's facial expression or maybe to show their emotions as you can sometimes pick up form people from their facial expressions and body language. Mid shot is in near enough in every video you will watch and every film.

A.S

Close up

The close up shot is another commonly used shot. Mainly used to show the characters facial expressions after finding something out. Maybe if the character is opening a letter or bills the camera would zoom to a close up so you would be able to tell if the news is good or bad. Maybe if the character was opening and reading birthday cards there would be a close up on the characters facial expressions so you could tell he was happy. There is a clear difference between the mid shot and the close up stereotypically a mid shot would be chest upwards where as a close up would just be a head/face shot. Close ups are mainly used for as i said before showing facial expressions.

A.S

Extreme close-up

Extreme close-ups are a shot that is closer up than what a close up shot is. This being an shot of someone's face for example just their eyes in the shot. This shows the audience more of the facial features of the person in the shot from the eyes to the mouth. For example the old western stare down is an extreme close up shot(s) as the camera zooms in at the eyes. This can show clearly the facial expressions and can also show tension in a scene.

J.H

High angle

A high angle shot is from an high angle looking down for example a scene where you have someone looking down at another person from a helicopter. This shows the different perspectives of the shot with it being at a high angle. This type of shot can also show how small someone is or that a character is looking up at something and this type of shot can have numerous amount of characters in at once aswell.

J.H

Low angle

A low angle shot is a shot at an low angle usually looking up for example a scene of someone looking up from a low angle at something high up. This shows the different perspectives of the shot with it being at a low angle.This show can also be used to show how big something is.

J.H

Camera Movements

Crane: This is a camera movement from a crane which allows the camera to transverse great distances up and down and side to side whilst high up in the air.

Jib: This is basical a see-saw with the camera on one end and a counterbalance on the other. This equipment is used for panning shots in a vertical direction by following through an arc.

Panning: This is a simple camera movements and just means when the camera turns during a shot. This could be used to show the surrounding arenas.

Track: Track is when you place a jib on a little track so you can move it back and forth at will to help with the smoothness of the shots.

Lighting Low Key:

Low key lighting of course sounds exactly how it is. It is shown in the dark picture above maybe you can’t make out the person's facial or body expressions but you can tell they are there this could be used in big reveal scenes in movies since you will not be able to tell who they are until they change the lighting

High Key:

High key is the complete opposite of lowkey whereas low key depends on low lighting which could be used in horror films or action films high key wouldn’t fit in since if it was a horror movie you wouldn’t be as scared if you could see every corner of the house and the killer would always be in the light. Sometimes low key helps with pathetic fallacy.

Sound

Diegetic: This type of sound is visible to the actors within a scene. This will be things such as other actors speaking, sounds of objects or music coming from instruments on set. This would mainly include people laughing or talking or maybe the weather in the scene for example if it rains the actors would hear the rain and so would you.

Non-Diegetic: This type of sound isn’t visible within a scene nor has been implied to be present in the action. Coming from a source outside of story space. Meaning when you edit in music over the top of an advert the people inside the scene won’t hear the music since it is made for the viewers so non-diegetic just means the actors can’t hear it and you can.