CAMERA SHOTS:
A camera shot is the amount of space that is seen in one
shot or frame. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of a
film's setting, characters and themes.
The images I will use as examples, are my own photos.
Establishing shot
Establishing shot
Establishing shot is usually the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place. It is usually a very wide shot or extreme wide shot.
Long shot
Long shot is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema.
Medium shot
Medium shot contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action.
Close-up
Close-up shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scene. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face.
Extreme close-up
Extreme close-up as its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever.
Over the shoulder shot
Over the shoulder shot framed from behind a person who is looking at the subject. The person facing the subject should usually occupy about 1/3 of the frame. This shot helps to establish the position of each person, and get the feel of looking at one person from the other's point of view. It's common to cut between these shots during a conversation, alternating the view between the different speakers.
The master shot
The master shot is a shot that includes all of the actors in the scene and it runs the entire length of the action.
Aerial shot
Aerial shot is an exterior shot filmed from — hey! — the air. Often used to establish a (usually exotic) location. All films in the '70s open with one.
CAMERA ANGLES:
Camera angles and movements combine to create a sequence of images, just as words, word order and punctuation combine to make the meaning of a sentence. You need a straightforward set of key terms to describe them.
High angle:
The camera is above the subject, looking down. This position makes characters look weak, submissive, or frightened. They are also good POVs of an adult looking at a child.
Low angle:
Are captured from a camera placed below the actor’s eyes, looking up at them. Low angles make characters look dominant, aggressive, or ominous.
Canted angle:
Is a cinematic tactic where the camera is tilted to its side so that the plane of the horizon meets the bottom of the camera frame at an angle,used in many popular horror movies to indicate to the audience that the scene is unstable, or ‘something is going to go wrong’.
Eye-level:
Shot is placed in level with a character’s face as if the audience is watching in level with the focus.
CAMERA MOVEMENT:
Pans:
this movement scans a scene horizontally. The camera
has to be placed on a tripod because soft shake’s of a movement is very
sensitive and the audience would be able to access that mistake. The camera is
turned to the side to often show a moving object in the middle of the frame.
Tilts movement:
can be similar to a ‘Pan’ shot although it
scans the scene vertically.
Track Shots:
camera shots are moved by us, humans. This brings
the audience to see as if they were inside them movie, witnessing an event that
takes place.
A zoom lens: is use to change the magnification of an image by either using a close-up shot or a long shot in a camera (photographer) but the photographer standing a metre or two away.
Crane Shots:
are similar to a track shot although it moves left, right, centre, up, down, diagonally etc. but in the air by using a large metal stand as you can see on the left here.
