Shot Types

Alice, Amy, Anya, Phoebe + Dan

Establishing Shot
The clue is in the name. A
shot, at the head of the
scene, that clearly shows
the locale the action is set
in. Often comes after
the aerial shot. Beloved by
TV directors and thick
people.

Extreme Long Shot (ELS)
This can be taken from as much as a
quarter of a mile away, and is
generally used as a scene setting,
establishing shot. It normally shows
an exterior (e.g. the outside building
or a landscape and is often used to
show scenes of thrilling action (e.g.
in a war or disaster film). There will
be very little detail visible in the
shot, its meant to give a general
impression rather than specific
information. The extreme long shot
on the left is taken from a distance,
but denotes a precise location it
might even connote all of the
entertainment industry if used as
the opening shot in a news story.
High Angle Shot
A shot looking down on a character or subject
often isolating them in the frame. Nothing says
Billy No Mates like a good old high angle shot.
Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera
is elevated above the action using a crane to give
a general overview. High angles make the object
photographed seem smaller, and less significant
(or scary). The object or character often gets
swallowed up by their setting - they become part
of a wider picture.
Over The Shoulder Shot
A shot where the camera is positioned behind
one subject's shoulder, usually during a
conversation. It implies a connection between
the speakers as opposed to the single shot that
suggests distance.

Close Up
A shot that keeps only the face full in the frame.
Perhaps the most important building block in
cinematic storytelling.
This shows very little background, and
concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail
of mise en scne. Everything else is just a blur in
the background. This shot magnifies the object
(think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and
shows the importance of things, be it words
written on paper, or the expression on someone's
face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a
character. In reality, we 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 intimate shot. A film-maker may
use this to make us feel extra comfortable or
extremely uncomfortable about a character, and
usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the
required framing.
Medium Shot
The shot that utilizes the most common
framing in movies, shows less than a long
shot, more than a close-up. Obviously. A
medium shot is half of a standing character
The shot that utilizes the most common
framing in movies, shows less than a long
shot, more than a close-up. Obviously.
Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and
is normally used for dialogue scenes or to show
some detail of action. Variations on this include
the two shot (containing two figures from the
waist up) and the three shot (contains 3
figures). If there are more than three figures
and the shot tends to become a long shot.
Background detail is minimal; because the
location has been established earlier in the
scene the audience already know where they
are an now want to focus on dialogue and
character interaction. Another variation in this
category is the over the shoulder shot, which
positions the camera behind one figure,
revealing the other figure and part of the first
figures back, head and shoulder.


Long Shot
A shot that depicts an entire character or
object from head to foot. Not as long as
an establishing shot. Aka a wide shot.
This is the most difficult to categorise
precisely, but is generally one which
shows the image as approximately "life"
size i.e. corresponding to the real distance
between the audience and the 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 body,
with the head near the top of the frame
and the feet near the bottom. While the
focus is on characters, plenty of
background detail still emerges: we can
tell the coffins on the right are in a
Western-style setting, for instance.
Cowboy Shot
A shot framed from mid thigh up, so called
because of its recurrent use in Westerns.
When it comes, you know Clint Eastwood is
about to shoot your ass.
Deep Focus
A shot that keeps the foreground, middle
ground and background ALL in sharp
focus. Beloved by Orson Welles (and
cinematographer Gregg Toland).
Production designers hate them. Means
they have to put detail in the whole set.
Point of View Shot (POV)
A shot that depicts the point of view of a
character so that we see exactly what
they see. Often used in Horror cinema to
see the world through a killer's eyes.
Tilt
A shot where the camera moves continuously
Up to Down or Down To Up. A vertical panning
shot. A tilt to the sky is traditionally a last shot
in a movie.
A movement which scans a scene vertically,
otherwise similar to a pan.
Dolly Shot
A shot that sees the camera track
forward toward a subject while
simultaneously zooming out creating a
woozy, vertiginous effect. Initiated in
Hitchcock's Vertigo (1959), it also
appears in such scarefests as Michael
Jackson's Thriller video (1983), Shaun Of
The Dead (2004), The Evil Dead (1981)
and The Goofy Movie (1995). It is the
cinematic equivalent of the phrase "Uh-
oh".
Top Shot
A shot looking directly down on a scene
rather than at an angle. Also known as
a Birds-Eye-View shot. Beloved by
Busby Berkeley to shoot dance
numbers in patterns resembling
snowflakes.
Two - Shot
A medium shot that depicts two people
in the frame. Used primarily when you
want to establish links between
characters or people who are beside
rather than facing each other.
Locked Down Shot
A shot where the camera is
fixed in one position while
the action continues off-
screen. It says life is messy
and can not be contained
by a camera. Beloved by
Woody Allen and the dolly
grips who can take the
afternoon off.
Panning Shot
A shot where the
camera moves
continuously right
to left or left to
right. An
abbreviation of
"panning". Turns
up a lot in car
chases
Arc Shot
A shot in which
the subject is
circled by the
camera.
The Sequence Shot
A long shot that
covers a scene in
its entirety in one
continuous sweep
without editing.
Zoom
A shot deploying a lens with a
variable focal length that allows the
cinematographer to change the
distance between camera and object
without physically moving the
camera. Also see Crash Zooms that
do the same but only quicker.
Crane Shot
A shot where the camera is placed
on a crane or jib and moved up or
down. Think a vertical tracking
shot. Beloved by directors of
musicals. Often used to highlight a
character's loneliness or at the end
of a movie, the camera moving
away as if saying goodbye.