The Film Shot
Distance
is the viewer's perceived distance from the scene depicted.
An Extreme Long Shot/Establishing Shot
A
shot which establishes where the scene is
taking place
Often these are landscape shots
that give a view of a
city, a town, or even a galaxy.
These shots generally taken from a great distance and away from human subjects.
Re-establishing shots: help to distance the audience from a scene that is about
to end, much in the same way chapter conclusions help to break up story flow in
a novel.
Long Shot
One of
the primary functions of the long shot is to establish a context or sense of
place.
Repeated
use of long shots in a sequence tends to stress setting over character.
Staging involves filming in very long sequences.
Staging derives its name from its similarity to watching a play being performed on stage.
When you watch a play, there is no camera to cut back and forth between the actors. The audience sees all of the action being performed from a single distance and angle
Is roughly the same distance as that which separates an audience from a theater
stage.
Depth Staging
Depth Staging involves placing the characters in the frame at excessive distances from each other, emphasizing depth.
One character could be all the way down a corridor, while another character can be sitting in a close-up toward the front.
Character Shots
Wide and Full Shots
The wide shot helps identify both the character and his environment. These shots also allow characters to show body language. Although emotion is important in a close-up and medium shot, body language is important in a full shot as well.
The goal of the wide shot is to establish the single character's position in the frame and his relationship to his surroundings. The director can slowly zoom the camera in to a full, then medium shot to bring the viewer's attention to a character's dialogue or emotion. When that happens, the audience already will understand where the boy is because of the wide establishing shot.
Edward Hopper.
Nighthawks. 1942
Medium Shot
The medium shot creates a balance between character and setting and usually emphasizes a character's upper-body, arms, and head.
The medium shot is a general, all-purpose shot.
Medium shots are used for dialogue sequences, and they allow the viewer to pick up on the character's movements and gestures.
Body language is important to conveying emotion, and the medium shot remains close enough to capture that emotion.
Grant Wood. American
Gothic. 1930
A
specific form of medium shot is the two-shot. The two-shot frames two
characters that are interacting so that their reactions to one another can be
viewed simultaneously.
Close-up
The
close-up
emphasizes character over setting.
Close-up shots are dramatic and intimate.
Little
of the setting is visible in a close-up
shot.
A
character's affect displays are more in evidence in the close-up.
Extreme
Close-Up
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons Watchmen 5,
1986 (Detail)
More
Basic Shots:
Over
the Shoulder Shot: From behind the shoulder of one person toward the subject
Point
Of View Shot: Subject is portrayed by the camera as another person would see it
180 degree rule
If you are using multiple cameras and plan to edit the different shots in a
scene into a seamless sequence, an important rule to keep in mind is to place
all the cameras on the same side of a line of action. A line of action
is a path which your subject is traveling along or an imaginary line between two
characters who are interacting. This rule is called "180 degree rule".
Look at the following camera placements:
If Camera 2 and Camera 3 are used, the audience stays on one side of the line of action. These shots are called "reverse angle shots".
If Camera 2 and Camera 4 are used, the audience crosses the line of action. It's disorienting and confusing.
Camera
Movement Names:
Pan
Pan is the horizontal axis of camera movement. When a camera pans, it turns left to right.
Panning is commonly used to look across a very wide scene (panorama) that doesn't fit within the camera frame (landscape).
This is also known as re-framing the shot.
Tilt
Tilt is the vertical axis of camera movement. When the camera tilts, it pivots up and down. Tilting is commonly used to look over tall objects such as an office building.
To conceptualize a tilt, look forward and move your head to look up and down.
Like the Pan, this technique is used to follow a character in motion.
Dolly
To move the camera horizontally through space.
The Steadycam is an alternative device
Mechanical
Mechanical techniques include the use of devices that allow filmmakers to create unique and interesting camera movements. These are easier to conceptualize when we can move as the camera does....which is possible if a device has a platform that we can sit on.
Cranes and Jibs have a mechanical arm on which the camera is mounted. This arm hinges on a pivot that frees the camera to move through space, allowing sweeping and dramatic camera movements.
Pull Focus
Pulling Focus is considered a natural technique. Like our eyes, which pull focus whenever we look at objects that are at different distances in our field of vision.
We can either focus on something close up or on something far away. Since we can't focus on both simultaneously, our eyes must Pull Focus to compensate.
When filming, Pulling Focus is often needed, because like our eyes, most camera lenses don't keep the entire scene in focus. As the camera moves around, a crew member (focus puller) will adjust the focus to match whatever the camera is looking at.
Try it...
Zoom
The focal length of a camera lens determines the distance that the camera can "see". A Zoom lens allows the focal length to be changed gradually. With a Zoom, the frame may transition from a wide shot to a close-up without moving the camera.
The Zoom is considered an unnatural technique...our eyes cannot incrementally change their focal length. For this reason, Zooms are often used only as an effect.
A very slow Zoom can be an alternative to a dolly movement in locations where there is no room to rig a dolly and track. A very fast Zoom (whip zoom) can be used to draw attention to an object in a scene.
Shot
Transitions:
A transition is any method for switching from one image to another.
A cut is an instantaneous change from one shot or scene to the next. This is the most common type of transition.
an abrupt or sudden change or jump in camera angle, location, placement, or time, from one shot to another;
Jump Cut
an abrupt, disorienting transitional device in the middle of a continuous shot in which the action is noticeably advanced in time and/or cut between two similar scenes, either done accidentally (a technical flaw or the result of bad editing) or purposefully (to create discontinuity for artistic effect).
Match Cut
A match cut is used to make a transition as smooth as possible.
In most films, directors and editors do their best to hide cuts from us. They cut when an action occurs or cut when a character's eyes move.
The most common way to do this is to cut on the action. When an action is started on one frame, the camera cuts, and then the action is finished on the second frame. Because the audience is paying more attention to the action then they are to the cutting of the film, this cut is almost transparent.
Another way to do this is to cut on a look. When an actor shifts his eyes to look at something, the camera cuts to a new image.
A variation on the match cut is a cut in which two shots are joined or linked by visual, aural, or metaphorical parallelism or similarities.
Example: North by Northwest (1959), Cary Grant pulls Eva Marie Saint up the cliff of Mt. Rushmore; then match cut to Grant pulling her up to a bunk in a train;
Cross-cutting
the editing technique of alternating, interweaving, or interspersing one narrative action (scene, sequence, or event) with another - usually in different locations or places, thus combining the two; this editing method suggests parallel action (that takes place simultaneously); often used to dramatically build tension and suspense in chase scenes, or to compare two different scenes; also known as inter-cutting or parallel editing.
Example: in The Godfather (1972), where the baptism of Michael Corleone's godson is cross cut with the violent elimination of Corleone's multiple underworld rivals.
Fade
A fade is the process of gradually coming from or going to black. For example,
at the beginning of a program the screen will usually be black. The black slowly
gives way
Dissolve
A dissolve is the overlapping of shots,
one shot gradually leaves the screen as the next shot gradually appears. For a
time two different shots occupy the screen.
This
length of time can vary but if it remains static it is a superimposition. A
dissolve is usually used to signify a change of time or location, or to add
artistic flavor such as in a musical or dance production.
Wipe
Some References
Types of Shots By Dan Ablan
"The Five C's of Cinematography" by Joseph V. Mascelli
Setting up Your Shots by Jeremy Vineyard