in this tutorial we will walk through the main eight shots used by professionals that may pop your video and give a better story telling your film.

this tutorial  is focused on human pointed as subject 

shots:

1.    Extreme Long Shot (ELS)

best to be used as an establishing shot for your film, as in introduction for a case, event or a character. best usage is to make the audience connect the dots and try to guess an overview relation between the environment and the subject. 

in this shot. the subject is not necessarily to be viewed.

  • emphasizes background
  • show context
  • used as establishing shot
  • distance between camera and the subject is the longest

2.   Long Shot (LS)

used as a secondary shot after ELS focusing more on the subject after a good introduction of the event. 

  • must show all subject with regard to the background
  • focused on the size and height in relation to the background.

3.    Medium Long Shot (MLS)

emphasizes action of the subject in the first place. action over emotions

  • emphasizes the physique of the subject.
  • feet and ankles are out of frame.

4.   Medium Shot (MS)

when subject is doing a main action in the script.

  • subjects sets over the waist - or bit lower - in the frame with respect to hand gestures
  • subject and background occupy same portion in the frame
  • medium shot could emphasize the lower body with respect

5.   Medium Close Up (MCU)

 

  • setting can be seen
  • subject sets over the chest -or a bit lower

6.   Close Up (CU)

unlike the previous shots, this specific type of shots are dominated by the emotions and reactions of the subject in the very first place.

  • setting can not be see unless subject is small or tiny
  • show face of subject in great detail filling the screen

7.   Big Close Up (BCU)

Used to inmate the emotions of the subject 

  • some parts of the face are cropped
  • mainly the shot frames lower part of the forehead to the chin

8.   Extreme Close Up (EXU)

used to pop up a detail in the characters face, is it might be part of the identity or used to inmate a huge or extreme emotion such as crying tears or blushing for example.

  • reveals only a part of the face

 

now you have learnt the main types of shots and shot sizes, read next 6 different angles of shots

This Article belongs to a series of articles, Read: