SHOT TYPES

Mid shot - is a shot from the waist up, it is used shows some part of the person in more detail, whilst still showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking at the person or thing.  The shot is comfortable and natural, the mid shot allows room for hand gestures and a bit of movement.

The close up shot shows very little background, and concentrates on a face expression to show its importance; everything else is just a blur in the background. 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.

Medium close up is a shot of the head and shoulders its in between a close-up and a full shot, the purpose is to allow the audience to see the person's facial expression without getting to close and uncomfortable.

The big close up shot is of the whole face the purpose of this shot is to engage the audience with the person in the photos emotions.

The extreme close up shot is of only the eyes and nose - This is a very artificial shot, and can be used for dramatic effect.

Medium long shot contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action.

High angle shot is when the camera is above the action 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.

The low angle shot is a shot taken from below the head, this is used to give a sense of quickened motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

Tilted frame is a shot taken from an angle The camera tilts up or down, rotating around the axis that runs from left to right through the camera head to create a sense of movement.

The over the shoulder shot this shot is framed from behind a person who is looking at the subject.This shot helps to establish the position of each person, and get the feel of looking at one person from the others point of view.

 

Two-shots are good for establishing a relationship between subjects, for example the closeness is shown between Sam and George as they are in a comfortable pose.

In the long shot the subject or characters are at some distance from the camera; they are seen in full within their surrounding environment. This helps set the scene for the audience. You can also see the clothing the characters are wearing which is used to represent them.

Very long shot is a shot of the subject or characters are very much to the background of the shot. Surroundings now have as much if not more importance. When shooting at this kind of distance, it is hard to see the subtle dramatic performances of the character.