Camera Shots, Angle, Movement and Composition
Camera Shots
- Extreme Long Shot (ELS): This shot is typically used to establish the setting or context. It can give an overview of a large area, such as cityscape, landscape, or crowd of people.
- Long Shot (LS): Here, the object or character is seen in full within their surrounding environment. It forms a clear understanding of the character's physical location.
- Mid Shot (MS): Shows character(s) from the waist up. It is often used during conversations between characters to highlight body language.
- Close Up (CU): This shot frames the character, or object, from the shoulders up. It's used to show facial expressions, details or reactions.
- Extreme Close Up (ECU): Extremely detailed shot that can magnify beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. Used to emphasise very small details.
Camera Angles
- High Angle: The camera looks down at the character or subject, often making them appear weak, small, or insignificant.
- Low Angle: The camera looks up at the subject, making them appear dominant, powerful, or intimidating.
- Eye Level: Creates a sense of equality between the viewer and subject. It implies a sense of reality as this is how we would view people and objects in our daily lives.
- Dutch Tilt: This is a tilted angle where the camera appears skewed. Typically used to imply disorientation, tension, or unease.
Camera Movement
- Pan: The camera moves horizontally on a central axis. Great for showing a sweeping view of the environment.
- Tilt: Here, the camera moves vertically, up or down, from a fixed point.
- Zoom: A feature that allows the camera to change its focus from a wide shot to a close-up, or vice versa.
- Track: The camera physically follows the subjects, often on a dolly or track.
- Steadicam: A stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera, which mechanically isolates it from the operator's movement. Allows for smooth tracking shots.
Composition
- Rule of Thirds: Considered one of the fundamental principles of composition. The image is divided into a 3x3 grid and subjects or points of interest are placed along the lines or their intersections.
- Leading Lines: Composition tool to draw the viewer's eye towards the subject by using lines.
- Symmetry: Composing the shot so that there's an equal amount of the image on either side of a central line.
- Framing: Refers to the use of visual elements to ‘frame’ the subject - this can involve anything that adds a border to the subject(s) or scene.
- Depth: Incorporating and emphasizing the sense of depth can make your shots more engaging. This includes foreground, middle-ground, and background elements in the scene.