Camera Shots

Establishing shots: The view is so far away from the subject that he/her is not even visible. Often used as an establishing shot.

Very Long Shot: The subject is barely visible but the emphasis is still on the environment around him.

Long Shot: The subject takes up the full frame, or at least as much as comfortably possible (full shot).

Mid Shot: Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject.

Medium close up: Half way between a mid shot and a close up.

Close up: A certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame. Allow the audience to focus on something significant usually for facial expressions.

Extreme Close up: The extreme close gets right in and shows extreme detail.

Cut in: Shows some other part of the subject in detail.

Cutaway: A shot of something other than the subject.

Two Shot: A shot of two people, framed similarly to a mid shot.

Over the shoulder shot:  Looking from behind a person at the subject.

Point-of-View Shot: Shows a view from the subject’s perspective.

Weather Shot: The subject is the weather. Can be used for other purposes, e.g background for graphics.

Camera Movement:

A director may might want to add movement to go with the action, going from one shot to another. Moving the camera sometimes takes a lot of time, and makes the action seem slower, as it takes a couple of seconds for a moving camera shot to be effective, when the same information may be placed on screen in a series of fast cuts. The style of movement be chosen, but the way of actually moving the camera must be selected too. There are seven basic ways to do this:

1. Pans

A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which turns the camera, often to follow a moving object which is in the middle of the frame.

2. Tilts

A movement which shows a scene vertically, similar to a pan.

3. Dolly Shots

Sometimes called TRUCKING or TRACKING shots. The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object.. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a shopping trolley.

4. Hand-held shots

The hand-held movie camera was first used in World War II, when news reporters took their windup Arriflexes and Eyemos into the battleground. Hand held shots can take the smoothness out of the video unlike the Dolly shot which is often much more smooth.

5. Crane Shots

A dolly shot but in a crane, useful way of moving a camera - it can move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it.

6. The steady cam

A way of holding a camera steadily without it shaking usually used for dynamic shot.

6. Zoom Lenses

A zoom lens contains a mechanism which can change the magnification on a still camera, this means it can get a 'close up' shot while not being anywhere near the person. Video zoom lens can change the position of the audience, very quickly a smash zoom or slowly, without moving the camera, which helps saving a lot of time.

7. The Aerial Shot

Is usually taken from a helicopter. We usually see this used at the beginning of a film, in order to reveal setting and movement. A helicopter can move more freely than a Crane and can go anywhere, keep up with fast movement , move in and out of a scene, and reveal real drama and exhilaration.