Camera Shots

•long shot
the long shot is a shot in which you can see the whole body and the some of the scenery. It is used to show a person in an environment.


•medium shot
Covers half the body from the knee's or waist upwards. It's used to show dialogue scenes or when a character is performin actions.


•close up
shows little background and focus' on the characters facial expression rather than there body. Can be seen as an intimate shot.

•shot reverse shot
Used to show two characters talking to each other, enables you to see the reaction provoked by both characters. This enables you to judge there friendship or relationship.


•high angle shots
a shot from above looking down. used to show the scenery and how the place looks (how big it is, what the environment's like). one popular example of this shot is the opening of eastenders.


•low angle shots
a low angle shot is a shot from below looking upwards. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. 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.


•tracking shot
The tracking shot is where the camera follows the movement of the character and is sometimes reffered to as an over-shoulder shot.

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


•tilt
A movement which scans a scene vertically. similar to pan.



•continuity
is where the scenes are interconnecting then edited to give one smooth scene.


•montage
Montage is when a series of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information.