Extreme Close Up
An Extreme Close Up (an ECU) generally focuses on one specific area for emphasis. This may not refer to a person, but may refer to a computer monitor reading, an object, a piece of writing etc. It is most known for being used to emphasise emotion or specific details, especially in human faces, used on the mouth, eyes etc.
Close Up
A Close Up is a shot of a person from above the shoulders, or perhaps a shot that is not as close up as an Extreme Close Up, not necessarily of a person, but perhaps an object. This is mainly used to emphasise a person's facial expression, but not emphasising a particular area of the person's face like an ECU would. This shot would typically be used for emphasising general facial expressions as a whole, rather than pinpointing a particular area of the face such as the eyes or mouth.
Medium Close Up
A medium close up would typically be used to emphasise both a facial expression and perhaps give a particular impression of the body stance and body language. It would also provide information in relation to the direction a person's body is facing compared to the way a person's head is facing, showing whether or not they are turning their head to look at something, or looking at something directly, a piece of information which may not be immediately obvious via a close up.
Medium Shot
A medium shot is a shot where the majoriy of a person or object is in the shot. In terms of a person, it is best described as a shot which shows the person from the waist up. With shots like this, the viewer would get a reasonably clear impression as to how the subject is standing, as well as their facial expression and the environment they are located. These shots are useful for delivering lots of information to the user at once, however would not be ideal for emphasis on specific factors of a shot such as facial expressions.
Wide Shot
Wide shots are particularly beneficial as they can emphasise the sheer amount of people or objects within a scene, or perhaps highlight the scale of the events happening. They are different to Establishing Shots as they do not 'set the scene', but merely highlight objects or events within a scene. For example, a wide shot could be used to emphasise the amount of people within a crowd, whereas an Establishing Shot could be used beforehand to show the exterior of the building to detail where the scene was taking place.
Extreme Wide Shot / Establishing Shot
An extreme wide shot (also known as an establishing shot) is a shot that is traditionally used at the start of a scene. It tells the viewer where the following scene will be taking place, often showing no clear visuals of individuals, objects etc. within a scene, unless the establishing shot requires it (such as cars on a road if the scene is about to take place in a car), and focuses mainly on the buildings/props etc. to set a scene.
Two Shot
A two shot is a shot which contains two people within the shot, usually having a conversation. Despite a conversation usually being the context in which a two shot is used, the shot can also be applied to demonstrate one character in the foreground and one character in the background. Typically, these shots are to show the characters' emotions/reactions to dialogue from the other character. This type of shot would most likely be favoured over multiple over-the-shoulder shots or reverse shots in scenes where the dialogue switches back and forth regularly as this could become quite overwhelming for the audience if the shot kept changing sporadically.
Dutch Angle/Canted Angle
A canted angle is a shot used in films that allow the action to be viewed from an angle. Usually not tilted too much as to make it hard for the viewer to follow, the camera is tilted slightly to give the illusion that the scene is not level. It may also be used to portray psychological uncertainty relating to the character. They are typically static shots, but may also incorporate camera movement along with the camera angle.
Over the Shoulder Shot
Over the shoulder shots refer to shots that typically show a face-to-face dialogue between two characters, but may not necessarily involve this concept. The shot can simply take place as an over the shoulder shot without dialogue or interaction present between two separate characters, and can simply be the character looking at an object, area or scene, similar to that of a Point-of-View Shot.
Handheld Camera/Shaky Shot/Free Camera
A shaky shot is a type of camera movement which gives the effect of the camera being held by a person. It does not benefit from the use of a steadicam and, instead, uses the shaking generated by the lack of one as a cinematic technique. The camera is either held in the hand(s) or given the appearance of being handheld. This technique is often employed to give a particular scene an effect similar to that of a documentary or 'found-footage' type film. It produces a sense of instability, nervousness or immersion into a scene.
Tracking Shot
Tracking shots are shots which follow a character or group of characters' movements. This can include from left to right across a scene or moving towards the camera, with the camera moving away at the same speed. This shot is particularly useful when following a character or two characters having a discussion while simultaneously travelling to a new location. If used in a scene with more than one person, it is often linked to the storytelling-technique "walk and talk", where it suggests that characters are far too busy to simply 'stop and talk' and therefore must multitask by continuing to walk while having their conversation.
180° Rule
The 180° rule is a technique which relates to the way in which shots, typically between two people, are composed. To achieve this rule, an imaginary line must first be created, typically down the centre of the characters in the shot. All shots within that scene which contains these characters should be filmed on one side of this imaginary line. This stops the audience from feeling disoriented whenever their perception of the characters suddenly changes. Crossing this imaginary line is known as 'jumping the line' or 'crossing the line', and is occasionally done purposely to produce this sense of disorientation, but is usually avoided.
Pan
A pan is a type of camera movement where the camera changes the view from one object, person, event etc. to another one. It can usually pan from an object or person which may not be considered too important to an object or person which is important to the scene. This is a very common technique, and very useful to demonstrate a contrast between two things or to pan from an establishing shot of a building exterior to a character, event or object etc. Panning is similar to tilting, but tilting takes place on the vertical plane whereas panning takes place on the horizontal.
Tilt
A tilt is a type of camera movement which literally 'tilts' the camera up or down. Occasionally, this changes a shot that once was a high shot into a low shot, and vice versa. This is done, usually, to portray an object falling from a high point to a low point, especially in action sequences. This can also be used, however, as a pan, tilting from one object, event etc. to another. Tilting is similar to panning, but panning takes place on the horizontal plane whereas tilting takes place on the vertical plane.
Foreground and Background
Foreground
The foreground refers to the objects within a scene located closest to the camera/lens. It is usually shown via a focused lens upon the foreground and usually includes a less-focus background further away from the lens. Objects in the foreground are usually important and are located in the foreground so that they catch the audience's attention immediately and they are the audience's primary focus. Shots focused on the foreground can usually shift focus so that the background shots are now the ones in clear focus and catching the audience's attention.
Background
The background refers to anything happening in the frame that is not in the foreground, i.e. objects or characters located farther away from the camera or lens than the characters in the foreground. The image above shows the difference between a foreground and a background. The image on the left shows a radio in the foreground while the out-of-focus background contains unknown characters moving around. Shifting the focus from the foreground to the background (as well as incorporating a tilt and a pan), it can be seen that two adults and a young chil were running around in the background, now in focus.
Framing
The framing of shots refers to the way in which the camera is positioned. There is a certain framing technique called the Rule of Thirds that is often used within film production. Rule of Thirds refers to the grid above, and the positioning of the action within the shot in relation to this grid. It is often considered that at the four points circled on the picture above, the audience's eyes are drawn automatically to these four areas of the frame more than any other area within a frame. This is why, in many shots, the action is never centralised. The only examples where the action may be centralised would be in instances such as horror films, where the action would be the focus point anyway due to other conventional factors of the genre such as low light levels of areas other than the actors etc. Other than a select few instances such as this, however, the Rule of Thirds technique is often applied.
