Camera shots and angles

Camera shots

A camera shot is the amount of space that is seen in one frame or shot. They are used to show different features of a film including setting, characters and themes.

Extreme long shot

This is often taken from a far distance and is used as a scene setting establishing shot. It is often used to show the exterior, for example the outside of a building and is used to show scenes of thrilling action.

Long (wide) shot

This is a shot which typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. It generally shows the image as approximately life size in corresponding it to the real distance between the audience and the screen.

Medium shot

This normally contains a figure from the knees or waste up and is often used for dialogue scenes or to show detail of action. There tends to be minimal background in this shot as it has normally been established earlier in the scene and so the audience instead want to focus on dialogue and character interaction.

Extreme wide shot 

Theses shots are taken far from the subject so they may not even be seen at all in the shot. The emphasis is more on setting the scene and showing the location rather than establishing who the character is, so the audience get an idea of where the film is taking place.

Close up

The close up is a shot which tightly frames a person or object. They often show very little background and tend to focus on the face or a specific part of mise-en-scene. It magnifies an object to show the importance of things, for example words written on paper. A film maker may use this shot to make us feel comfortable or uncomfortable about a character.

Extreme close up

This shot is so tight that only a detail of a subject, for example the eye on a person’s face. This shot often shows no background detail and is often used for dramatic effect.

Camera angles

Camera angles are used to show the audience and help them understand the different relationships between characters 

The bird's-eye view

It is an elevated view of an object from above, with the perspective as if the viewer was a bird. The shot puts the audience in a god like position looking down on the action that is happening below them. This shot can make people look insignificant and also like they are part of a bigger scheme.

High angle

This is when you have the camera looking down on the subject from a high angle and the point of focus often get swallowed up. This shot makes the subject feel vulnerable when applied with the correct mood. It makes objects look less significant and seem smaller than they actually are.

Eye level

This is a shot done at the subject’s height so they don't need to look up or down to look directly at the lens. This shot is done so it looks like there is actually a human observing the scene.

Low angle
It is a shot taken anywhere below the eye line and looking up. This shot makes the person look strong and powerful to the audience, while making then feel powerless.

Camera movement

Camera movements are used to shape meaning into films to make them seem more emotional or dramatic depending on what type of film it is.

Pans

Panning is the rotation or pivoting of the camera horizontally from a fixed position. This is often used to follow a moving object that is often kept in the middle of the frame.

Tilts

A movement where the camera stays on a fixed position but moves up and down in a vertical plane. It gives the effect of someone raising and lowering their head to look at someone.

Dolly shots

This is where the camera moves alongside the action and generally follows a moving figure or object. This camera movement is a good way of portraying movement and showing a characters journey.

Hand held shots

This is where the camera isn't mounted on a tripod or anything and is instead held in the camera operator’s hand. This type of shot gives a rough and ragged effect.

Crane shots

It is a shot taken from a crane or jib and it is used to view the actors from above and is often used at the end of a film.

Zoom lenses

This can change the position of the audience without moving the camera. Although the zoom lens does tend to be jerky and distorts the image unless used slowly which makes objects appear closer together than they actually are.

The aerial shots

This shot is often taken from a helicopter and is often used at the beginning of a film to establish the setting and movement.

Shorter length shots create dramatic tension, by cutting quickly between different shots, or different locations it creates the characters frame of mind for the audience to experience. It shows the audience how they are jump, tense and their mind is quick moving.

Longer length shots make a scene seem more relaxed and slower paced. This type of shot often gives the impression that something is about to occur. These types of shots are also very good at exposing emotion by focusing on a character for a long period of time, showing raw emotion as it is often not edited.

When filming it is key to have a range of different shot and angles to make a scene unique and to express the different thoughts and feeling a character is experiencing at that time. Each shot and angle has a different purpose which helps to make the meaning of a scene clear to the audience. An example of this is the low shot which portrays a character to be powerful and strong to the audience, or an eye level shot which makes the audience feel as if they are directly in front of the character and have a more personal connection with them.

Here is an example of a film opening using an extreme wide shot. They use this to show where this film is taking place, which is the whole of earth, and also in space. The use of the extreme wide shots helps us to understand that something has happened to the planet earth and because of this there is a little robot building massive structures across the planet for a reason we are yet to discover. Without the use of all the extreme wide shots we as the audience would be very confused as to what was going on and we would have no understanding as to why earth was the way it is in the opening scene.

Here is an example of a film opening that uses quiet a lot of different camera shots and angles. We see the main character from a low angle shot which gives the impression he is powerful and important. You also see the main character from a medium shot which then zooms into a close shot. This is to show the audience that this character is very important and helps us to get to know him and establish who he is. There is also a long shot which revels to us that this pirate isn't sailing a typical pirate ship which you would be expecting him to be on giving a comical effect to the audience.

Here is an example of a film opening that again uses various different camera shots and angles. The first shot shown in this opening is an extreme close up which only shows the eye and a little of the pale white skin on the character. This is to show the audience that this character is a zombie and is actually dead, which you can see from his off colour skin and drained eyes. Another shot used in this opening is a long shot which is used to establish the setting for this scene which happens to be an airport. This shot helps us as the audience to understand that obviously a vast majority of the population have become zombies. Many medium shots are used in this opening to make us feel a connection with certain characters and to helps us to understand who they are, for example when we see the caretaker zombie and we hear the narration over the top it makes us as the audience feel like we understand the character better.