Ultimate Guide to Camera Shots: Every Shot Size Explained [The Shot List, Ep 1]
Summary
TLDRThis video script from 'The Shot List' series explores the art of shot selection in filmmaking. It defines essential shot sizes, from establishing shots to extreme close-ups, and their impact on storytelling. The script guides viewers on how to use these shots to create rhythm, tone, and meaning, providing examples from iconic films. It also introduces a shot list in StudioBinder as a practical tool for filmmakers.
Takeaways
- 🎬 Films are constructed from sequences, scenes, and shots, each with its own storytelling value and characteristics.
- 📚 The video introduces essential shot sizes and their use in creating memorable moments on screen.
- 🔍 Shot choices are crucial for establishing the rhythm, tone, and meaning of a scene in filmmaking.
- 🏞 Establishing shots are used to set the scene's geography, time of day, and subject scale, often marking transitions or introducing new locations.
- 👨👩👧👦 The Master Shot captures the entire scene, showing character relationships and interactions, and provides a base for editing.
- 🌄 Wide Shots position subjects in relation to their environment, often used to convey a sense of scale or isolation.
- 🧍 Full Shots frame a subject from head to toe, highlighting physicality and character presence.
- 🤠 Medium Full Shots, sometimes called Cowboy Shots, are used to portray confidence, danger, or confrontation, especially in relation to weapons.
- 👤 Medium Shots are a neutral size, capturing subjects in a way that resembles natural human interaction, useful for character expression and detail.
- 🔎 Medium Close-Up Shots focus on the subject from mid-chest to just above the head, reducing distractions and emphasizing story and character details.
- 👀 Close-Up Shots are powerful for highlighting changes in emotion or dramatic beats, providing an intimate view of a character's thoughts and feelings.
- 👁 Extreme Close-Up Shots or Inserts isolate specific details, such as eyes or props, for emphasis and dramatic impact.
Q & A
What is the fundamental structure of a film according to the script?
-A film is fundamentally structured into sequences, which are then composed of scenes, and scenes are made up of shots.
Why is understanding the characteristics and storytelling value of each shot important?
-Understanding the characteristics and storytelling value of each shot is important because it helps to create memorable moments on screen and convey the intended rhythm, tone, and meaning of a scene.
What is the purpose of an Establishing Shot in filmmaking?
-An Establishing Shot is used to set the scene by showing the location, time of day, and the scale of subjects in relation to their environment. It is crucial for introducing new locations or worlds, especially in genres like science fiction.
What is the difference between an Establishing Shot and a Master Shot?
-While an Establishing Shot sets the location and environment, a Master Shot confirms the location and geography of the scene, clarifies which characters are present, and their spatial relationships to each other.
How does a Wide Shot contribute to a film's storytelling?
-A Wide Shot positions subjects far from the camera, visually representing their relationship to their environment. It can be used to make subjects appear lost, lonely, or overwhelmed, or to comment on their relationship to the environment.
What is a Full Shot and when should it be used?
-A Full Shot captures a subject from head to toe and is used when you need to make statements about a subject's physicality or present a character in all their glory.
What is the significance of the Medium Full Shot or Cowboy Shot?
-The Medium Full Shot, sometimes called the Cowboy Shot, is arranged from the top of the subject's head to just below their waist. It is used to present a subject as confident, dangerous, or confrontational, especially when weapons might be involved.
Why is the Medium Shot the most popular shot size in cinema?
-The Medium Shot is popular because it is a neutral shot size that captures the subject in a size similar to how we interact with people in real life, making it versatile for various storytelling needs without being overly dramatic or distancing.
What is the role of a Medium Close Up Shot (MCU) in filmmaking?
-A Medium Close Up Shot frames a subject from mid-chest to just above their head, reducing distraction and prioritizing story and character details. It is used to get intimate with a subject without losing their physicality.
How does a Close Up (CU) enhance a film's emotional impact?
-A Close Up is a powerful visual tool for highlighting changes in emotion or dramatic beats on screen. It allows the audience to get a front-row seat to a character's thoughts and feelings, promoting empathy and emotional connection.
What is an Extreme Close Up Shot (ECU) and its purpose in a film?
-An Extreme Close Up Shot (ECU) frames a subject to isolate a specific area, typically the eyes, to emphasize a particular detail or emotion. It is the most intimate, dramatic, and potentially startling of all shot sizes.
What is the function of an Insert Shot in a film?
-An Insert Shot is used to highlight and isolate something crucial to the narrative, such as a specific prop or an intimate detail, providing emphasis and clarity to the story.
Outlines
🎬 Introduction to Shot Sizes in Filmmaking
This paragraph introduces the concept of shot sizes as fundamental to filmmaking, emphasizing their role in storytelling. It sets the stage for the video series 'The Shot List', which aims to define essential shot sizes and their strategic use in creating memorable cinematic moments. The paragraph discusses the importance of understanding shot characteristics and their value in establishing rhythm, tone, and meaning in a scene, highlighting the priority of shot selection for directors and directors of photography.
🏞 Establishing and Master Shots: Setting the Scene
The second paragraph delves into two crucial shot types: the Establishing Shot and the Master Shot. The Establishing Shot is described as a broad view that sets the scene's geography and time of day, often used for transitions and introducing new worlds, as exemplified by 'Blade Runner 2049'. The Master Shot, also known as 'The Master', confirms the scene's location and characters' positions relative to each other, as illustrated by a scene from 'The Godfather: Part II'. This shot size is used to emphasize relationships and can also visually separate characters for dramatic effect.
📐 Wide, Full, and Medium Full Shots: Framing Subjects and Environment
This paragraph discusses the Wide Shot, Full Shot, and Medium Full Shot, explaining how each shot size positions subjects in relation to their environment and conveys different narrative implications. The Wide Shot is used to make subjects appear small against their surroundings, suggesting loneliness or insignificance, as demonstrated in 'Phantom Thread'. The Full Shot captures the subject from head to toe, often used to emphasize physicality and character presence. The Medium Full Shot, also known as the Cowboy Shot, is taken from the height of gun holsters, presenting characters as confrontational or confident, especially when weapons are involved.
🎭 Medium Shot and Close-Ups: Capturing Emotion and Detail
The fourth paragraph focuses on the Medium Shot and the Close-Up, detailing their composition and narrative impact. The Medium Shot is a neutral shot size capturing subjects in a way that mimics natural human interaction, suitable for intimate moments without losing environmental context, as shown in 'Coco'. The Medium Close-Up Shot frames subjects from mid-chest to just above the head, reducing visual distraction and focusing on story and character details, such as in 'Avengers: Endgame'. These shots are used to create intimacy and emphasize physicality and emotional reactions.
👀 Close-Up and Extreme Close-Up: Highlighting Emotion and Details
The final paragraph explores the Close-Up and Extreme Close-Up shots, highlighting their power in emphasizing changes in emotion and dramatic moments. Close-Ups are arranged at eye level to create empathy and provide insight into a character's thoughts and feelings, as seen in various examples. The Extreme Close-Up, or ECU, isolates specific areas of a subject, typically the eyes, to create an intimate and dramatic effect, as in 'Kill Bill Vol. 1'. The paragraph also mentions the Insert Shot, used to emphasize crucial narrative details, and concludes with a reference to a shot list in StudioBinder and an invitation to subscribe for more content.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sequences
💡Scenes
💡Shots
💡Establishing Shot
💡Master Shot
💡Wide Shot (WS)
💡Full Shot (FS)
💡Medium Full Shot / Cowboy
💡Medium Shot (MS)
💡Medium Close Up Shot (MCU)
💡Close Up (CU)
💡Extreme Close Up Shot (ECU)
💡Insert Shot
Highlights
Films are composed of sequences, scenes, and shots, each with unique storytelling value.
Understanding shot characteristics is crucial for directors and directors of photography.
The video defines essential shot sizes and their use in creating memorable screen moments.
Shot sizes help establish rhythm, tone, and meaning in a scene.
An establishing shot sets the scene's geography, time of day, and subject scale.
The master shot confirms location and character relationships within a scene.
Wide shots represent subjects' relationships to their environment and can convey feelings of isolation.
Full shots capture a subject from head to toe, useful for storytelling with body language.
The medium full shot, or Cowboy shot, presents a subject as confident or confrontational.
Medium shots are neutral, capturing subjects in a size similar to natural human interaction.
Medium close-ups reduce distractions, focusing on story and character details.
Close-ups are powerful for highlighting emotional changes and dramatic beats.
Extreme close-ups (ECUs) isolate specific areas for emphasis, often focusing on the eyes.
Insert shots are used to highlight and isolate crucial narrative details or props.
The video provides a shot list in StudioBinder as a reference for future shot listing.
StudioBinder offers free shot listing software to automate the shot listing process.
The next episode will explore framing and composition in film.
Transcripts
Films are made up of sequences.
Sequences are made up of scenes.
And scenes are made up of shots.
But we must understand
the characteristics and storytelling value
of each shot.
"- Don't be a..."
In this video,
we will begin with the big picture
and work our way down.
We're going to define the essential shot sizes
in a filmmaker's toolbox.
And how to use the right shot
at the right time
to create memorable moments on screen.
This is episode 1 of "The Shot List".
Shot size.
Shot choices help establish the rhythm.
Tone.
And meaning of a scene.
Knowing which shot will be the most aesthetically
and dramatically valuable for a given scene
should be the highest priority
for both a director and a DP.
In this video,
we'll be examining essential shot sizes.
As we go, we'll populate a shot list in StudioBinder
as a sort of cheat sheet
the next time you need create one.
Now, let's get to the shots.
The most common visual element to open a scene
or even an entire film
is the Establishing Shot.
♪ ♪
It is typically wide enough to establish the geography.
Time of day.
Show the scale of subjects
in relation to their environment.
And is often used to transition between scenes.
With genres like science fiction.
Where entirely new world need to be introduced,
establishing shot is crucial.
"Blade Runner 2049"
opens with a series of establishing shots.
We get the first impressions of near-future Earth
with industrial and futuristic farms
outside the city.
So remember,
an establishing shot
is a crucial introductory component of any scene.
It can mark a transition to a new location.
Or introduce crucial details
about the location or world.
The establishing shot is often followed up
with a Master Shot.
Or simply The Master.
Like the establishing shot
a master shot confirms the location
and geography of the scene.
It also clarifies which characters are in the scene
and where they are in relationship to each other.
"- Go sit down.
Talk to each other.
Hey, Mr. Einstein..."
Here we see a master from "The Godfather: Part II"
framing the Corleone family around a dinner table.
"- Hey, Sally, get in here!"
The majority of this scene
is played in the master
to emphasize the family's close-knit relationship.
"- Country isn't your blood.
- I don't feel that way."
Until Michael drops some devastating news.
"- Oh, if you don't feel like that
why wouldn't you quit college and go join the army!
- I did.
I've enlisted in the Marines."
"- Micky, wow, why didn't you come to us.
- I mean, Pop had to put all the strings to get you a deferment.
- I didn't ask for it.
- I didn't ask for a deferment. I didn't want."
But it also helps make Michael split from the family visual.
From this...
...to this.
And we feel the emptiness around him
that much more.
Remember, the master captures the scene
playing out in its entirety
providing the editor with something to cut out to,
if necessary.
Moving on.
Wide Shot (WS)
"- Let me tell you about my book."
♪ ♪
The wide shot positions subjects far from the camera
to visually represent their relationship to their environment.
This is distinct from the establishing shot,
which is about location.
The wide shot is principally concerned
with the scale of the subject.
"- I'm finished."
It can be used when you need to make subjects appear lost.
Lonely or overwhelmed.
Or comment on a subject's relationship
to their environment.
In this wide-shot from "Phantom Thread"
we can see the characters, Alma and Reynolds
dwarfed by a messy ballroom.
Paul Thomas Anderson could have ended the scene
with close-ups to capture their character's emotions.
But by ending with a wide shot here,
we can consider Alma and Reynolds together
yet isolated from the world around them.
Use it when you need to establish
the spatial relationships of the subjects.
Make statements using distance, depth or size.
Our next subject.
Full Shot (FS)
When a subjects entire body
reaches from the top to the bottom edges of the frame
the shot is defined as full.
With a full shot,
it's not necessary to put the subject in the center of the frame,
but notice how often this is the case.
This example is effective
because it is tight enough to tell a story
with the character's face
but wide enough to further the story
by observing her entire body, posture, and wardrobe.
So remember a full is composed head to toe
and you can use them when you need to
make statements about a subject's physicality
and present a character in all their glory.
Moving on.
Medium Full Shot (FS) / Cowboy.
The medium full shot is arranged from the top of the subject's head
to just below their waist.
It is sometimes referred to as a Cowboy Shot
based on the height of gun holsters.
Here we can see complementary angles
from "The Favorite"
composed in medium fulls.
The cowboy angle on the character Lady Sarah
is particularly strong and confrontational.
This isn't a western
and features no holsters,
but it's hard not to think of cowboys
when firearms are deployed like this.
Use it when you need to present a subject
as confident, dangerous or confrontational.
Especially when weapons might be drawn.
Moving on.
Medium Shot (MS)
Perhaps the most popular shot size
in all of cinema
is the medium shot.
But why?
Because it's more of a neutral shot.
Neither dramatic like a close-up
or distancing like a wide shot.
It captures the subject
in a size similar
to how we interact with people.
"- Would you hold still?"
The typical composition of a medium shot
starts above the waist,
but below the chest
and ends just above the head.
Shot sizes deployed in animated films
function under the same compositional rules.
"- Oh. - Hello."
Let's look at an example to better illustrate this.
In this scene from "Coco"
Miguel watches a film starring his idol.
The medium shot composition
accommodates quite a bit.
The props from Miguel shrine.
The detail on the TV screen
and Miguel's reactions to it.
It's an intimate moment
as we observe Migel's joy.
Along with the object of his affection
in a single frame.
So remember, the typical composition of a medium shot
starts above the waist
but below the chest
and ends just above their head.
Use it when you need to
dig into a subject size
without losing their physicality or environment.
Or utilize a true middle-ground approach
that is neither jarring
nor especially dramatic.
Our next subject.
Medium Close Up Shot (MCU)
When a shot frames a subject from mid-chest
to just above their head,
it is referred to as a medium close-up.
Medium close-ups are about reducing distraction
and prioritizing story and character details.
"- Why don't you start right now and get the fuck out of here?"
Use it when you need to get intimate with a subject
without losing their physicality.
"- Perhaps I treated you too harshly."
Here the villainous Thanos
snaps his fingers
during the climatic moments of "Avengers: Endgame".
With this shot size
we have room for the infinity gauntlet.
And Thanos's look of cruel satisfaction
in thinking, he is one.
But when he fails,
this medium close-up
is designed to also capture his reaction.
Remember, a medium close-up
is roughly head to chest.
Are you ready for it?
It's the Close Up (CU)
Of course,
the most powerful visual weapon for highlighting a change in emotion
or dramatic beat on screen.
Close-ups are most often arranged at eye level
better to dig into the windows of the soul.
In this shot size,
we have a front-row seat
for a character's thoughts and feelings.
"- Who is it?"
"- Will you help me?
- Yes, anything."
The close-up is about empathy
and illustrates how dramatically effective it can be
in a time of decision or anxiety.
Our final category.
Extreme Close Up Shot (ECU)
An extreme close up
or ECU
frames a subject to isolate a specific area.
This could be lips, ears or nose,
But the eyes are typically the focus.
Like here in "Kill Bill Vol. 1".
As the Bride is swarmed by the Crazy 88,
we cut back and forth between their entry points
and her frantic eyes.
But when the function of a specific prop
or an intimate detail is necessary
filmmakers will often rely on the insert shot.
Inserts are most commonly used
to highlight and isolate something crucial to the narrative.
So remember, an extreme close-up
or an insert shot
is one of the greatest tools for emphasis.
It is the most intimate, dramatic and potentially startling
of all shot sizes.
So this is our shot list made in StudioBinder's so far.
It has all of the most common shot sizes you can reference
the next time you need to create a shot list.
You can find a link to the full shot list in the description.
If you're looking for shot listing software to automate the process
check the description for a link to StudioBinder.
It's free to get started.
In the next episode of this series,
we'll explore framing and composition.
Subscribe to our channel.
Click the bell to stay in the loop.
And happy shot listing.
Weitere ähnliche Videos ansehen
Ultimate Guide to Camera Movement — Every Camera Movement Technique Explained [The Shot List Ep6]
Types of Shots | Tomorrow's Filmmakers
12 SHOTS That Make EVERYTHING CINEMATIC
Using Powerful Camera Angles and Shots for Filmmaking
Depth of Field Explained: Ultimate Guide to Camera Focus [Shot List Ep. 4]
11 Sudut Pengambilan Gambar (Camera Angle) Yang Sering Digunakan
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)