Camera shots and angles

Today's lesson was an introduction to the varying types and uses of camera shots, movements and angles. From the brief drawings I made in lesson along with some research, I was then able to find examples of shots and angles from films.

Establishing Shot
The establishing camera shot is one used in the opening scene or the set the location of a new scene. Typically they are wide or extreme wide shots of landscape.



Long Shot
Much like the establishing shot, long shots set a scene but often film the outside of builders or people within a surrounding.

Full shot
This type of shot draws focus to a person within it, without much else going on in the frame.

Mid shot
The camera films from the waist up, the frame contains a more equal proportion of the person in frame and the background.

Close up
Tightly frames a person, seen most frequently in film with close ups of the actors face in focus with little background.

Extreme Close up
A much more zoomed in close up, with the characters face taking up the large majority of the frame.

Very Extreme Close up
The very extreme close up allows the audience to witness intense detail not made evident in other shots. The focus of the shot takes up the entirety of the frame.

When filming conversation between characters, other shots are used. Alongside the Two shot where the majority of both characters is shown and Over the head shot, the two most widely used shots are Over the shoulder and Face to Face.  

In conjunction with these camera shots, directors use varying camera angles. Many shots, such as the ones above, are at eye level.

Low Angle
In this case, the camera is below the individual looking up at them. This angle can be used to represent the point of view of an unseen character or object but also to illustrate status.

High angle
The camera is above the person looking down. Similarly to the low angle, the high angle can illustrate status or another point of view. This particular shot from Moonrise Kingdom is one of my favourites. Wes Anderson's use of colour and abrupt change of shots makes his films so interesting to watch.

Overhead shot
Provides a birds eye view of a scene or scenario.