TYPES OF CAMERA SHOTS AND ANGLES
Pan Tilt
The two camera movements you use routinely are the "pan" and "tilt." A pan is a turning of the camera to the left or right. A tilt involves tilting the camera up or down.
Pedestal Up
The stand for a heavy studio television or film camera is called a "pedestal." That's why the term for raising the camera is "pedestal up," and the term for lowering the camera is "pedestal down." These terms have nothing to do with adjustments to the "pedestal," or setup of the black level of the picture, which is an electronic adjustment, not a camera movement
Truck Right
In moving a camera from side to side you "truck right" or "truck left." To move the camera closer to the subject, you "dolly in." To move it farther away you "dolly out." Of course, whenever the camera-to-subject distance changes, the focus must be adjusted.
Dolly In
Purists will point out that dolly shots (in or out) are fundamentally different in effect from zooming in or out. They're right. But professionals will go to extreme lengths to get a smooth dolly shot, to the point of laying special tracks to roll the dolly on. People with more modest means have mounted cameras on bicycles, shopping carts and, of course, cars to get their dolly shots.
Long shot (LS). Shot which shows all or most of a fairly large subject (for example, a person) and usually much of the surroundings.
Extreme Long Shot (ELS) - see establishing shot: In this type of shot the camera is at its furthest distance from the subject, emphasizing the background.
Medium Long Shot (MLS): In the case of a standing actor, the lower frame line cuts off his feet and ankles. Some documentaries with social themes favour keeping people in the longer shots, keeping social circumstances rather than the individual as the focus of attention.
Establishing shot. Opening shot or sequence, frequently an exterior 'General View' as an Extreme Long Shot (ELS). Used to set the scene
Medium shots. Medium Shot or Mid-Shot (MS).
In such a shot the subject or actor and its setting occupy roughly equal areas in the frame. In the case of the standing actor, the lower frame passes through the waist. There is space for hand gestures to be seen. Medium Close Shot (MCS): The setting can still be seen. The lower frame line passes through the chest of the actor. Medium shots are frequently used for the tight presentation of two actors (the two shot), or with dexterity three (the three shot).
Close-up (CU). A picture, which shows a fairly small part of the scene, such as a character's face, in great detail so that it fills the screen. It abstracts the subject from a context. MCU (Medium Close-Up): head and shoulders. BCU (Big Close-Up): forehead to chin. Close-ups focus attention on a person's feelings or reactions, and are sometimes used in interviews to show people in a state of emotional excitement, grief or joy. In interviews, the use of BCUs may emphasise the interviewee's tension and suggest lying or guilt. BCUs are rarely used for important public figures; MCUs are preferred, the camera providing a sense of distance.
Angle of shot. The direction and height from which the camera takes the scene. The convention is that in 'factual' programmes subjects should be shot from eye-level only. In a high angle the camera looks down at a character, making the viewer feel more powerful than him or her, or suggesting an air of detachment. A low angle shot places camera below the character, exaggerating his or her importance. An overhead shot is one made from a position directly above the action.
Viewpoint.
The apparent distance and angle from which the camera views and records the subject.Not to be confused with point-of-view shots or subjective camera shots.
Point-of-view shot (POV).
A shot made from a camera position close to the line of sight of a performer who is to bewatching the action shown in the point-of-view shot.
Two-shot.
A shot of two people together.
Selective focus.
Rendering only part of the action field in sharp focus through the use of a shallow depthof field. A shift of focus from foreground to background or vice versa is called rack
focus.
Soft focus.
An effect in which the sharpness of an image, or part of it, is reduced by the use of anoptical device.
Wide-angle shot.
A shot of a broad field of action taken with a wide-angle lens.
When the camera is tilted on its axis so that normally vertical lines appear slanted to theleft or right, ordinary expectations are frustrated. Such shots are often used in mysteryand suspense films to create a sense of unease in the viewer.
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