Shot Types, Camera Angles & Rules Of Framing
Let’s go over some cinema shot types and discuss how you can use them correctly to express your character’s emotions and help tell story through cinematography.
First is establishing shots. These are exterior shots of the building a scene is taking place in. Then there’s long or extreme wide shots. These are usually used to to show scope and let the audience marvel at the world your characters live in.
Next in cinematography types of shots are wide shots, and are not to be confused with establishing shots. Wide shots are wide and usually show all the action and full bodies of all characters in a scene.
Then there’s two shots, which have two characters at one time. These are commonly used to underline two characters connecting and usually gives the impression that they are equals, as they each take up half of the frame.
Next is medium shots, which cover a character from about the waste up. And if you think about it, this is usually how much you see of a person when you’re having a conversation with them, either at a table or standing, so this can feel very natural and help the viewer feel like they are right there with the characters.
There’s also medium close up shots, which are similar to a medium shot but show the character from the chest up. This helps to set a little bit more of an intimate setting with the character and works well for reaction shots.
Speaking of conversations, over the shoulder shots in movies, or OTS shots for short, are perfect for those. See my over the shoulder shot example in the video. Here's an over the shoulder shot definition: these are tighter shots on a character that have the head and shoulder of the other character dirty in frame. Just like a two shot, they can be extremely useful when you want to emphasize two characters connecting. Or on the flip side, they can also be used in conjunction with single shots to show when one character is trying to connect and the other is being isolated.
Close up shots, or CU shots for short, are shots that focus solely on a character’s head. This is usually used to emphasis when a character is feeling an intense emotion and cutting from a medium to a close up can really punctuate that.
Extreme Close Ups, or ECU shots for short, are tight shots usually focusing on a single facial feature of a character, such as their eyes or mouth. Just like the close up shot, the extreme close up is used to draw specific attention to how a character might be feeling, and because the viewer only has a single facial feature to focus on, there’s no room for misinterpreting their emotion.
Next are insert shots, or INS shots for short. These shots are similar to extreme close ups, but used for focusing the viewer’s attention on key objects in the scene verses a character’s face. Insert shots are usually used to communicate to the viewer that this object is important to the story and will come into play later, or they can also be used to creatively transition from scene to scene.
A bird’s eye view shot, is a shot that shows the scene from very high above and typically points directly down on the character. This can be used to communicate that a character seem small and insignificant, that they are being watched from above, or to demonstrate scope.
Next is Point Of View shots, or POV shots for short. These shots are from a character’s perspective and let the viewer see through their eyes.
You can customize these types of shots cinematography more by moving your camera up or down or side to side. A dutch angle can be used to build some tension or suspense in a scene. Because it feels unnatural, it communicates to your viewer that something is off. Speaking of being off, You can also shift power from one character to another in a scene by using low and high angles. High angles look down on a character and make them feel small and intimidated. While low angles look up on a character and make them appear powerful and dominate.
So now that you know different types of shots in filmmaking, you’ll be able to more effectively communicate your character’s emotions and tell your film’s story.
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