Camera Shots

Here I am going to describe different camera shots....


Long Shot

A long shot is a shot taken from a far distance which tends to take in a character and all of their surroundings. This tends to be used to start a scene but shouldn't get confused with an establishing shot. Here is a long shot from Mr Bean's Holiday. (2007)  

Establishing Shot

An Establishing Shot sets out a scene in a movie. It will set out the mis-en-scene and also show the main character allowing the audience to get a grasp of what will occur within that part of the film. Here I have used an establishing shot from Forest Gump (1994)

Mid Shot

A Mid Shot shows the Character from a closer view than a long shot. It tends to focus on a particular character and allows some of the emotion of the person to get through. Here is an example of a mid-shot from the film Kickass (2010)

Close Up Shot

A Close Up shot is usually used to get a dramatic response from the audience as they will look at a certain signifying object from the film or a characters face to convey how they fell emotionally allowing to add drama. Here is a Close Up Shot from Titanic (1997)

Extreme Close Up Shot

An Extreme Close Up Shot will specifically look at a certain part of a person or object. It will be used to focus a key point in the movie, either to look at a change in a character or a key object which'll play a part soon in the film and will have high importance in the movie's course. Here is an example from Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Low Angle Shot

A Low Angle Shot is when the camera looks upwards towards something. It can be used so as to focus on the dominance of a scene or to show the scale of the location. Here is an example of a low angle shot from My Bloody Valentine (2009)

High Angle Shot

A High Angle Shot is when the camera looks downwards towards something. It can be used to look at the heirarchy in a movie or to discover something on the ground. Here is an example from The Lion King (1995)

Birds Eye View Shot

A Birds Eye View Shot is when the camera looks at something from right ontop of it. The Camera will face straight down to look at something exactly beneath it. An example of this can be seen in this shot from American Beauty (1999)