TYPES OF SHOTS AND CAMERA ANGLES

A television production is made up of hundreds and thousands of pictures, called shots, each of which must be carefully planned. To make television programs more interesting, various types of shots are used.

Types of Shots

There are three main shots describing how near or far the camera is from the subject. A closeup (cu) shows only one part of the subject, usually in great detail. Close-ups would include shots of a person's face, or the paws of a dog walking down a path, of a hand on a doorbell, or of a tree branch.  An extreme close (xcu) zooms in even further and shows a portion of the person's face, eg, just their eyes.

A picture showing half of the subject, such as a character from the waist up or the back end of a car, is a medium shot (ms).

A long shot (ls) shows the whole subject: a person from head to foot or the entire car. Any of these shots can show one subject or more at the same time.

These three shots are used for specific reasons. An establishing shot at the beginning of a scene tells viewers where they are; for example, a long shot of a car driving up to a hotel or a close-up of a restaurant sign. To show the effect of one person's words or actions on the other people in the scene, a reaction shot is used.  It is usually a closeup of a person's face to show their emotional reaction.

In general, television is a close-up medium: things look better in close-up because the screen is small. However, mixing the shots provides variety and gives information needed to keep the story moving.

Camera Angles

The angle from which a shot is taken is another way to give variety as well as information. A high-angle shot positions the camera above eye-level, looking down on the subject, which consequently appears insignificant, weak, helpless, or small according to how extreme the angle is. An  eye-level shot gives the viewer the feeling that the situation is normal or neutral.  The viewer feels comfortable because what we see appears natural on the screen. If we choose to show children in a scene we must shoot at their eye level or they will appear insignificant. Try recording children by simply sitting down when you’re ready to record. A low-angle shot has the camera looking up at the subject, making the subject appear important, powerful, or domineering, again depending on how exaggerated the angle is. Usually the camera looks at the subject, but occasionally a reverse-angle shot is used.  With a reverse-angle shot the camera is behind the subject, looking over their shoulder to show what he/she is seeing, as if we were looking through the subject's eyes.