Professional Documents
Culture Documents
digital images, rather than on film. Digital capture may occur on tape,
hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data. As
digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly
common. Many mainstream Hollywood movies now are shot partly or fully
digitally.
An establishing shot in film and television sets up, or establishes the context for a
scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects. It is
generally a long- or extreme-long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where,
and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place.
his can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally
used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EX
ERIOR, e.g.
the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of
thrilling action e.g. in a war film or disaster movie.
here will be very little detail
visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific
information.
In film or video, an over the shoulder shot (also over shoulder, OS, OTS, or third-
person shot) is a shot of someone or something taken over the shoulder of another
person. The back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image
of whatever (or whomever) the camera is pointing toward. This type of shot is very
common when two characters are having a discussion and will usually follow an
establishing shot which helps the audience place the characters in their setting. It is
an example of a camera angle.
his is the most difficult to categorize
precisely, but is generally one which shows
the image as approximately "life" size i.e.
corresponding to the real distance between
the audience and the screen in a cinema
(the figure of a man would appear as six
feet tall).
his category includes the FULL
SHO
showing the entire human body, with
the head near the top of the frame and the
feet near the bottom. While the focus is on
characters, plenty of background detail still
emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right
are in a Western-style setting, for instance.
Contains a figure from the knees/waist up
and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or
to show some detail of action. Variations on
this include the
WO SHO
(containing two
figures from the waist up) and the
HREE
SHO
(contains 3 figures...). NB. Any more
than three figures and the shot tends to
become a long shot. Background detail is
minimal, probably because location has
been established earlier in the scene - the
audience already know where they are
and now want to focus on dialogue and
character interaction. Another variation in
this category is the OVER-
HE-SHOULDER-
SHO
, which positions the camera behind
one figure, revealing the other figure, and
part of the first figure's back, head and
shoulder.
his shows very little background, and
concentrates on either a face, or a specific
detail of mise en scène. Everything else is
just a blur in the background.
his shot
magnifies the object (think of how big it
looks on a cinema screen) and shows the
importance of things, be it words written on
paper, or the expression on someone's face.
The pull-back reveal is used to reveal the full extent of a scene. or example,
the camera is focused up close on a lost little boy looking for his mother. As
he becomes scared and increasingly worried, the shot pulls back to reveal
the boy standing alone in the middle of a large crowd. The viewers gain a
sense of the enormity of the boy's situation.
h
A depth dolly can be used when characters move toward and away from the
camera. The camera moves past characters or objects that temporarily block
the field of view, helping to emphasize the depth of a scene.
O
In an expand dolly shot, the camera follows a character who is moving away.
As the camera moves forward, the actor walks away faster than the camera.
The viewer feels distanced from the character with a shot like this. You might
use an expand dolly to end a scene. Additionally, you can reverse this type of
shot to introduce a character to a scene.
Õ