Type of shot

What is happening in the shot?

Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject

This shot has been used to make the audience

the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character integration..

Mid angle

High angle

The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant.

Seem smaller, and less significant. The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

Low angle

The camera is shown from a low angle and is shown filming up towards the character/object.

These increase height and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen
. This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things. Hitchcock is fond of this style of shot.

Birds eye view

This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first

Close up

This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of

To show a detail for example, facial expressions.

mise en scne. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object

Extreme close up

An extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme closeup of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever.

To show detail a lot of detail in a very close up position, for example the eye, showing expression whether the person is sleeping.

Long shot

Generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size e.g corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema.

Allows the audience to see a lot of the background, not much detail to be seen. Easier to movements.

Extreme long shot

Over the shoulder shot

This 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 EXTERIOR, 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. The over the shoulder shot reveals one subject as seen from over the shoulder of another subject. It simulates a view of the subject as seen from the second person's eyes.

There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information

It allows the viewer to be almost a point of view shot from the speaker (which is usually the one with the back towards the camera.