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Summary of Chapter Two

This document summarizes different types of shots and considerations for selecting shots for editing. It outlines basic shot types from extreme close-ups to long shots. Shots can be simple with no camera or lens movement, or complex with pans, tilts, zooms, or subject movement. When reviewing footage, the editor considers criteria like focus, audio quality, exposure, framing, screen direction, matching angles and eye lines, and continuity of action and dialogue. Framing refers to camera placement while composition is the arrangement within the frame. Screen direction describes a subject's movement relative to the camera.

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139 views5 pages

Summary of Chapter Two

This document summarizes different types of shots and considerations for selecting shots for editing. It outlines basic shot types from extreme close-ups to long shots. Shots can be simple with no camera or lens movement, or complex with pans, tilts, zooms, or subject movement. When reviewing footage, the editor considers criteria like focus, audio quality, exposure, framing, screen direction, matching angles and eye lines, and continuity of action and dialogue. Framing refers to camera placement while composition is the arrangement within the frame. Screen direction describes a subject's movement relative to the camera.

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mahirwecynhtia1
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SUMMARY OF CHAPTER TWO: UNDERSTANDING THE FOOTAGE

Basic Shot Types


● Extreme close-up (XCU or ECU) : Purely a detail shot. The framing favors one aspect of a
subject such as his or her eyes, mouth, ear, or hand; may be a magnifi cation of any object or
item or merely just a part of an object or item.
● Big close-up (BCU): human face occupies as much of the frame as possible and still shows the
key features of eyes, nose, and mouth at once.
● Close-up (CU) : Sometimes called a “ head shot ” because the framing is primarily the face,
but it may cut off the top of the subject’s hair. The bottom of frame can begin anywhere just
below the chin or with the neck and a little upper shoulder visible
● Medium close-up (MCU): Character’s facial features are rather clear. Where the eyes look is
obvious, as is emotion, hair style and color, make-up, etc. This is one of the most common shots
in filmmaking because it provides so much information about the character while speaking,
listening, or performing an action that does not involve much body or head movement.
● Medium shot (MS): Shows more of who than where and may still show when.
● Medium long shot (MLS): May not work well for an establishing shot because it may not
show enough of the environment to provide the required information to the audience.
● Long shot (LS) or wide shot (WS): show from head to foot
● Very long shot (VLS): The human figure is visible but only generalities of race, mood, clothing,
and hair may be observed. The environment within the film space dominates much of the
screen.
● Extreme long shot (XLS or ELS): Encompasses a large fi eld of view, therefore forms an image
that shows a large amount of the environment within the film space.
● Two shot (2S): Contains two subjects who generally either face toward camera or face each
other in profile to camera.
● Over the shoulder: A special 2-shot in which one subject is “ favored ” facing camera either
frame left or frame right and the other subject has his or her back turned toward camera on the
opposite side of the frame. The non-favored subject create an “ L ” shape at the edge and
bottom of frame with the back of their head and their shoulder; hence the name. The camera
shoots over one subject’s shoulder to frame up the face of the other subject for the viewer to
see.

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Increasing Shot Complexity
It is worth noting that all of the shot types outlined above have one thing in common: they
belong to an over-arching shot category that we like to call simple shots. They could, however,
evolve into two more of our categories — complex shots or developing shots. Before we clarify
what constitutes a simple, complex, or developing shot, we should give just a bit of attention to
the four basic elements of shot creation whose presence helps dictate into which category a
shot may be placed. LENS — Does the camera’s lens move during the shot? Does the lens alter
its light gathering characteristics while the shot is being recorded? Since the camera is
stationary, lens movement can only be achieved while using a zoom or a vari-focal lens. So you
have to determine if there is a zoom or a focal length change during the shot.
CAMERA — Does the entire camera body move during the shot? Essentially, is there a panning
action or a tilting action executed while the camera is recording the shot? The camera mount
(tripod head) would have to allow for these horizontal and vertical axis changes, but the camera
support (tripod) would not be in motion.
MOUNT/SUPPORT — Does the camera’s mount or support physically move the camera around
the film set or location during a shot? In a television studio the camera is mounted atop a
pedestal, which can boom up (raise camera height) or boom down (lower camera height) and
roll around the smooth floor. On a film set, the camera can be mounted to a moving dolly on
tracks (for crab or truck moves), it can be attached to a crane or jib arm, or suspended from
cables or a Steadicam and so forth.
SUBJECT — Does the subject recorded with the camera move during the shot? The subject can
be a person or multiple people, an animal, an animate object (something capable of moving
itself like a remote-controlled toy car), or an inanimate object (something that does not move,
like a vase or a pirate’s treasure chest).

Simple Shots
● No lens movement

● No camera movement
● No mount movement
● Simple subject movement

2
Complex Shots
● Lens movement
● Camera movement
● No mount movement
● Simple subject movement

A complex shot may contain a:


● Pan

● Tilt
● Pan and tilt (diagonal upward or downward camera lens movement)
● Lens movement (zoom or a focus pull)
● Lens movement and a pan (hiding a zoom by panning the camera)
● Lens movement and a tilt (hiding the zoom by tilting the camera)
● Subject movement and a pan
● Subject movement and a tilt

Developing Shots
● Lens movement

● Camera movement
● Mounting movement
● More complex subject movement

Reviewing the Footage — Selecting the Best Shots


We should all feel rather comfortable now identifying the various types of shots that may be
used to record the images of a motion picture. With these committed to memory, it will be that
much easier to organize them when you acquire and review the footage to be edited.

3
Be forewarned, however, that not every shot type may be used to generate coverage for a
particular scene. For example, looking for an XLS in footage from an airplane cockpit dialogue
scene may not make much sense. Once you have the material organized, it will be helpful to
review each shot for its technical and aesthetic qualities. Certain criteria work for some motion
picture genres but not all movies, programs, commercials, or music videos can be held up to
one master checklist of good or bad qualities. What might never be allowed as acceptable in
one program type may be entirely encouraged in another. So, as an editor, you will have to
make your own judgment calls depending on the type of project you are editing and what the
end goals of that project are set to be.

What Could Make or Break a Shot?


The listing that follows, although certainly not exhaustive, should provide plenty of criteria upon
which you might base an analysis of the footage you will be editing. Again, the type of show you
have to cut will often come with its own style, traditions, and sense of what is acceptable and
what is not, but you should always be aware of these potential “gotchas”.
● Focus
● Audio quality
● Exposure and color temperature
● Framing and composition
● Screen direction
● 180 Degree rule
● 30 Degree rule
● Matching angles
● Matching eye-line
● Continuity of action
● Continuity of dialogue
● Performance

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Exposure and Color Temperature
With the advent of more powerful video editing software, issues with the exposure and color
temperature of the footage are no longer that difficult to fi x. Of course, you would prefer that
all shots were well-exposed and had the proper look for the color pallette from the very
beginning, so you really should start by selecting those first. But, if good material is present on
shots that have exposure issues (overall image is too bright or too dark) or color temperature
shifts (image looking overly blue or overly orange, etc.), then keep those shots for use and have
yourself or a video technician attend to their corrections with the software tools available. If you
have no tools for such a purpose, then look for other properly exposed and color-balanced
footage to

Framing and Composition


Framing refers to the physical placement of the camera, i.e., where you, as the
photographer, have decided to stand and point your camera, and in what angle and so
on. Composition refers to the arrangement of all elements within your scene. While
framing and composition may seem similar, there is a key difference between the two.
Framing refers to the placement of objects or characters within the frame, while
composition refers to the arrangement of visual elements within the frame. In summary:
 Framing: Refers to the physical placement of the camera.
 Composition: Refers to the arrangement of all elements within your scene.
 Framing refers to the placement of objects or characters within the frame,
while composition refers to the arrangement of visual elements within the
frame.

What is screen direction?


Screen direction, also known as camera direction, is the direction that
characters and objects move in the scene in relation to the frame. In describing
screen direction, you might say that a character is moving camera.

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