1. Introduction
From last week, we’ve started looking into videography for the first time. So far, we have
been analysing movie scenes, focusing most on the camerawork, helping us earn a better
understanding of the thought that goes into filming. This includes the camera shots, frame
use, angles, field depth, camera gear and movements. Only worked on 3 so far, we
discussed the camera use behind ‘Casino Royale’ (James Bond), Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The
Shining’. Then most recently, Spaghetti Western, ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly’.
Digging more into it, we as a class were also introduced to a YouTube channel who would
both discuss and explain exactly what we are on learning about. Studio Binder. Each episode
being different, the voice over guy would give both a visual representation for an example
followed by detailed explanations as to what each camerawork is, how it works, gets used
and why. All clearly understandable keeping us as the audience on track without making any
of it complicated. Which is actually quite a handy source for this particular course.
Shot size
Establishing shot:
Most common shot size.
Wide enough to establish the area, time and day, showing the scale of the
something/someone vs their environment, and is also commonly used to transition
between takes.
Great for first impressions.
Crucial for introductions, transitions and giving details about the location or world.
Master shot
Usually follows up after the establishing shot.
Confirms location of the scene.
Also clarifies who’s in the scene and where they are.
Captures the scene playing out and its entirety, providing footage to be cut.
Wide shot
Positions subjects far from the camera to show their relation to the environment.
About the scale of the subject.
Helps the character appear lost, lonely or overwhelmed. Or/and show their relation to the
area.
Helps end a scene.
Full shot
Shows a character’s entire body.
Common but isn’t needed for the character to be in the centre of the frame but is effective
as it shows the characters face as well as their posture.
Use to present and make statements about a subject’s physicality.
Medium full shot/cowboy shot
Head to just below their waist.
Referred to as cowboy shots due to the height of gun holsters.
2. Makes the character look confident, dangerous or confrontational.
Medium shot
Most popular in all of cinema.
More of neutral shot, captures the subject similar to how we interact with people.
From between their waist and chest to just above their head.
Use it to dig into the characters eyes without losing their physicality or the environment.
Medium close-up
Mid-chest to just above their head.
Reduces distraction focusing on the characters story and detail.
Close-up
Most powerful visual weapon for capturing a change in emotion or dramatic beat on-screen.
Often at eye level so the audience can see the characters thoughts and feelings.
About empathy or dramatic effect.
Extreme close-up
Captures a specific area.
One of the greatest tools for emphasis.
Most intimate, dramatic and potentially startling.
Frames
Single
Can be clean or dirty.
Features one character alone on frame being the primary focus.
Clean shows isolation.
Dirty includes a limited appearance of another character in the frame.
Two shot
Extra can be seen in shot but their faces must not be visible.
Shows a visual relationship between only two characters. The relationship could be
affectionate, pretentious, or even imaginary.
(Number) shot
There is no max number of people who can share a frame.
Instead of counting groups of people who will be in the shot, the frame would be called a
‘crowd shot.’
Over the shoulder shot
Hybrid between a single and a two shot.
Perspectives from both angles are given with a sense that we’ve been included in on the
moment.
Point of view
3. Let’s the audience experience the same as the character.
Can work from the perspective of a person, non-person character, camera, a spirit or an
animal.
The POV shot also works through audio, letting the audience hear the same as what the
character hears.
Insert shot
Insert shot would be used when focusing on a prop or detail within the scene.
Can be combined with POV shots.
Angles
Low angle
below a character’s eye whilst looking up at them.
Makes the subject look more powerful.
Doesn’t have to be a human character as the effect will be the same.
High angle
Makes the subject look weak or/and vulnerable.
Another variation of the high ang shot is known as the ‘ariel shot’. Often used to establish
environments, cities, landscapes, or to present characters moving through a larger world.
Overhead/Birds eye view/Gods eye view
At 90 degrees, the angle becomes an overhead shot facing straight down.
Great for showing complex movement, one’s connection to their environment or
showcasing detail in an area.
Dutch Angle
Off balance, horizontal image.
Creates effects such as a sense of unease, mania, terror or bewilderment.
Impacts scenes like where tension can be found in such acts as betrayal. As the tension
builds, the angle turns more adding effect.
Eye level
Possibly the most common camera height for filming.
Comes off as most natural filming technique for the audience.
Very engaging as can even be used for breaking the fourth wall.
Helps create a connection between the characters and the audience.
Shoulder level
Common and neutral.
Gives off the illusion as a low angle only not that heavy as an angle.
Mostly used for conversations whilst also showing one’s connection to the other speaker.
Can also be used to show height difference leading to a power difference.
Hip level
Can be found in every genre but is found to be most used in Westerns due to showing a
cowboy’s gun holster ready for a fight.
4. Knee level
Can be a great way to follow an on-screen character/s.
Also, a great way to highlight character details that could have been easily missed if a wider
shot was in use.
Ground level
Either used shooting at a ground level or sometimes even below ground.
Can double as a low angle when any form of an upper tilt is added to the shot.
By rolling from ground level, a character’s movement can be tracked; and details can be
captured.
Depth of field
Deep focus
Both the subject and background are shown in full high-definition detail.
Used in situations such as there being a group of people sharing one shot or when details
are found in the background the audience needs to know about.
Information is offered to the viewer giving time for the audience to explore what is going on
behind the main character as such allowing plenty of action to play out in more than one
way at a time.
With everything in clear focus for the scene, “it is our own eyes that do the editing”
Great use for when you want everything in the shot to be clear or when you want a scene to
be identified with having action in all the foreground, middle ground and the background.
Shallow focus
Having only the selected portion of the scene clear whilst, at the same time, leaving the rest
in a soft blur.
Can be chosen for the use of a romantic element, extreme focus on a certain detail or to
isolate a subject.
Useful for guiding the audience’s attention or/and suggest a character’s emotion state,
emphasising.
Soft focus
Keeps nothing in focus.
Soft focus, in the past, used to be commonly used to highlight the beauty of female stars.
Being a rare use of the technique these days, now soft focus is now mostly used for dream
sequences, flashbacks, helping to suggest a dream-like scene.
Rack focus
Transitioning different points of focus within one shot.
Some uses are clear and eye-catching whilst others can be subtle, easily miss-able.
Saving the need for editing, when done perfectly a shot can continue to play out with the
technique in use.
Best used for when you want to highlight an element or/and show one’s connection to it
without cutting.
5. Split dioptre
Capturing two separate vocal points in deep focus whilst the area between them is blurred
out.
This technique can be used when important information is both in the foreground and
background but want to ignore the middle saving the use of deep focus.
Another way to use this technique is to highlight two characters in conversation or situation,
and rather than switching the camera one to the other, their backgrounds will be blurred
having them look linked as if the subjects are sharing the same spot. Although, due to the
unnatural look, this use of the split dioptre is barely used.
If uncareful, this technique can lose the interest of the audience.
Tilt shift/Swing shift
Like the split dioptre technique, the tilt shift as well, if not careful enough, can lose the
interest of the audience.
Bends the light creating a combination of both a horizontal blur and focus.
Can give the illusion of the subject being a miniature.
An opportunity to use this would include a shift of perspectives.
Camera rig
Handheld
Handheld shots can be filmed with either a shoulder rig, or an easy rig.
Movement by this shot is meant to be shaky. In many cases, this helps to heighten the
intensity of a scene. Or if used subtly, it can build intimacy between the character and the
audience.
Or maybe even two in one. As a scene starts out, it could be quite intimate with who or
what is on-screen as the camera movement is quite subtle, then as it rolls out and leading to
something panicky or scary as such comes to play, the quality of the shake can build as at
the same time, intensity builds from both the subject and audience as the emotion is
shared.
Tripod/Static
Being a support mechanism, the rig equipment is great static shots, or shots with
movement.
The tripod allows the camera to move smoothly whether that’s left to right, or up and
down.
Ideally, by using the tripod, it can help to focus on the primary subject without any
distractions from too much camera movement, like for a dialogue scene, emotional single
shots and areas of filming that focus on locking and staging. Sometimes even for comedic
effect.
Pedestal
A camera mechanism that moves vertically up and down.
Can be used for matching the movement of an actor, establish a world, or even to build
suspense.
6. Cranes/Jib
‘Arms’ are used to extend the camera outwards and smoothly move in any direction
needed.
The large movements also help to achieve a specific emotion to a shot, whether that be
isolation, freedom, or spectacle.
Some shots can capture a scenes production design, blocking and movement all in a singular
take.
Overhead rig
By using this the overhead rig, perfect top-down shots can be captured with a variety of
scenarios.
Overhead shots help capture details whether it be a POV shot, or God’s eye view shot.
Being used as a Gods eye view, the protagonist can be portrayed as all-knowing and
powerful.
Although the rig is for overhead shots, based on budget, anything can help capture that
view. Including a crane.
Dolly
Prioritizes movement and precision.
A dolly is a (straight or curved) wheeled apparatus the camera is mounted on.
Perfect for when the camera is needed to push into a character, or out depending on the
circumstance.
Another great use is for following a character no matter the movement or action.
Needing a lot of heavy equipment and effort to use the dolly, so for an alternative there is
the camera slider. A smaller invention that creates the same effect but with less use.
A second option is a cable cam. Used to capture a subject moving in long distances or to
glide past obstructions, like maybe trees.
Combining the dolly with a lens zoom creates a vertigo effect. Best known as the ‘Zolly’
technique.
Stabilizer
Being man held, this product helps prevent unwanted camera shake, allowing the operator
to move freely in any direction.
Stabilizers allow the camera to move with the subject more organically than a dolly does.
Ideal for long takes, moving through large sets, or complex tracking shots.
Suspense can be greatly achieved by using this rig, moving through the tightest of places
quickly and smoothly in a way no other gear of technique can achieve.
Snorri Cam/Chest cam/Body cam/Body mount
A device connecting the camera to an actor.
POV is established by the movements of the actor.
Can be used to create vertigo, dizziness, and panic.
7. Both the point of view with Hers/His' facial expressions are managed to be captured using
the Snorri Cam making it close to impossible not to feel the characters emotions, anxiety,
and nausea.
When used correctly in the right context, it can completely immerse the audience into the
characters perspective.
Vehicle mount
Attaches onto a vehicle following the movement.
Is believed to sometimes be the only type of camera gear that manages to capture both the
realismand intensity of a movement.
Drone
Before drones, helicopters took on the role of being the most practical way of shooting
geographical shots capturing the establishments where filming.
Now with drones, wide aerial shots are taken for grand establishing shots, wild chase
scenes, or unique establishing shots. (Like the honourable band aid scene from Bohemian
Rhapsody).
Motion control
Known to produce the most creative shots known to cinema.
A device that allows the control and precise repetition off camera movement.
Effectively captures time-lapse shots.
Stop-motion animation relies heavily on this specific gear.
The most common use the rig has goes towards visual effects. Two shots can be taken with
the very same movement and precise framing.
Motion control can be used to replicate the exact movements needed helping VFX artists.
Underwater Housing
A waterproof case is equipped allowing full control whilst filming under water. This enables
the filmmakers to capture the suspense and action.
Shooting underwater helps the shot become more immersive, more intimate and also
engaging for those watching.
Being between as if the camera if floating and jumping up with each wave, both a more
intimate and anxious feeling are given to the audience. More than how keeping the camera
in the air constantly would do.
By gathering all this research, all the techniques are put together in notes making it easily
accessible and handy for when needed. With future projects coming up, rather than relying
on jotting it all down another day when I will need wasting time, I have it ready now saved.
The notes may not be very detailed or specific, but they are written down clear enough I
shouldn’t have any trouble understanding what they used for and how to do that when if it
comes to making my own videos. Even some useful ideas could come through by rereading
my options.
