1. Camerawork
Shots
Close up is used to reveal detail. If you are shooting just the head and shoulders of
a subject this is a close up.
Mid shot is shot from just below the waist to above the head. This gives an idea of
what is going on around the character.
Long shot shows the entire body of a character, and is usually used for someone
who is walking or moving.
Over the shoulder is used within situations such as interviews, where the shoulder
of one person is shown as well as the face of another, showing their reactions.
Two shot is most commonly used when two characters are having a conversation,
and is composed of their heads and torsos.
Establishing shot is a very wide shot designed to show the surroundings of a setting
and is usually the first shot of a scene.
Master shot shows the entire scene as it is played out from the beginning to end.
Then other shots are put in afterwards to develop the scene.
Wide shot shows all of the character and all of the surroundings that they are in to
establish where they are.
Aerial shot is an extremely high angle of view on the subject, usually taken from a
helicopter or top of a building.
Point of view shot shows where a character is looking at, from their perspective.
2. Camerawork
Angle
High angle is when something is shot from above the subject matter.
Low angle is when something is shot from below the subject matter.
Canted angle is when something is shot oblique to the subject matter, slanted.
3. Camerawork
Movement
Pan is when the camera is sweeping across the subject matter or landscape.
Tilt is when the camera is stationary but moves in a vertical plane.
Track is when the camera follows a character or subject as they are moving.
Dolly a piece of equipment on a track to which the camera is mounted to create
smooth movement of the camera.
Crane is used to mount a camera to in order to view a character from above and for
the camera to usually move away from them.
Steadicam is a piece of handheld equipment used to steady the camera.
Hand-held is a camera that the operator holds directly in their hands.
Zoom is when the camera moves smoothly from a mid or long shot to a close up.
Reverse zoom is when the camera moves smoothly from a close up to a mid or long
shot.
4. CameraworkComposition
Framing is when a motion picture camera automatically controls the position of successive
still photographs on the film so that, when the film is subsequently projected, the image will
appear steady on the screen.
Rule of thirds are when photos are divided into thirds with two imaginary lines vertically and
two lines horizontally making three columns, three rows, and nine sections in the images. This
stems from the theory that the human eye naturally gravitates to intersection points that
occur when an image is split into thirds, creating a more interesting composition when objects
or characters are placed in these areas.
Depth of field is the zone in which a camera's lens focuses most. It is not a fixed distance, it
changes in size and can be described as being either 'shallow', where only a small zone
appears sharp, or 'deep', where more of the picture appears sharp.
Deep focus is when the foreground, middle-ground and background are all in focus, with
almost no visible areas that aren’t in focus.
Shallow focus is a technique incorporating a small depth of field; one plane of the image is in
focus while the rest is out of focus.
Focus pull is a creative camera technique in which you change focus during a shot. Usually this
means adjusting the focus from one subject to another.
