The document defines various film camera techniques including: 1) Establishing shots establish the spatial relationships between characters and settings from a distant view. 2) Camera angles like low and high angles can make subjects seem grand or vulnerable. 3) Shots like close-ups, medium close-ups, and long shots frame subjects differently to convey meaning. 4) Camera movements like panning, tilting, tracking, and dollying follow or reframe subjects in dynamic ways.

1. Film Terms
By Leah Bridge.

2. Camera angle, shot,
movement & position.
Establishing shot – a shot usually involving a
distant framing, that shows the spatial
relations among the important figures,
objects and setting in a scene.
Low angled – the camera points upwards,
usually making the subject or setting seem
grand or threatening.
High angled – the camera looks down,
making the subject look vulnerable or
insignificant.

3. Close up – head and shoulders,
enabling you to easily see facial
expressions, so you can see what
characters are thinking and feeling.
Medium close up – from chest to head
Extreme close up – from just
about the eyebrows to just
below the mouth, or ever closer:
used to emphasise facial
expressions or to make the
subject looking threatening.

4. Long shot – a shot in which a figure can be seen
from head to toe.
Two/three shot – any shot with two/three
people in it.
Point of view – a shot from a characters
point of view.
Mid shot – shows the figure from
approximately the waist to the head. In
a mid shot, you can easily recognise an
individual but you can also see what
they are doing with their hands.

5. Aerial shot – a camera shot filmed from
an airplane, helicopter, blimp,
balloon, kite or high building.
Reaction shot – a shot showing a
characters expression as they react
to something.
Noddy – a type of reaction shot used in interviews, where we see
the interviewer apparently reacting to the interviewee.
Over the shoulder shot – a shot in
which we see a character over
another's shoulder, often used in
interviews or dialogues.

6. Panning – pivoting the camera to the
side to scan a scene or to follow a
moving object.
Tilting – pivoting the camera vertically
up or down.
Tracking – moving the camera itself
towards or away from the subject, or
to follow a moving subject.
Dollying – a trolley on which the
camera is pulled along the ground.

7. Zoom in/out – camera lens is varied to give the impression of moving
closer to, or away from the subject.
Framing – what’s included and excluded in an individual shot.
Composition – the complete arrangement of a scene by the director.
The process includes camera angles, lighting, properties,
characters and the movement of actors.
Hand held shot – a shot made without benefit from a tripod, dolly or
crane where the camera is held by the operator.
Rule of 3rds – grid over the image. The main image is normally in the
middle.
Depth of field – this means how much of the shot seems to be in
focus, in front of and behind the subject.
Focus pull – the refocusing of a lens during a shot to keep a moving
subject in focus or to change the person or object of attention.