This is a brief summary of the most common shots in films, and how they can be utilised to create the most effective final outcome.
1. Crane Shot: A shot wherein the camera is placed on a crane or rig and moved up and down or left to right. It can be used effectively to highlight a characters loneliness, rendering them small or insignificant, and is traditionally used to end a film, as the camera moves away to show the story ending and its plot/characters receding.
Example: The above crane shot from Gone With the Wind, where Scarlett arrives at the train depot.
2. Zoom: A shot deploying a lens with a varying focal length which allows the distance between camera and shot to be increased or decreased without physical movement of the camera.
Example: The slow descending zoom that picks out Mark (Frederic Forrest) and Ann (Cindy Williams) out of a crowd in The Conversation (1974).
3. Whip Pan: A whip pan is a type of pan shot in which the camera pans so quickly that the picture blurs into indistinct streaks. It is commonly used as a transition between shots, and can indicate the passage of time or a frenetic pace of action. Whip pans have seen a resurgence in the works of Wes Anderson and Edgar Wright.
Example: The opening sequence of Hot Fuzz, detailing the life and achievements of Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg).
4.Two Shot: A medium shot that depicts two people in the frame. Used primarily when a filmmaker desires to establish links between characters without having them directly face each other.
Example: This shot wherein Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) confer with each other in David Fincher’s Se7en.
5. Tracking Shot: A shot that follows a subject be it from behind or alongside or in front of the subject. A refined version of a standard panning shot. Often utilised by Stanley Kubrick, Andrei Tarkovsky, Terence Davies, Paul Thomas Anderson.
Example: The above shot from Moonrise Kingdom where the camera follows Suzy Bishop (Kara Hyward) as she walks.
6. Top Shot: A shot looking directly down on a scene rather than at an angle. Also known as a Birds-Eye-View or Gods-Eye-View shot. Often used by Jared Hess and Wes Anderson to further enforce the inherent artificiality of their films, as one feels one is studying the characters like specimens.
Example: Young Richie Tenenbaum stringing his tennis racket in The Royal Tenenbaums.
7. Tilt: A shot where the camera moves continuously Up to Down or Down To Up. A vertical panning shot. A tilt to the sky is traditionally a last shot in a movie. Can be used to denote a transition of time or place, or change the viewers eye line within a shot.
8. Steadicam Shot: A shot from a hydraulically balanced camera that allows for a smooth, fluid movement. Around since the late ’70s, invented by Garrett Brown. Beloved by Stanley Kubrick, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Alfonso Cuaron.
Example: Steadicam is used continually in Kubrick’s The Shining to create an eerie sense of detachment from the onscreen horror.
9. The Sequence Shot: A long shot that covers a scene in its entirety in one continuous sweep without editing.Often adds implicit tension as the viewer waits for the shot to end.
Example: The 3 min 20 secs opening of Touch Of Evil (1958) in which Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) and Susie (Janet Leigh) cross paths with a car carrying a ticking bomb.
10. POV Shot: A shot that depicts the point of view of a character so that we see exactly what they see. Often used in Horror cinema to see the world through a killer’s eyes. Creates a sense of investment and involvement with the onscreen action.
Example: The dinner table scene in The Royal Tenenbaums, wherein the viewer assumes the position of the family’s father Royal (Gene Hackman).
11. Pan: A shot where the camera moves continuously right to left or left to right. An abbreviation of “panning”.
Example: Circular pans are used to show the passage of time in Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople
12. Over-the-Shoulder Shot: A shot where the camera is positioned behind one subject’s shoulder, usually during a conversation. It implies a connection between the speakers as opposed to the single shot that suggests distance.
Example: This shot of the T-Rex in Jurassic Park uses the presence of Sam Neill’s character Alan Grant to emphasise the enormous size of the the dinosaur and gives compositional interest.
13. Locked Down Shot: A shot where the camera is fixed in one position while the action continues off-screen. It is designed to show the spontaneity of life, and how it cannot always be neatly caught on camera.
Example: Woody Allen’s Manhattan uses locked down shots to convey the messy lives of its central characters.
14. Low Angle Shot: A shot looking up at a character or subject often making them look bigger in the frame. It can make everyone look heroic and/or help them to dominate the frame.
Example: This low angle shot from Fantastic Mr Fox shows the combined power of the animals as they team up against the three evil farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean.
15. Handheld Shot: A shot in which the camera operator holds the camera during motion to create a jerky, immediate feel. Beloved by Steven Soderbergh and Paul Greengrass.
Example: Paul Greengrass uses handheld shot in the Bourne films to add a sense of immediacy and impact to its notorious action sequences.
16. Dutch Tilt: A shot where the camera is tilted on its side to create a kooky angle. Often used to suggest disorientation. Often seen in the films of Tim Burton and early German expressionists. It gives a sense of innate strangeness to an image.
Example: In the Sherlock episode His Last Vow, Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) is shot by Mary Watson (Amanda Abbington), and retreats to his mind palace to calm himself. He imagines himself as a child, and dutch tilt is used to suggest his disorientation whilst also alluding to the scenes being detached from reality.
17. Dolly Zoom: A shot that sees the camera track forward toward a subject while simultaneously zooming out creating a woozy, vertiginous effect. Initiated in Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958).
Example: This shot from Jaws signals distress and incoming danger, as Spielberg utilises the dolly zoom to create a hazy and dizzying effect.
18. Deep Focus: A shot that keeps the foreground, middle ground and background ALL in sharp focus. Beloved by Orson Welles (and cinematographer Gregg Toland).
Example: The window scene in Citizen Kane, which keeps both the young Charles Foster Kane and his mother in focus, perhaps to show their conflicting ideas of what the young Charles’ future should be.
19. Long Shot: A shot that depicts an entire character or object from head to foot. Not as long as an establishing shot. Used often to show a barren or desolate landscape or to isolate a character.
Example: Lawrence of Arabia frequently uses long shots to visually isolate a character or to demonstrate just how uninhabited the land is.
20. Close Up: A shot that keeps only the face full in the frame. Perhaps the most important building block in cinematic storytelling. Creates a sense of intimacy, as the audience watches minute emotions play out over the faces of characters.
Example: George Bailey (James Stewart) realises the words of his guardian angel are true, and the world is in a state of existence where he has not been born in It’s A Wonderful Life.
21. Bridging Shot: A shot that denotes a shift in time or place, like a line moving across an animated map.
Example: As the fugitive Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hyward) escape to Fort Lebanon in Moonrise Kingdom, their progress is tracked on a map by animated glowing points.
22. Arc Shot: A shot in which the subject is circled by the camera. When used without music, gives the sense of a character being circled by a shark or some such ominous creature.
Example: An arc shot is used in Amélie to show how this interaction has proved a revelation for Amélie (Audrey Tautou) herself. It signifies a new beginning and an era of goodwill.
23. Aerial Shot: An exterior shot filmed from the air. Often used to establish a (usually exotic) location or to show a film ending/transitioning.
Example: This aerial shot from The Hobbit emphasises the beauty of the Shire, and gives a more complete picture of it as a location to the viewer.
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A Crash Course in Cinematography: Shot Types
This is a brief summary of the most common shots in films, and how they can be utilised to create the most effective final outcome.
1. Crane Shot: A shot wherein the camera is placed on a crane or rig and moved up and down or left to right. It can be used effectively to highlight a characters loneliness, rendering them small or insignificant, and is traditionally used to end a film, as the camera moves away to show the story ending and its plot/characters receding.
Example: The above crane shot from Gone With the Wind, where Scarlett arrives at the train depot.
2. Zoom: A shot deploying a lens with a varying focal length which allows the distance between camera and shot to be increased or decreased without physical movement of the camera.
Example: The slow descending zoom that picks out Mark (Frederic Forrest) and Ann (Cindy Williams) out of a crowd in The Conversation (1974).
3. Whip Pan: A whip pan is a type of pan shot in which the camera pans so quickly that the picture blurs into indistinct streaks. It is commonly used as a transition between shots, and can indicate the passage of time or a frenetic pace of action. Whip pans have seen a resurgence in the works of Wes Anderson and Edgar Wright.
Example: The opening sequence of Hot Fuzz, detailing the life and achievements of Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg).
4.Two Shot: A medium shot that depicts two people in the frame. Used primarily when a filmmaker desires to establish links between characters without having them directly face each other.
Example: This shot wherein Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) confer with each other in David Fincher’s Se7en.
5. Tracking Shot: A shot that follows a subject be it from behind or alongside or in front of the subject. A refined version of a standard panning shot. Often utilised by Stanley Kubrick, Andrei Tarkovsky, Terence Davies, Paul Thomas Anderson.
Example: The above shot from Moonrise Kingdom where the camera follows Suzy Bishop (Kara Hyward) as she walks.
6. Top Shot: A shot looking directly down on a scene rather than at an angle. Also known as a Birds-Eye-View or Gods-Eye-View shot. Often used by Jared Hess and Wes Anderson to further enforce the inherent artificiality of their films, as one feels one is studying the characters like specimens.
Example: Young Richie Tenenbaum stringing his tennis racket in The Royal Tenenbaums.
7. Tilt: A shot where the camera moves continuously Up to Down or Down To Up. A vertical panning shot. A tilt to the sky is traditionally a last shot in a movie. Can be used to denote a transition of time or place, or change the viewers eye line within a shot.
8. Steadicam Shot: A shot from a hydraulically balanced camera that allows for a smooth, fluid movement. Around since the late ’70s, invented by Garrett Brown. Beloved by Stanley Kubrick, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Alfonso Cuaron.
Example: Steadicam is used continually in Kubrick’s The Shining to create an eerie sense of detachment from the onscreen horror.
9. The Sequence Shot: A long shot that covers a scene in its entirety in one continuous sweep without editing.Often adds implicit tension as the viewer waits for the shot to end.
Example: The 3 min 20 secs opening of Touch Of Evil (1958) in which Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) and Susie (Janet Leigh) cross paths with a car carrying a ticking bomb.
10. POV Shot: A shot that depicts the point of view of a character so that we see exactly what they see. Often used in Horror cinema to see the world through a killer’s eyes. Creates a sense of investment and involvement with the onscreen action.
11. Pan: A shot where the camera moves continuously right to left or left to right. An abbreviation of “panning”.
Example: Circular pans are used to show the passage of time in Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople
12. Over-the-Shoulder Shot: A shot where the camera is positioned behind one subject’s shoulder, usually during a conversation. It implies a connection between the speakers as opposed to the single shot that suggests distance.
Example: This shot of the T-Rex in Jurassic Park uses the presence of Sam Neill’s character Alan Grant to emphasise the enormous size of the the dinosaur and gives compositional interest.
13. Locked Down Shot: A shot where the camera is fixed in one position while the action continues off-screen. It is designed to show the spontaneity of life, and how it cannot always be neatly caught on camera.
Example: Woody Allen’s Manhattan uses locked down shots to convey the messy lives of its central characters.
14. Low Angle Shot: A shot looking up at a character or subject often making them look bigger in the frame. It can make everyone look heroic and/or help them to dominate the frame.
Example: This low angle shot from Fantastic Mr Fox shows the combined power of the animals as they team up against the three evil farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean.
15. Handheld Shot: A shot in which the camera operator holds the camera during motion to create a jerky, immediate feel. Beloved by Steven Soderbergh and Paul Greengrass.
Example: Paul Greengrass uses handheld shot in the Bourne films to add a sense of immediacy and impact to its notorious action sequences.
16. Dutch Tilt: A shot where the camera is tilted on its side to create a kooky angle. Often used to suggest disorientation. Often seen in the films of Tim Burton and early German expressionists. It gives a sense of innate strangeness to an image.
Example: In the Sherlock episode His Last Vow, Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) is shot by Mary Watson (Amanda Abbington), and retreats to his mind palace to calm himself. He imagines himself as a child, and dutch tilt is used to suggest his disorientation whilst also alluding to the scenes being detached from reality.
17. Dolly Zoom: A shot that sees the camera track forward toward a subject while simultaneously zooming out creating a woozy, vertiginous effect. Initiated in Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958).
Example: This shot from Jaws signals distress and incoming danger, as Spielberg utilises the dolly zoom to create a hazy and dizzying effect.
18. Deep Focus: A shot that keeps the foreground, middle ground and background ALL in sharp focus. Beloved by Orson Welles (and cinematographer Gregg Toland).
Example: The window scene in Citizen Kane, which keeps both the young Charles Foster Kane and his mother in focus, perhaps to show their conflicting ideas of what the young Charles’ future should be.
19. Long Shot: A shot that depicts an entire character or object from head to foot. Not as long as an establishing shot. Used often to show a barren or desolate landscape or to isolate a character.
Example: Lawrence of Arabia frequently uses long shots to visually isolate a character or to demonstrate just how uninhabited the land is.
20. Close Up: A shot that keeps only the face full in the frame. Perhaps the most important building block in cinematic storytelling. Creates a sense of intimacy, as the audience watches minute emotions play out over the faces of characters.
Example: George Bailey (James Stewart) realises the words of his guardian angel are true, and the world is in a state of existence where he has not been born in It’s A Wonderful Life.
21. Bridging Shot: A shot that denotes a shift in time or place, like a line moving across an animated map.
Example: As the fugitive Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hyward) escape to Fort Lebanon in Moonrise Kingdom, their progress is tracked on a map by animated glowing points.
22. Arc Shot: A shot in which the subject is circled by the camera. When used without music, gives the sense of a character being circled by a shark or some such ominous creature.
Example: An arc shot is used in Amélie to show how this interaction has proved a revelation for Amélie (Audrey Tautou) herself. It signifies a new beginning and an era of goodwill.
23. Aerial Shot: An exterior shot filmed from the air. Often used to establish a (usually exotic) location or to show a film ending/transitioning.
Example: This aerial shot from The Hobbit emphasises the beauty of the Shire, and gives a more complete picture of it as a location to the viewer.
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