Essential Film Shot Types and Camera Angles Explained

Film Techniques: Shot Types and Camera Angles

Film Techniques: Creating Meaning in Cinema

Film techniques describe the methods used to create meaning in film.

Camera Shots: Framing the Scene

Camera shots refer to the amount of space visible within one film frame. Camera shots are used to convey different aspects of a film's setting, characters, and themes.

Types of Camera Shots

• Extreme Wide Shot: Contains a large expanse of landscape. It is often used at the beginning of a scene or a film to establish where the action will take place.
• Wide Shot: Shows the whole person and other characters, but the background dominates the shot. This allows the viewer to understand the relationship between the characters and their environment.
• Medium Shot: Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes or to show some detail of action.
• Medium Close Up Shot: Shows the subject in more detail, often framed from just below the shoulders to the top of the head. From this shot, viewers can see the characters' faces more clearly, as well as their interaction with other characters.
• Close Up Shot: Contains just one character's face to show emotions. It is a very intimate shot that can be used to heighten tension. It shows very little background and concentrates on a face or a specific detail in the scene.
• Extreme Close Up: Contains one part of a character's face or any detail of an object. This technique is quite common in horror films and can be used to show tension and dramatic effect.

Camera Angles: Perspective and Power

Common Camera Angles

• Bird's Eye View: This shows a scene from overhead. It is a very unnatural and strange angle, so that familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognizable at first. This shot puts the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action.
• High Angle: The camera is elevated above the action, often using a crane, to give a general view, but it isn't as extreme as a bird's eye view. The object photographed seems smaller and less significant. This shot is used to make a person appear vulnerable.
• Eye Level: The camera is located perpendicular to the character's face, at the same height as the character's eyes. This angle puts the audience on an equal footing with the characters.
• Low Angle: This is a camera angle that looks up at the character. The height of the character can make him inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.
• Canted Angle (Dutch Angle): The camera is tilted, transforming the horizon into a slope. It is used to suggest imbalance, transition, and instability. A Dutch angle changes horizontal and vertical lines into diagonals and creates a more dynamic composition.