Film and video editing techniques: Shot variation

Shot variation

Shot variation requires using a variety of shots in a film. This can be in the forms of:

Extreme long shot

(ELS) A view from a greater distance, showing people as small dots in the landscape. Used to show a location or time passing (day to night).

Used in:
Ratatouille

The walking dead

Wall-e

Long shot

(LS) A shot that is taken from a distance. Usually shows people in a smaller scale compared to the scenery.

Used in:

The good, the bad and the ugly

28 Weeks later

The Avengers

Medium long shot

(MLS) Also known as the three quarters shot. The subject will be seen from the knees upwards. Can be used to show movements or actions.

Used in:
The Matrix
Badboys
The Martian

Medium (mid) shot

(MS) The subject is shot from the waist upwards.

Used in:
The Hobbit
Pulp Fiction
Scott Pilgrim

Medium close up

(MCU) Cuts off from the subjects chest. Focuses on their face.

Used in:
O' brother where art thou
The Shawshank Redemption
Batman

Close up

(CU) The subject will take up most of the shot.

Used in:
Harry Potter
12 years a slave
Indiana Jones

Big close up

(BCU) Subject will again take up most of the shot but will not include all of their face, it may cut off their chin etc.

Used in:

X-men

From dusk til dawn

The shining

Extreme close up

(ECU) Usually shows an intense shot, will show the subjects eyes and top of their nose for their reactions or emotions.

Used in:
Blair witch project
Titanic
Silence of the lambs

Two-shot

(TS) Shows two subjects in the same shot. Used to show a relationship between two characters.

Used in:

Se7en

Star trek

The hunger games

Over the shoulder shot

(OTS) The camera will be behind a subject's shoulder with the shot focusing on a second subject, usually facing towards the camera.

Used in:
Meet the parents
Inception
The hangover

High angle

(HA) The camera will be raised higher than it's focus. It will look down towards the subject usually to portray that the subject is powerless or vulnerable.

Used in:
Lord of the rings
The Grand Budapest Hotel
James Bond

Low angle

(LA) From a low angle the shot will be looking up towards the subject, portraying that the subject might be a hero, or can be used to show the character's perspective to show that they are looking at.

Used in:
Reservoir dogs

Charlie and the chocolate factory

Spiderman

Dutch tilt

(DT) This angle has the camera on it's roll axis at a 45 degree angle to portray disorientation or madness.
The Dutch tilt was used a lot in German films of the 1930s and 1940s. This is where the name German angle came from. The Dutch term is said to have been a mistranslation of the German Deutsch.