Composition : Camera Shots
Information compiled from Michele Houston’s lecture notes and several websites including:
www.mediacollege.com
Everything in video is abbreviated. To communicate with any video professional you need to
know the vocabulary and the abbreviations.
First, watch this video:
http://videopia.org/watch/learn-mainmenu-231/212-framing--shot-composition-in-a-minute
Framing Commands:
The following commands are directions that a Director of Photography (DP), a Director, a
Producer, a Client, etc. may give to a camera person to express how they want a certain image
framed within the camera.
Shots are all about composition. Don't just point the camera at the subject; compose an image.
Framing is the process of creating composition. Framing technique is subjective. Below are a
few accepted industry guidelines to use as rules of thumb.
The rules of framing video images are essentially the same as those for still photography.
The photography industry assigned names to the most common types of shots a long time ago.
Film and Video use those same names. The names and their exact meanings may vary, but the
following examples give a rough guide to standard descriptions.
Basic shots are referred to in terms relative to the subject. For example, a "CU" or "close up" has
to be a close up of something. A close up of a building could also be described as a "WS" or
"wide shot" of a person standing in front of that building.
EWS (ELS)
Extreme Wide Shot or Extreme Long Shot.
The terms are interchangeable.
In this EWS, the view is so far from the subject that
she isn't visible. The point of an EWS is to show a
subject's surroundings. The EWS is often used as an
"establishing shot" - the first shot of a new scene,
designed to show the audience where action is taking
place. They can also be used to illustrate how many
people are at a protest or a concert, etc.
These shots convey information, not emotion.
1
WS (LS)
Wide Shot or Long Shot
What WS or LS mean depends on context. When
framing a single person a WS would show the
person's entire body and some of the background.
It doesn’t mean to make them a small part of the
frame. If you are framing a building, it might
mean to frame an entire side of the building, or a
large area.
MS
Medium Shot
When framing a shot of a person, frame them from
slightly below the waist to above the head,
ensuring headroom. Never cut someone off at a
body joint. Never have the top of someone’s head
touching the top of the frame.
CU
Close Up
When framing a person, a close up means to frame
them from the neck or the shoulders to the top of
the head, allowing for headroom.
Some people prefer less headroom and a
tighter cropping around a subject's shoulders
for CU shots. Notice that both of these shots
leave plenty of room under the person's chin.
If you're shooting video for a news interview,
you should try to leave room for CGs or
chyron of the person's name and title
underneath their chin.
2
ECU
Extreme Close Up
Just like every other shot listed, ECU’s can vary.
An ECU of a person in an interview means to
frame the person from the top of the shoulder to
their forehead. You chop off just a bit of their
head in the framing. Why? Because the
viewer’s mind fills in the top of the head without
thinking. Do not chop the frame under the
talent’s chin. This will make it seem like the
person's head is floating.
An ECU could also mean a shot so tight that you
only a person’s eyes or some other detail. It
could mean showing just the petals of a single
flower in a field of flowers. How to choose
correct framing depends on how the shot fits into
the other shots in the video and how it fits the
context of your story.
The ECU to the left is a beautiful shot, but it
does not leave room for text underneath the
person's chin. Not every shot is framed with an
interview in mind.
2- SHOT
Two-Shot
This is a common TV interview shot. Most
people begin an interview framing a shot
showing both the interviewer and the guest. It
is used as an establishing shot for interviews.
3
A 2 shot could be a shot of two actors
in a movie having a conversation.
O/S
Over the Shoulder Shot
This is a shot framed over one person’s shoulder. It
shows the shoulder and head of one person and a
frontal CU, MS or even WS of another person. It is
often used in interviews and in movies and TV to
make conversations more interesting.
Watching talking heads is boring. To make it
more interesting you first have to have super
content. I.e. They need to be talking about
something interesting or in a fiction film, they need
good dialogue. Good framing of shots and editing
can also help. Instead of framing simple 2 shots
and MS, you can mix it up with an occasional ECU
and O/S shots.
Box Shot
This is a news term. It means to frame an anchor with room for a graphic box
over their shoulder at the anchor desk. Some people will mistakenly call this an
O/S shot.
3 –SHOT
A three shot means what it sounds like. If
there are three people on a set, you frame a WS
that includes all three people.
4
P.O.V.
Point of View Show
This shot that shows an object or action from the
point of view of a character or from the subject’s
perspective. That means the camera becomes the
eyes of the subject.
5