Research into Genre- Cinematography.

Film shots are an essential aspect of a movie where angles, transitions and cuts are used to further express emotion, ideas and movement. The term "shot" can refer to two different parts of the filmmaking process: In production, a shot is the moment that the camera starts rolling until the moment it stops.


Extreme Long Shot- This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information. This type of shot is useful for portraying the genre of the film, as it can be used to establish where it is taking place.

Long Shot- This category includes the full shot showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail still emerges. This again is a great shot to help determine genre as information is easy to give to the demographic.

Medium Shot- Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Within a two-shot or a three-shot the same details apply, whereas if it were to become four people in the shot it would become a Long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue.

Close up- This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. This is a great shot used to show facial expressions in films to determine what emotions they're feeling, therefore helping to show the genre.

Extreme Close up- As its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever. This shot is used particularly in horrors as it shows the intensity of certain situations.

Bird's-Eye view

This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things. This shot is typically used within superhero and action films.

High Angle

Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

Eye Level

A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that e.g. actors' heads are on a level with the focus.

Low Angle

Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

Oblique/Canted Angle

Sometimes the camera is tilted, to suggest imbalance, transition and instability (very popular in horror movies).

Camera Movement

A director may choose to move action along by telling the story as a series of cuts, going from one shot to another, or they may decide to move the camera with the action. Moving the camera often takes a great deal of time, and makes the action seem slower, as it takes several second for a moving camera shot to be effective, when the same information may be placed on screen in a series of fast cuts. Not only must the style of movement be chosen, but the method of actually moving the camera must be selected too. There are seven basic methods:

1. Pans

A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

2. Tilts

A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.

3. Dolly Shots

Sometimes called Trucking or Tracking shots. The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object. Complicated dolly shots will involve a track being laid on set for the camera to follow, hence the name. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a shopping trolley).