Shots

establishing shot: long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place 

wide shot: (also called a long shot) usually shows an entire character and quite a bit of her surroundings and is used to tell bigger story

full shot: shows the subject’s entire body

medium full shot: halfway between a medium shot and a full shot, sometimes called a cowboy shot

medium shot: shot from a medium distance, it is sometimes called a waist shot for obvious reasons

medium close up shot: halfway between a medium shot and a close up shot, usually frames everything from the chest up

close up: a shot composition where the frame is filled almost entirely with the subject's face (or an important body part or object)

extreme close up: so close that not even the entire face is in the frame

single shot: focuses on one character, also called one shot

two shot: a shot that includes two characters (often used to show a relationship) (there’s also 3-shot, 4-shot, etc.)

over the shoulder shot: connects the person in the foreground facing away from the camera to the person in the background facing the camera, usually for a conversation, but not always (put the person in foreground out of focus if we’re not supposed to pay attention to her or keep her in focus if we are)

POV (point of view) shot: a shooting technique that shows the perspective of a scene literally from a character or object's position in the setting (many times also gives us POV audio)

insert shots: also known as a cut-in, often used to show objects or props that a character is manipulating (these shots are meant to draw attention to a certain object that is or will become important to the story); sometimes the terms “b-roll” and “insert shots” are used interchangeably

B-roll: supplemental footage that provides supporting details and greater flexibility when editing video (common examples include the footage used to cut away from an interview or news report to help tell the story)

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