Camera Angle and Shot Types

I need to understand the elements which make up a film as I am going to make my own short film, its just common sense to research them. When looking at a shot and describing it you think of three areas; camera angles, camera shots and also camera movements. I will be looking at camera angle and shot types in this post and camera movements in my next post. Firstly, camera shots indicated the amount of subject matter is contained within a frame such as how far away the camera is from which subject to us, the viewer. Each shot is very different and gives off a different meaning which I will be talking about now.

Camera Shots

                                                                           Extreme long shot

An extreme long shot is taken from a very long distance away from the focus of the shot, typically around a quarter of a mile away. This is generally used as the begging of the film for a scene-setting, establishing shot that shows the location or buildings. It doesn't normally have a lot of detail, it just gives off an impression of the scenario such as this example I have given.  It straight away lets the audience know that the scenery around him is isolated where it normally isn't as he is going in a city so it makes you think something isn't right.

                Long shot

This shot is practically the nearest to our eye sight, as it is the image the shows the closest to life size, being the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema. It shows the entire human body with the head nearing the top of the frame and the feet nearing the bottom. If the human is six feet tall then he would appear six feet tall in the film. Even though there is a clear subject, being the human, you can also see the background in a lot of detail such as the picture I have chosen, you can see everyone chasing him also.

                                                            Medium Shot

This shot is typically when the figure is seen from knees or waist up. This is mainly used when there is little or no dialogue at all. The background detail is minimal cause we already know the background as it has been established earlier. This is shown well in my example as this scene is of him being quiet sneaking up on someone which no dialogue is needed and is at waist height.

Close-up Shot
Close up shots shows very little background as it is mainly concentrated on the face only. Normally everything other than the face or mis en scene is blurred or very simple, such as in my example is a plain white door and you are focused straight on him. By doing this it magnifies on the object and shows how important the figure is. You usually see this shot to see there expression on a face to empathise there emotion.

                                                          Extreme Close-up Shot

Extreme close-up is even closer than close-up, it is zoomed in even more to give even more of an effect. It is normally magnified beyond what the human eye can experience in reality. It is typically used for a face, and you only see one area of it such as eyes, mouth or another facial feature. You normally see no background at all so you are completely focused on the figures face. It is used to see the figures deep emotion to make us feel sympathy and to be more dramatic over the situation.

Camera Angles

      The Bird's-Eye view

Like the name, you see directly overhead like a bird. It makes the audience feel godlike as we are looking down at the scenario and can make the people look significant. It is a very unusual shot however and seems unnatural so it is not used regularly. This shot is normally done with a drone to be more bird like. In my example it is used to make us feel like we are in the action also seeing the above shot of him jumping off about to fire his crossbow.           


                                                                                      High Angle
An high angle is not as extreme and high as a bird's-eye view angle. The high angle is used more as it is simply just the camera elevated and is used to see clearly above the action or scene. Or it is used to make an object or figure to seem less significant and scary and the audience to feel more dominant. Or like in my example you see the shot of over someones shoulder, this makes the person who is ever below less significant.

               Eye level

The eye level angle is a very neutral and general shot. This is when the camera is positioned as though the human is actually observing a scene, meaning eye level. So we are in levelled in focus with someone else's head. The camera is put six feet from the ground as this is the generic size - It is like a POV shot.

Low Angle
The low angle shot increases the height which is useful for short actors. It gives a sense of confusion for the viewer or it makes the figure feel more dominant and the audience more powerless. The background is normally the sky or ceiling and the lack of setting adds the disorientation to the viewer.

Canted Angle
This is when the camera is in fact titles and is used for point of view shots typically. It makes us feel imbalanced and unstable and typically is seen in horror or post-apocalyptic movies. A hand held camera is normally used for this effect.