language of film analysis

extreme long shot

Shot of, e.g., a large crowd scene or view of scenery as far as the horizon

long shot

A view of a situation or setting from distance

medium long shot

Shows a group of people in interaction with each other, e.g., a fight scene, with part of their surroundings in the picture

full shot

A view of a figure's entire body in order to show action and/or a constellation of characters

Medium shot, mid shot, medium close shot

Shows a subject down to his or her waist, e.g., showing head and shoulders of two people in conversation

close-up

A full-screen shot o f a subject's face, showing the finest nuances of expression

establishing shot

Often used at the beginning of a scene to indicate the location or setting, it is usually a long shot taken from a neutral position

POV shot

Shows a scene from the perspective of a character

over the shoulder shot

Often used in dialogue scenes, a frontal view of a dialogue partner from the perspective of someone standing behind and slightly to the side of the other partner, so that parts of both can be seen

reaction shot

Short shot of a character's response to an action

insert shot

A detail shot which quickly gives visual information necessary to understand the meaning of a scene, for example a newspaper page, or a physical detail

reverse angle shot

A shot from the opposite perspective, e.g. after an over-the-shoulder shot

hand-held camera

A shot with a camera held in the camera operator's hands, as opposed to being mounted on a tripod or other base.

aerial shot or high angle or overhead

Long or extreme long shot of the ground from the air

high-angle shot

Shows people or objects from above, i.e. higher than eye level

low angle shot or below shot

Shows people or objects from below i.e. lower than eye level

eye-level shot or straight-on angel

Views a subject from the level of person's eyes

panning shot

The camera pans (moves horizontally) from left to right or vice versa across the picturetit

tilt shot

The camera tilts up (moves upwards) or tilts down (moves downwards) around a vertical line

tracking shot

the camera follows along next to or behind a moving object or person

zoom

the stationary camera appears to approach a subject my zooming in or to move farther away by zooming out

master shot

main shot of a whole scene taken by one camera in one position, which is then intercut with other shots to add interest

cutaway

Shot of something not shown by the master shot of a scene, but connected to the main action in some way

cross-cutting or parallel action

Intermingling the shots of two or more scenes which are taking place at the same time

match cut

Two scenes connected by visual or aural parallelism, e.g. one door closing and then another one opening

split screen

Division of the screen to show two or more pictures at the same time