SHOT SIZE

FILMS - made up of Sequences

SEQUENCES - made up of Scenes

SCENES - made up of Shots

SHOT SIZE:

Shot Choices help establish the rhythm, tone, and meaning of the scene.

ESTABLISHING SHOT - common visual element to open a scene. It shows the scale of subjects in relation to their environment and is often used to transition between scenes. crucial introductory component of any scene, it can mark a transition to a new location, or introduce crucial details about the world

  • “Blade Runner 2049” - opens with a series of establishing shots

  • (Shows the geography. and extreme wide shots of buildings or landscapes)

MASTER SHOT - Confirms the location and geography of the scene. It also clarifies which characters are in the scene and where they are in relationship to each other. Captures the scene playing out its entirety, providng the editor with something to cut to if necessary.

  • “The Godfather: Part II” majority of scenes is played in the master to emphasize the fam’s close-knit relationship

  • (covers all of the important action in a scene, including the major characters and scenic points of interest. Imagine that you’re filmmaking a chess game. Your master shot would be a wide shot from the side where you shot the entire chess game from start to finish)

WIDE SHOT - Positions the subjects far from the camera to visually represent their relationship to the environment. Distinct from the establishing shot however, this shot is concerned with the scale of the subject. It can be used when you need to make subjects appear lost, lonely, overwhelmed, or comment on a subject’s relationship to their environment. Used to establish the spatial relationships of the subjects, make statements using distance, depth, or size.

  • “Phantom Thread” - see characters like Alma and Reynolds dwarfed by a messy ballroom.

  • (Example 1: A sweeping landscape, like in Gone With The Wind. Example 2: Outer space, like in Interstellar.)

FULL SHOT (FS) - When a subjects entire body reaches top to the bottom edges of the frame. It is not necessary to put the subject in the center of the frame. Must be effective and tight enough to tell a story by observing her entire body, posture, and wardrobe. Composed head to toe and used to make statements about the subject’s physicality and present a character in all their glory. (a camera shot in film that lets your subject fill the frame, head to toe, while still allowing some features of the scenery)

MEDIUM FULL SHOT (FS)/ Cowboy - It is arranged from the top of the subject’s head to just below their waist. It is sometimes referred as a Cowboy shot

  • “The Favorite” - composed in medium fulls

  • (a shot that frames a character around the knees and up)

MEDIUM SHOT - most popular shot size in all cinema. It is more of a neutral shot. Neither dramatic like a close- up or distancing like a wide shot. It captures the subject in a size similar to how we interact with people. Typical cmposition starts above the waist, but below the ches, and ends just above the head. Starts above the waist but below the chest and ends with just above their head. Use it when you need to dig into a subject size without losing their physicality or environment. Or utilize a true middle-ground approach that is neither jarring nor dramatic.

  • “Coco” - we observed in the scene which shows Miguel’s reactions to the tv.

  • (a film shot that stretches from around the waist (or sometimes the knees) of a subject up to their head)

MEDIUM CLOSE UP

  • A shot frames a subject from mid-chest to just above their head. All about reducing distraction and prioritizing story and character details. Use it when you need to get intimate with a subject without losing their physicality. It is designed to capture a reaction. It is roughly head to chest.

  • (shot that frames the subject from just above their head down to about midway on their torso)

CLOSE UP

  • Shows greater detail. Shots are mostly in the face

EXTREME CLOSE UP

  • example would be an extreme close-up of a spider crawling on a hand.An extreme close-up may also show something very closely to express peculiar attention to it. In this film, a young girl explores nature and takes her time getting a detailed look at everything she discovers.