Camera Angles and Shots

1. Extreme Long Shot

This shot is often used to set the scene in a film. It always be an exterior shot, such as a landscape (as shown) or the outside of an area. More often than not used in dramatic/thriller films to show the scene of a battle before the camera goes right in close to the fighting. It is always taken from serious distance - up to quarter of a mile away.

2. Long Shot

The Long shot, although arguably the most difficult camera angle to describe, or place in a certain category, is widely used. Generally speaking this shot is intended to show something in its actual 'life-size' form. Often, as is shown in this example, if the shot is of a person, their head and feet will be near the top and bottom of shot respectively. The shot here is attempting to show the man's actual size - perhaps roughly 5ft11. The focus is most definitely on the person in the picture, and background detail is not as important.

3. Medium Shot

This is a shot of a character/characters from, usually, the waist up. The background detail is both unimportant and very minimal. A medium shot will come later on in a scene, most probably after a long, scene-setting shot. Dialogue or action between characters is usually done in a medium shot, as is shown here. There are variations of the medium shot. Shown here is the two shot, and there is also the three shot, which is fairly self-explanitory.

4. Close Up

The close up shot is usually used to show a specific character's expression or, perhaps, reaction to something. There is no real background - it is usually blurred as a result of a zoom on a character's face, and often shows the significance of whatever it may be. A close up shot is, in a way, letting the audience go much nearer than usual to a character, so is therefore used by film makers to either let a character's guard down, and make the audience feel relaxed with them, or, contrastingly, to make the audience feel a bit uncomfortable around a certain character.

5. Extreme Close Up

As is made fairly clear in the name, this shot is an even closer version of a close up shot. Commonly showing just one facial feature of a character -their eyes, mouth, teeth. There is no background detail whatsoever, and a film maker must take care to get the lighting and setup right with a shot like this, as even a slight quiver will be easily seen when in as much detail as this. The shot is most often used to add to dramatic effect, for example cutting from a long shot to an extreme close up in a horror movie would, hopefully, frighten the audience.

Angles

1. Birds Eye View

This is a angle that is directly over-head of whatever it may be. Although quite an unnatural and uncommonly used shot, this angle makes the audience feel powerful, and puts them, quite literally, on top of things. It can also give a good perspective view of a large area - similar to an extreme long shot.

2. High Angle Shot

A less extreme birds eye view. It can be used to dwarf the character in shot, for dramatic effect, as is shown here. It it also often used to give a general, but still moderately detailed view of the action. With the height comes a degrading of significance for the character or object on screen - they appear smaller.

3. Eye Level Shot

This angle is to make it seem as though the audience are actually in the scene. The camera is roughly 5-6 feet away from the ground, and at eye level for the audience, so they are quite literally observing the scene.

4. Low Angle Shot

This angle adds supreme height and power to the character or object in the picture. As is shown here, the background is usually just the sky, or roof if it's indoors. This angle also gives the audience a sense of powerlessness and dwarfs them, further adding to the superiority of the object.

5. Oblique/Canted Angle Shot

This shot is mainly used in horror films, but also sometimes action thrillers. It shows instability, or lack of balance, and suggests that something/someone is falling all over the place, and confuses the audience. It is more commonly used when in a point of view shot.