Language of Film – Summary

The language of film article talks about a few main shots:

Full Shot (also called Long Shot): Shows subject in their location. Great for establishing where we are.

Extreme Long Shot: Very wide shot. Shows the entire landscape. In addition to showing us where, it can also convey a sense of time to convey when we are.

Extreme Close Up: Gets us inside the subject and lets us know what and possible why the character is thinking and doing the things he is doing.

Medium Close Up: Shows the character in action. Depicts how something is done.

2-Shots: Shows a character interacting with another. This shows with whom the character is doing something.

Close Up: Tighter than the medium close up emphasizes facial expressions.

Other Shots

Establishing Shots: Identify the location.

Reaction Shots: Close up showing the reaction of another character to the events taking place.

Inserts and Cut Aways: Inserts are close ups of something in the frame while cut aways are close ups  of things outside the frame.