7 Basic Shot Types

Lecture by Randy Baker, Course Director Digital Cinematography Full Sail University

Understanding the different shot types used in narrative filmmaking is not as easy as it sounds. Sure, you know the basics, Wide Shot, Medium Shot, Close-Up . . . but do you really know the extended families of shots or what jobs they do in the visual storytelling process?

The hard part is that shots are called different things depending on where you are, the type of shoot you are on, and the personal preference of the director. Understanding what each shot is, what is called, and how it looks is very important.

Static Shots vs. Dynamic Shots

Static Shots = Camera does not move; action happens within the frame.
Dynamic Shots = Camera moves and action can happen in the camera movement or within the frame.

Objective Camera vs. Subjective Camera

Objective – outside viewer’s perspective (fly on the wall)– the most common type of perspective used in narrative film.
Subjective – Perspective of looking through the eyes of the character. Can be disorienting if used too much.

SHOT FAMILIES

I talk about families of shots, and while there are several families of shots that are used to do specific jobs within the storytelling process. Let’s start with the 3 basic static shot families, the 7 basic shot types they represent, and the jobs that each of them does.

Wide Shot Family =Extreme Wide Shot/Wide Shot/Medium Wide Shot Establishes location and when and where the scene is taking place – use this family to give the viewer a geographical overview of the shot.

Medium Shot Family = Medium Wide Shot/Medium Shot/Medium Close-Up This family of shots shows the relationship between the character and other characters or objects within the scene.

Close-Up Shot Family = Medium Close-Up/Close-Up/ Extreme Close-Up This family of shots shows how the individual characters are feeling about what is going on around them in the scene.

Shots that edit together well and those that don’t.

You will notice the MWS and MCU overlap between families; this also is an indicator that the medium shot family is a bridge family between shots –

Wide Shot Family cuts easily with Medium Shot Family
Close Up Family cuts easily with Medium Shot Family
Wide Shot Family cuts hard with the Close-Up Family – usually, a shot from the medium shot family is used to smooth this hard cut out unless it is being used for effect to enhance the story.

7 BASIC SHOTS – The building blocks of visual storytelling

Extreme Wide Shot	When
Wide Shot	Where
Medium Wide Shot	With Whom
Medium Shot	What
Medium Close-Up	Who
Close-Up	Why
Extreme Close-Up

7 BASIC SHOTS – The building blocks of visual storytelling

Here is a basic breakdown of shot types, what they are called, how to frame them, and how they are used as the building blocks of storytelling in film and video.

7 BASIC SHOT TYPES

Here is a great overview of most of the shot types we are talking about from Premiumbeat. Notice the MS is included in the MWS and MCU shots (Medium Shot Family) and that instead of an OTS shot, they have the P.O.V. shot.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCE: Premium Beat Blog: 7 Standard Filmmaking Shots Every Cinematographer Must Know

#1: EWS or ELS (XLS) = Extreme Wide Shot or Extreme Long Shot – XLS is the European Version of Extreme Long Shot. An EWS or ELS can be used as an Establishing Shot.

**Image: Inglourious Basterds Extreme Wide shot via The Weinstein Company and Universal**

EWS/ELS/XLS/ES: Used to quickly introduce the audience to the environment/area/location of the, often too wide to show more than just the fact that there are or are not people or objects within the frame. Often used at the beginning of the film or in between Act breaks when a big change of location has happened. This could be as wide as a planet, city, or neighborhood shot. It can offer clues on the time of day, time of year, and atmospheric conditions.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Cinematographer.com Blog | What are the differences between a wide shot, a full shot, and a long shot? Cinematographer Adrian Sierkowski and ASC David Mullen answers: Cinematography.com Blog: Shot Definition

YouTube: Beautiful Establishing Shots in Movies Compilation

#2: WS = Wide Shot (also called a Master Shot or Doinker)

*Image: Mad Max: Fury Road from Village Roadshow Pictures*

Wide shots usually show an overall view of the entire scene and who and what is in the shot. If it is a single person, it is usually from head to toe. The general rule is that any time you introduce a new location, new character, or new object within a scene, you should establish a wide shot to give the viewer a general “Lay of the land” of who, what, and where things are located within that shot. Wide shots are too wide to normally show any emotion about what is going on in the scene. This could be a wide shot of a building, car, group of people, or single person.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: ASC Cinematographer Robert Richardson talks about framing a wide shot in this great article from Premium Beat Blog: How to Frame a Wide Shot Like a Master Cinematographer.

#3 MWS = Medium Wide Shot

*The audience’s focal point will be on what the character is viewing, as well. Image via Sony Pictures.*

Image provided by IMDB: Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Usually from the mid-thigh up and can feature both a group or just a single person in the shot. Often called a Cowboy or Western shot, it is referred to in Europe as an American Shot. Used to show the relationship between the people within the shot.

#4 MS = Medium Shot

Image Credit IMDB: Pulp Fiction (1994) Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Are usually framed from the waist up and are used to show people in the context of their environment or how they are reacting to other people or objects in the shot.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Premium Beat Blog: How to Frame a Medium Shot Like a Master Cinematographer

#5 MCU = Medium Close Up

*In this medium close-up shot, the audience is focusing their attention on The Dude, not necessarily the background. Image via Working Title Films.*

Usually shot from below the breast to the top of the head with a bit of headroom on top. Used to show a bit of how the person is feeling emotionally while still showing a bit of the background. Not as powerful as the close-up for showing emotion in a face.

#6 CU = Close Up

Image IMDB: The Dark Knight (2008) Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008)

Usually shown from the first button on a shirt (above the breast) to the top of the head with a slight amount of headroom on top. The close-up conveys detail and how the person is feeling emotionally and is a key shot in helping connect the audience with the subject.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Here are a few great articles from Premium Beat with examples of MCUs, CUs, and ECU shots.
How to shoot close-up shots like Sergio Leone
Cinematography Tip: How the Pros Frame a Close-Up
Edgar Wright Explains the Art of the Close-Up

#7 ECU = Extreme Close Up

Image IMDB: Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) Uma Thurman in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Usually focusing on a specific part of a person or an object, eyes, nose, mouth, hands. They are used to portray intense emotion or mood and should be used sparingly on faces. Use on objects to reveal fine detail that would be missed on wider shots.

#8 OTS Shots = Over the Shoulder

Image IMDB: The Princess Bride (1987) Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride (1987)

Most films are made up of about 60% dialogue – and these OTS shots are one of the primary ways directors and cinematographers film dialogue between people or show relationships between people and objects. Dialogue shots are the meat and potatoes of your film. Merely learning how to shoot them is not enough; you need to know these shots intimately and know how to manipulate them to build or relieve tension and show the importance or lack of importance of an object or person.

Use the Rule of Thirds when composing OTS to make the shots more Dynamic. OTS shots are usually shot between Medium Wide Shots and Close-Up Shots – are written with the shot type first, followed by the OTS: MWS/OTS or MCU/OTS. Traditionally 1/3 of the frame should be the over-the-shoulder while the remaining 2/3 of the frame needs to be the focal point.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
YouTube: Every Frame A Painting’s Tony Zhou’s remarkable Shot Reverse Shot video about the Cohen Brothers

Focal Length & Shot Type Relationship

Traditionally each seven basic shot types (EWS to ECU) are normally shot within a small range of focal lengths – here is a simple breakdown using the Sony 18-105mm lens and also showing you a standard Full Frame 35mm sensor range.

The Z numbers are estimates since there is really no hard math to determine these – this estimation was done using the lens and an electronic director’s viewfinder.
So once you understand this, it becomes easy to determine your focal length based on your shot type. And once you know what your focal length is, all you have to do is determine what you want your depth of field to be, and you can determine what your aperture should be.

Shot Type	Normal Settings	Z Range	mm Range
EWS or ELS or XLS	Z00 – 18 mm	Z00 – Z15	16mm – 20mm
WS or LS or FS	Z15 – 24mm	Z15 – Z30	20mm – 30mm
MWS or LS	Z35 – 35mm	Z30 – Z40	30mm – 40mm
MS	Z50 – 50mm	Z40 – Z60	40mm – 60mm
MCU	Z70 – 70mm	Z60 – Z75	60mm – 75mm
CU	Z80 – 85mm	Z75 – Z85	75mm – 90mm
ECU	Z99 – 105mm	Z85 – Z99	90mm – 105mm
OTS	Z60 – Z75	Ranges from Z30 (MWS) to Z80 (CU)

Focal Lenght & Shot Type Relationship

Shot Nomenclature

Nomenclature means a naming system, and for shot types, that is where part of the problem begins. The same shot type is often called different names, often related to geography, but sometimes related to misinformation or just a lack of the basic knowledge of shot types. For example, a wide and long are used interchangeably when talking about shot types, but a wide shot or long shot may also be called a full shot. The key here is to stick to one way of doing it – if you call something an Extreme Wide Shot, then don’t call it a Long Shot or Medium Long Shot; call it a wide shot and a medium-wide shot.

Now that you understand what the basic shot types are and when and how they are used in a scene, here is where familiarity comes into play.

In the early days of Hollywood, before the advent of zoom lens, most movies were shot with a set of 5-7 lenses with standard focal lengths that related to each of these shot types –
18mm or the Extreme Wide Shot
25mm or the Wide Shot (24mm was also used)
35mm or the Medium Wide Shot (40mm was also used)
50mm or the Medium Shot
70mm or the Medium Close-Up Shot (75mm was also used)
85mm or the Close Up Shot
100mm – 120mm or the Extreme Close-Up Shot

These focal lengths were based in part on how well they emulated what the human eye’s field of view saw for landscapes, human figures, and human faces.

In fact, most Directors would call for the lens not by its focal length but by the type of shot it was used to shoot – for example, they might call for a Close Up Lens, which was the 85mm, or the WS lens, which was the 25mm. Even today, a standard set of Cinema Prime Lenses still fall within this range of focal lengths. Article: AbelCine 35mm Cinema Primes

When the zoom lens became popular, Cinematographers and Directors began to experiment more with different focal lengths for specific shot types. Today, while most of these shot types are still shot within the same general focal ranges, we have seen the zoom lens allow cinematographers and directors more flexibility to expand and bend these basic focal length rules and guidelines based on their own perspective and how it enhances the specific story they are telling.

WEB RESOURCES

Here are some great web resources for shot types that will give you a much better understanding of the variety of nomenclature that is used when talking about shot types in film and television.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SHOT TYPES FROM WEEK 3’s VAULT

Article: The UK’s Visual Memory company’s great overview article on Shot Shot Types and Editing
Article: Mastering Film’s Look at Shot Types and Camera Angles
Article: Videomaker’s 6 Reasons to Get an Extreme Close-up Shot
Article: Noam Kroll’s wonderful article on Why 85mm is the Perfect Focal Length & Lens Choice for Close Ups
YouTube: Davey Fuller’s insightful take on How Christopher Nolan uses Cinematography to tell a story?