Camera angles April Cooper

Extreme long shot

Can be taken from up to a quarter of a mile away.

Normally shows the exterior of a building or landscape

Used for establishing shots and often to show scenes of thrilling action e.g. in war films.

Very little detail is given so it is used to a give a general impression.

Long shot

This shot generally shoes the image in ‘life’ size.

The full human body would be seen in this shot with the head near the top and the feet near the body so is used to show the full character.

Most of the time the focus is on the character however the background detail can be seen.

They are often used a lot inwestern films.

Mid shot

This shot shows from someone's waist up wards.

This is normally used in dialogue scenes or to show some detail in action scenes.

It will usually only contain up to 3 people.

The background detail is minimal.

Head and shoulder shot

This is where only the head a shoulders of a character is shown.

There is very little detail of the background.

It is used when the focus is on one character.

Close up

This shot concentrates on the face or a specific piece or mise-en-scene.

This shows very little detail of the background.

This shot magnifies the object so shows importance.

This shot can be used to show intimate shots and gain the audiences trust.

Extreme close up

This usually magnifies beyond what the human eye would see.

It usually focuses on one thing for example an eye.

This shot gives a lot of detail on the subject but misses out the detail on the context.

This shot is used for dramatic effect as it creates tension and makes the audience feel uncomfortable.

Bids eye

This is a shot from directly above. This is a very unnatural shot. This shot can be used to give the

audience a god like position. It makes the characters seem ant-like

and very insignificant.

Worms eye

This is the opposite to birds eye and is taken from directly below the characters.

This is used to make the characters seem god-like and gives them a very high level of significance.

Over the shoulder

This is taken over the shoulder of one of the actors showing the back of their had and the face of the other actor.

They are usually used for dialogue scenes and interviews.

Low angle

These are taken from a lower point then the action in the scene.

They can be used to back things or people look taller or to give a sense of motion.

They make the actor look more important and make the audience feel insignificant and small.

The background is usually sky or ceiling so lacks detail of the setting.

High angle

This is not as extreme as a birds eye. This shot is taken from a higher point

then the action of the scene. It is used to give a general overview of

the scene. It is used to make the objects or people

look smaller, less significant or less scary.

The object or character gets swallowed up so becomes part of the wider picture.

Point of view shot

This shows the shot from the characters point of view.

It is used to show the audience what the character see’s

It makes the audience feel part of the action.

Our favorite examples

This photo is a low angle photo we took.

This type of shot would be used in a horror film or crime film to make the villain look more dominant so therefor more scary.

This shot we took is a birds eye view. This type of shot would be used in a

film to look down to set the location.