Camera work

Long shot (LS): shows the whole character in the frame and may also act as an establishing shot.













Medium shot (MS): shows the subject from the waist up.

                    

Close-up shot (CU): shows the subjects head and shoulders.

 Aerial shot: sometimes called 'bird’s eye view', this is an extreme high-angle shot, generally exterior, that might be filmed from a crane, building or aircraft.

 Canted angle: a shot in which the camera is deliberately placed on a slant. 

 

 

Crane shot: a shot created using a large camera mounting, capable of achieving high elevations and movement.

 

 Handheld shot: a shot filmed using a camera manipulated by an operator without a tripod or other mounting. This is often used to convey the impression that the action taking place is 'documentary' in nature.

 Low/high angle shots: any shot type taken from a clearly lower or higher angle than the subject.

                    

Pan: a panoramic shot in which the camera moves with a horizontal motion, but from a fixed position.    

 

Point of view shot(POV): a shot is intended to show the action from the perspective of a particular character. 

 Subjective shot: intended to match exactly what a character is actually seeing. Sometimes used with a 'Bonocular' mask. 

Dolly/ tracking shot: a shot in which the camera moves to follow a sequence of action, placed usually on a dolly or specially prepared tracks.

 Whip-pan: a very fast pan often used to give off the impression that the camera is just catching up with the action. 

 Zoom: a zoom shot is one in which a change in focal length occurs. Most domestic video cameras have zoom lenses whereas fixed lenses are more common in film production. The zoom shot is thus often associated with amateur video making where it is lazily used as an alternative to a cut.