Framing

Shots are all about composition. Rather than pointing the camera
at the subject, you need to compose an image.

As mentioned previously, framing is the process of creating

composition.
Framing technique is very subjective. What one person finds
dramatic, another may find pointless. What we're looking at here
are a few accepted industry guidelines which you should use as
rules of thumb.

The rules of framing video images are essentially the same as

those for still photography.
 BASIC SHOT
TYPES OR
FIELD OF VIEW
Refers to how close the object seems to the
viewer, or how much of the field of scenery,
in front of you is in the shot.
1. ELS – Extreme Long Shot

2. LS – Long Shot

3. MS – Medium Shot

4. CU – Close up

5. ECU or XCU – Extreme Close Up

In the ELS, the view is so far
from the subject that he
isn't even visible. The point
of this shot is to show the
subject's surroundings.

The ELS is often used as an

establishing shot the first
shot of a new scene,
designed to show the
audience where the action
is taking place.
The VWS is much closer
to the subject. He is
(just) visible here, but
the emphasis is still on
placing him in his
environment. This also
works as an
establishing shot.
The subject takes up the full
frame.

The small amount of room above

and below the subject can be
thought of as safety room - you
don't want to be cutting the top
of the head off.

It would also look uncomfortable

if the feet and head were exactly
at the top and bottom of frame.
The MS shows some part of
the subject in more detail.

This is an approximation of
how you would see a person
"in the flesh" if you were
having a casual conversation.
(Point of View Shot)

You wouldn't be paying any

attention to their lower body,
so that part of the picture is
unnecessary.
Half way between a MS
and a CU. This shot
shows the face more
clearly, without getting
uncomfortably close.
In the CU, a certain
feature or part of the
subject takes up the
whole frame. A close
up of a person usually
means a close up of
their face.
The ECU gets right in
and shows extreme
detail. For people, the
ECU is used to convey
emotion.
A cutaway or B-roll is a shot
that's usually of something
other than the current
action. It could be a
different subject (e.g. these
children.

The CA is used as a "buffer"

between shots (to help the
editing process), or to add
interest/information.
SHOTS AS WORDS
Just as words are the building blocks of a
written language, individual shots are the
building blocks of the film language. And
different shots can be thought of as different
parts of speech, serving different purposes and
answering different questions.
In the film language, the
who question is typically
answered with the close-
up (CU). The primary point
of focus in any close-up is
the subject's face.

This framing typically

mimics the experience of
what you would see in real
life if you were conversing
with a person.
WHAT
If you want to communicate
what is going on, you
probably need to show a
subject performing an activity,
and typically, this is conveyed
in a medium shot (MS).

Very often the MS provides

enough distance from the
subject's eyes to move the
focus off of their identity, but
is still close enough to
emphasize what it is they're
doing.
The where question is nearly
always answered with a Long
Shot (LS) though depending
on the nature of the scene,
sometimes a medium long
shot (MLS) or a shot even
further away than an LS such
as a wide shot (WS) might do
the trick.
When can mean what
period in history, how long
before or after an
important story event, or it
can mean at what point in
the overall story arc.

The when shot is the

extreme-long shot (ELS or
XLS), which illustrates the
subject traversing such a
vast space that there is a
sense of how much time it
will take.
This question points to the
internal decision making of
your subject, and when you
want to delve into
someone's thoughts, the
classic shot to use is an
extreme close-up (ECU or
XCU) or sometimes BCU for
big close-up).

What's He Thinking?:
This question is usually answered
using either medium close-ups
(MCU) of a subject performing a
physical action (opening a door,
lifting a manhole cover, packing a
suitcase, etc.) or a series of CUs or
ECU’s of specific actions (pulling
a trigger, snapping a latch closed,
operating a piece of machinery,
etc.)
2-shots can vary widely,
from the standard over the
shoulder to other
arrangements that convey
the subtle but critical
relationship dynamics that
are fundamental to making
sense of the story you are
telling.
This careful blocking allows
for all of the important
characters to be visible in the
same shot. In the shot
below, this group shot of all
seven women serves as a set-
up, and from here on out in
the scene, the shots are
limited to 2-shots and 3-shots.

Often you can deal with one

pair of subjects at a time, or
group subjects into "factions"
creating a "2-shot" where the
two subjects each comprise
multiple elements.
UNDERSTANDING SHOT SIZES
Headroom is the amount of
space between the top of
the subject's head and the
top of the frame. A common
mistake in amateur video is
to have far too much
headroom, which doesn't
look good and wastes frame
space.
The space in front of a
moving or stationary
subject.

A nose room is important

aspect of a shot because
it gives the viewers a
sense of distance or
direction to where the
subject is facing.
The same “Breathing
Room” principle applies
when you frame
someone moving.

You must leave some

room in the direction of
the movement to show
where the object or
person is moving.
An arc shot is a camera
move around the subject,
somewhat like a tracking
shot.

the camera moves in a

rough semi-circle around
the subject.
the camera moves (crabs) right or left.
DOLLY SHOT

A dolly is a cart which travels

along tracks. The camera is
mounted on the dolly and
records the shot as it moves.
Dolly shots can provide very
dramatic footage.

Some dollies can also operate

without tracks. This provides
the greatest degree of
movement, assuming of
course that a suitable surface
is available.
DUTCH TILT
A Dutch tilt is a camera shot in
which the camera angle is
deliberately slanted to one
side.

This can be used for dramatic

effect and helps portray
unease, disorientation, frantic
or desperate action,
intoxication, madness, etc. A
dutch tilt can be a static shot,
or used with simultaneous
panning, tilting and/or
zooming.
The Follow shot is fairly
self-explanatory. It
simply means that the
camera follows the
subject of action.

The following distance

is usually kept more or
less constant.
A pan is a horizontal
camera movement in which
the camera moves left and
right about a central axis.

This is a swiveling
movement, i.e. mounted in
a fixed location on a tripod
or shoulder, rather than a
dolly-like movement in
which the entire mounting
system moves.
A tilt is a vertical camera
movement in which the
camera points up or down
from a stationary location.
For example, if you mount
a camera on your shoulder
and nod it up and down,
you are tilting the camera.
A zoom is technically not a camera move as it does not require the
camera itself to move at all.

Zooming means altering the focal length of the lens to give the illusion
of moving closer to or further away from the action.
PEDESTAL SHOT
A pedestal shot means moving the camera
vertically with respect to the subject. This is often
referred to as “peddling” the camera up or down.

Pedestals are used in studio settings and provide a

great deal of flexibility as well as very smooth
movement. Unlike standard tripods, pedestals
have the ability to move the camera in any
direction (left, right, up, down).

Note that a pedestal move is different to a camera

tilt, which means the camera is in the same
position but tilts the angle of view up and down. In
a ped movement, the whole camera is moving, not
just the angle of view.
TRACKING SHOT
The term tracking shot is widely
considered to be synonymous with dolly
shot; that is, a shot in which the camera is
mounted on a cart which travels along
tracks.

Tracking is often more narrowly defined

as movement parallel to the action, or at
least at a constant distance.
Dollying is often defined as moving closer
to or further away from the action.
CAMERA
ANGLES
THE BIRD'S-EYE VIEW
This shows a scene from
directly overhead, a very
unnatural and strange
angle.

This shot does, however,

put the audience in a
godlike position, looking
down on the action.
HIGH ANGLE
Not so extreme as a bird's
eye view. The camera is
elevated above the action
using a crane to give a
general overview. High
angles make the object
photographed seem
smaller, and less significant
EYE LEVEL
A fairly neutral shot; the
camera is positioned as
though it is a human
actually observing a scene,
so that e.g. actors' heads
are on a level with the
focus. The camera will be
placed approximately five
to six feet from the ground.
LOW ANGLE
Low angles help give a sense of
confusion to a viewer, of
powerlessness within the
action of a scene.

The background of a low angle

shot will tend to be just sky or
ceiling,

The added height of the object

may make it inspire fear and
insecurity in the viewer, who is
psychologically dominated by
the figure on the screen.
OBLIQUE/CANTED ANGLE
Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie
is not placed horizontal to floor
level), to suggest imbalance,
transition and instability (very
popular in horror movies).

This technique is used to suggest

POINT-OF-View shots (ie when
the camera becomes the 'eyes' of
one particular character,seeing
what they see -a hand held
camera is often used for this.
CROSSING
THE LINE
(REVERSE
CUT)
Crossing the line is a very important concept
in video and film production. It refers to an
imaginary line which cuts through the middle
of the scene, from side to side with respect to
the camera.
Crossing the line changes the viewer's
perspective in such as way that it causes
disorientation and confusion. For this reason,
crossing the line is something to be avoided.
In this example the camera is
located to the subject's left.
The imaginary line is shown in
red.

The resulting shot shows the

subject walking from right to
left, establishing the viewer's
position and orientation
relative to her.
In this example the camera
has crossed the line. As you
can see in the resulting
shot, the view of the subject
is reversed and she appears
to be walking from left to
right.

When cut immediately after

the preceding shot, the
effect is quite
confusing.Because of the
sudden reversal of
viewpoint and action, this
is known as a reverse cut.
THE 180ｰ RULE

To prevent reverse cuts, set up the scene so you can shoot it all
from one side. If you are using multiple cameras, position them
on the same side.

The rule of line-crossing is sometimes called the 180ｰ rule. This

refers to keeping the camera position within a field of 180.
In some cases crossing the line is unavoidable, or at least
desirable enough to be worth the awkward transition. In
this case you can minimize confusion by using a shot taken
on the line itself to go between the shots. This "buffer" shot
guides the viewer to the new position so they know where
they are.

Although it's still not perfect, it's not such a severe jolt.
camera usually stays on one side of 180° axis
to preserve viewer’s sense of space