CAS 112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Long Shot, Medium Shot, Tracking Shot
Document Summary
Establishing shots are often used at the beginning of scenes to establish setting. At the beginning of a film, for example, you might see and extreme long shot of a city or rolling hills, then, we cut to a close shot of a street, building and finally the character inside. A long shot usually still shows a great deal of background; characters are visible but may not be close enough to be recognisable. A medium shot - mid shot shows the characters from the waist up. The close up is one of the most commonly used shot sizes in film and television, usually showing a character"s face. Extreme close ups are usually an attempt to draw the viewer"s attention to a particular detail. For example, the director may choose to cut from a mid shot of a character to an extreme close up emphasising something about that character"s appearance.
