The Language of the Camera
One of the best expressions I’ve heard describing the filmmaker’s main tool for making movies is the camera is the director’s paintbrush. Today, film and digital cameras come in all shapes, sizes and formats and as a director, you need to know and understand the various camera techniques that can enhance the visual storytelling power of your film.
This knowledge is crucial because the more correctly you can communicate a technical detail to the DOP and the crew, the better chance you have of getting it!
The following reference guide is a list of basic camera techniques you should know. Every Director and DOP will have a slightly different version of the following examples, but if you use this guide you can’t go wrong.
(1) Shot Size (Example: A person)
ECU – Extreme Close Up (the eye)
TCU – Tight Close Up (forehead to chin)
CU – Close Up (top of head to just below the chin)
MCU – Medium Close Up (below the throat to just above the head)
MS – Medium Shot (the body from the waist up)
FS – Full Shot (full figure of subject from head to toe)
WS – Wide Shot (subject shown in relationship to their surroundings)
LS – Long Shot (subject shown in a smaller scale to their surroundings)
ELS – Extreme Long Shot (camera is a great distance from the subject)
OSS – Over Shoulder Shot (over shoulder of person A to see person B)
POV – Point of View (shot from another person’s perspective)
(2) Camera Lenses (Based on 35 mm Format)
Wide Angle Lenses are lenses with short focal lengths (18mm to 35mm) that make spatial distances greater. They create deep focus where both the foreground and background images are sharp. (Citizen Kane)
Standard Lenses are lenses with a normal focal length range (35mm to 55mm) that create an angle of view that appears “natural” to a human eye.
Long/Telephoto Lenses are lenses with long focal lengths (70mm to 300mm) that compress distant objects and bring them closer. They create short focus in a frame where the foreground is in focus and the background is out of focus.
Zoom Lenses are lenses that have variable focal lengths and can be used to quickly change a shot from wide-angle to normal to telephoto. “Zooming” means you actually “zoom in or out” of a subject when the camera is rolling. One example of a zoom lens designed for 35mm cameras is the “10:1” with a variable focal length of “25mm – 250mm.”
Macro Lenses are specialized lenses with a very narrow depth of field used for extreme “macro” close ups. They come in focal lengths ranging from 50mm to 200mm.
Fisheye Lenses are specialized super wide-angle lenses (7mm to 16mm) that create a distorted view of the subject.
(3) Depth of Field
The focal length of a lens (wide angle to telephoto) affects the depth of field of a shot by how much the background, middle ground and foreground is in focus.
(4) Camera Angles
Straight Angle: The camera is placed at the normal eye level of a subject and is the most common camera angle in film. (Used to make the audience identify more easily with a character or feel equal to a character.)
Low Angle: The camera looks up at a character or object. (Used to show fear, respect, authority.)
High Angle: The camera looks down on a character or object. (Used to show vulnerability, inferiority, weakness.)
Bird’s-Eye Angle: The camera is placed in an unnatural and extreme position high and directly overhead of a subject. (Used to show insignificance, god-like power or extreme exaltation.) (The Shawshank Redemption)
Dutch Angle: The camera is tilted on an angle at a character or object. (Used to show tension, altered states, instability.)
(5) Camera Movement
Pan Shot: A horizontal movement of a camera. (Left to right or right to left.)
Tilt Shot: A vertical movement of a camera. (Up and down.)
Crane Shot: The camera is mounted on a large wheeled crane. Some cranes have seats for an operator and focus puller. Other cranes just have the camera mounted on one end and remote control camera operations at the other end. (Creates big up-down and/or in-out sweeping movements.)
Jib Arm: The camera is mounted on one end of a small metal boom with the camera controls and a counterweight at the opposite end. The jib arm itself is usually mounted on a tripod or on a dolly. (Moves the camera in a sweeping, arc like motion vertically and horizontally at the same time.)
Hand Held Shot: The camera is held by the operator as they walk or run with the action. (Creates a shaky or jerky camera effect.)
Steadicam Shot: The camera is mounted on a specially designed stabilizing arm. (Creates a smooth or gliding camera effect.)
Dolly Shot (Tracking Shot) Camera is placed on a wheeled platform with rails. The dolly shot does change the visual perspective of the frame (the way objects appear to the eye.)
Zoom Shot: The use of a zoom lens to move closer or further away from a subject. The zoom does not change the visual perspective of the frame (the way objects appear to the eye.)
Dolly-In/Zoom-Out Shot: Used to keep a foreground object stationary while the background moves away from the object.
Dolly-Out/Zoom-In Shot: Used to keep a foreground object stationary while the background moves toward the object.
Pedestal: The camera is mounted on a fixed column or pedestal usually on a dolly. (Moves vertically up or down.)
Camera Slider – The camera is attached to a movable metal track that can be attached to a tripod or dolly. (Moves the camera a few feet left or right to get more camera angle options during a shot.)
Aerial Shot: The camera is mounted on a helicopter or in a small plane and is used mostly for wide establishing shots of settings such as a city, mountains, prairies or oceans etc.
Drone Shot: A drone is a small, unmanned aircraft mounted with a remote control camera. Drone camera shots are used to photograph locations that are impossible for a film crew to shoot or for aerial shots that a helicopter or small plane cannot physically or safely get to.
Rack Focus: This is an “in-camera’ movement that changes the focus from one subject to another subject while the camera is rolling. (Used with longer lenses that have less depth of field.)
Copyright (c) 2021 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved
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