Grammar of the Shot, 2nd Edition

The Basic Building Blocks—The Different Shot Type Families

We know that a shot is the smallest unit of photographic coverage of a person, action, or event in a motion picture. We also know, from watching movies and television programming, that the persons, actions, and events we see are not all shown from the same exact angle, perspective, or distance. Therefore, although each shot represents a unique way to cover or frame the action, it is clear that there are a variety of common shot types. Perhaps the terms close-up, medium shot, and long shot are already familiar to you, but let us take a look at an example of each shot type. Keep in mind, we are going to first explore the simplest of shots (static, locked-off shots) of a person (the subject ...