The Filmmaker's Eye

long shot

The long shot includes characters in their entirety in the frame, along with a large portion of the surrounding area. While there can be a main subject in a long shot, the perspective is too remote to see emotional detail on the face. This shot concentrates on the body and what it reveals. Like extreme long shots, long shots are commonly used as establishing shots, placed at the beginning of scenes to let the audience know where the action that follows will take place. Sometimes, long shots are also placed at the end of a scene, usually with a composition that conveys a different dramatic tone from the one established at the beginning of the scene, marking a change in the emotion or outlook of a character. Like medium shots, the composition ...