2. Shot - the part of a video between two cuts. A shot is the building block of a film. A continuous segment of video that runs for an uninterrupted period of time.
Types of shots:
3. Long shots - (sometimes referred to as a full shot or a wide shot) typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings.4. Medium shots - a full-length view of a human subject is called a medium shot.
5. Close-ups - tightly frames a person or object. The most commonly used are close-ups of actors' faces.
6. Extreme Close-ups – A person’s face, eye, hand, or a small object (like a set of keys) fills the entire screen.
7. The bird's eye shot – overhead looking down.
8. Worm’s eye view – from the ground up.
9. Cutaway - is the interruption of a continuously-recorded action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually followed by a cut back to the first shot. It can be used to show emotional reactions to the action in the story, or for any other artistic purpose. For example, if the main shot is of a man walking down an alley, possible cutaways may include a shot of a cat on a nearby dumpster or a shot of a woman watching from a window overhead. Then the camera cuts back to the man walking down the alley.
10. Establishing shot - sets up a scene's setting and/or its participants. Typically it is a shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place.
11. Over the shoulder shot – a shot of someone or something taken over the shoulder of another person. The back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image of whatever (or whomever) the camera is pointing toward. This type of shot is very common when two characters are having a discussion,
12. Point of View Shot - is a short scene that shows what a character (the subject) is looking at (represented through the camera). It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction
13. Reaction shot - this is commonly a type of cutaway shot. It is where the camera cuts away from the action to show a close-up of a character's face, which is displaying a type of emotional response to that action. For example: a large, dangerous, venomous snake slithers into Johnny's bedroom; camera cuts away to the Johnny's face as his eyes bug out and his mouth widens into a scream upon seeing the snake.
14. Long Take - Shots with extremely long durations are difficult to do because any mistake would force the filmmaker to start over from the beginning. They are thus only occasionally used. A film famous for its long cuts include Francis Ford Coppola's “The Godfather” in which the entire first scene is one long take featuring Buonasera describing a murder which occurred.
15. Panning - camera movement from side to side.
16. Trucking/dollying - camera follows the action; movement usually on a rolling tripod.
