Research: Cinematography

AS Media - Ms Begum

What is Cinematography?
Cinematography has many techniques of photography (for picture and movie), it is looking at the way the shot is framed, the angle it is taken in and the movement of the camera. 

Here is a list of many different camera shots:

XLS (Extreme Long Shot) - is taking a extreme long shot (taking a picture far away from that person, building etc,) of a person, building or any object.  An example of this is a movie called Star War, if you look at the picture above you can see that the character picture was taken in extreme long shot. It seems that they did this to show the audience the area/environment that he is in.

LS (Long Shot) - is taking a long shot of a person (or building, objects etc.) far way, but not further than extreme long shot, the long shot should show the whole body of the person. An example of this is a movie called World War Z, if you look at the picture above you can see that the character picture was captured in long shot. The audience can see the character looking around feeling frighten and worried that he might make a wrong move that can killed him,

MS (Medium shot) - is taking a medium shot of a person (or buildings, object etc.), it shows less than a long shot and more than a close-up. Another shot similar to a medium shot is called MCU (medium close up)  - it is the same but a bit closer, showing maybe from the head to chest. An example of this is a movie called World War Z, if you look at the picture above you can see the picture was captured in medium shot. The audience can see the character looking like he's trying to run away from someone, trying to get in the car as quickly as possible to get away. 

CU (Close up) - taking a close shots, unlike the other shots this is more closer than them, it only shows the face of the character. An example of this is from a movie called The Hunger Games, if you look above you can see the picture was taken as close up. The audience can tell that the character is serious by just looking at her face, this shows that the character is focused on what she needs to do.

ECU (Extreme Close-Up) is a camera shot much closer than close up, this shot shows the details (Emotions, Expressions etc.) of the character. An example of it is a movie called The Bride, this shot was taken as extreme close up. The audience can see the blood on the character face and can see that she's worried that she might get cause by just looking at her eyes.

ES (Establishing shot) is when you take a shot of the scene, most films use establishing shot at the start of the film. Establishing shot shows the audience of the scene the character will be set in. There's an example of a Establishing shot above, this shot was taken from a movie called The Grudge.

Low shots makes the character/actors (or anyone takings low angle shots) appear bigger than normal. The picture (above) was taken as a low angle shot, this shot was taken from the movie called Spiderman. The audience can see that the character is shocked and confuse and it seems that he's doing something unusual (by looking at his face expressions).

High angle shots makes the characters/actors appear smaller than normal. High angle shots is usually used when something 'Exciting blood rushing' moment happen for example: Fighting scene, car chasing scene etc.
The picture above was taken from a movie called James Bond. It shows the audience that he's in trouble - it looks like he ran out of energy and is tired. It also shows the audience that he's getting ready to shoot someone.

Panning shot is when you're taking a shot while the camera moves across. It's usually used when there's a speed up scene involve or when vehicle is used etc. for example: Running from the police, driving, car chasing. The picture above is a panning shot, it was taken from a movie called Fast and Furious. The audience can see that the driver is riding as fast as he can as if he's trying to go somewhere in time.

Tilt shot is when the camera is moving up and down. It is usually used when someone is climbing, jumping down the building etc. An example of it is Spiderman, title shot was used when Spiderman was swinging across the city.




After spending more than an hour of research and doing a lesson of it, I now know the meaning of Cinematography and I've learnt various of shots. When I'm creating an opening for my coursework, I will know which shots to use while filming.