Shot Sizes

The extreme close-up is the closest shot size. It shows a small detail of a character or prop and isolates it from the rest of the person or subject.

How extreme close-ups can be used

An extreme close-up indicates that whatever is shown in the shot is very important to the scene or film. 
The use of an extreme close-up is a strong visual statement that focuses the audience’s attention on a small detail of a subject.
It may also be used to detach something from its original meaning and abstract it visually.

The importance of a detail

An extreme close-up can be used to make the viewers aware of something. The information the audience gains through this shot might not be important for the story at the moment but it is established in the viewers’ memories so that they will remember it later, when it will be important.
The visual impact of an extreme close-up is very useful for that, as nothing else in the frame is occupying the viewers’ attention. They are fully focused on the detail that the filmmakers want to point out. 

Abstract shot

An extreme close-up can release something from its actual context and create an abstract view of it. This may be used to create a certain atmosphere in a scene.
The following examples use extreme close-ups of human skin to generate images that make you think of some kind of obscure landscape. 

Dramaturgical use

Sometimes, the main aim of an extreme close-up is to induce certain feelings in the audience, like shock, disgust, or fear. An example would be an extreme close-up of a spider crawling on a hand.
An extreme close-up may also show something very closely to express peculiar attention to it.
In this film, a young girl explores nature and takes her time getting a detailed look at everything she discovers. Her perception of things is visually translated by the use of extreme close-ups.

 

In a close-up, something is filling the large part of the image. That can be a character’s face, another body part, or a certain prop. A close-up is a little closer than a medium close-up and wider than an extreme close-up.

How close-ups can be used

One of the most interesting things to observe is the human face. The close-up shot in a film does primarily that: It puts the human face at the center of attention in an image.
Close-ups are also used for props or other body parts, like the hands, to visually underline the importance of a certain object or small actions for the story.

Show facial expressions

A close-up brings forward the smallest nuances of a facial expression, which cannot be seen in a wider image. Due to the exclusion of almost everything else from the image, the audience can fully concentrate on that expression.

Create intimacy

If you want to create a connection between the character and the audience, a close-up of the face is one of the most powerful tools you can use in visual storytelling. By composing the shot right and excluding unnecessary visual elements, you can ensure that your audience will pay attention only to what you want them to focus on.
A close-up of a face makes an audience feel close to a character. Not only does it allow the viewers to look at the face but it also reveals a person’s feelings.

Dramaturgical use

Through editing, a close-up can gain additional potential: By showing a close-up, the filmmakers want to draw the audience’s attention to whatever is shown and establish an emotional connection in that particular moment. 

In the following example, a man is looking at an old picture of his deceased wife and estranged daughter.
The first image establishes the situation. In the next image, we see the photo he is looking at. Through the ensuing close-up of his face, we can see the sadness and regret that intimate memories release in him. The experience of that moment will drive his subsequent actions.



 

A medium close-up of a character shows the person from approximately the chest or shoulders to the top of the head. Medium close-up shots are slightly wider than close-ups and closer than medium shots.
As with all shots referring to the human body, the separation points between these shot sizes are not exactly defined.

How medium close-ups can be used

Medium close-ups generally contain fewer visual elements than wider shots. Thus, you can put something clearly into the center of attention of the image, to visually increase its importance to the scene.
That may be a person’s face to emphasize their reaction or something they are saying. It may also be a certain prop.

Concentrating on a character’s face

While a wider shot size concentrates more on a character’s surroundings and body language, and less on the facial expressions, a medium close-up does the opposite: The body language is only implied by including the upper part of the body; the shot concentrates more on the character’s face.

Context between character and background

Besides a person’s face, a medium close-up of a character shows what is directly around or behind that person. Thereby, a medium close-up allows you to add dramatic, symbolic, or expository statements to the image. Because the medium close-up generally contains fewer visual elements than a wider shot, the surroundings tend to connect more directly to the character.

Dramaturgical use

Depending on its combination with other shot sizes in the edited film, a medium close-up can emphasize the importance of a certain moment in the scene. For example, if a dialogue between two people is filmed in a wider shot (let’s say a medium long shot containing both people), cutting to an image of one character in a medium close-up visually highlights what the shown person is saying or how they are reacting to something the other person said.

Props

Showing a certain prop in a medium close-up (or closer) visually establishes its importance to the story or scene. 
The medium close-up not only focuses on a particular prop itself but also sets it into a context with its immediate surroundings.

The following two images, both medium close-ups, are edited as shot / reverse shot and show the film’s protagonist, an unsuccessful but passionate photographer, on the morning after a party. He is returning to the location where he had a final and painful talk with his ex-girlfriend. 

 

A medium shot is tighter than a medium wide shot and wider than a medium close-up, though they sometimes cannot be exactly distinguished.
It usually contains one or more persons from the waist up, including their closer environment. 

How medium shots can be used

If a character should be contextualized with their immediate environment, a medium shot is a suitable size.
Similar to medium wide shots, medium shots are fit for group shots or two shots. 

A person in their immediate surroundings

If you want to establish a character interacting with their immediate surroundings and still recognize the facial expressions, a medium shot would be the way to go.

Even if the person in your frame is not interacting with something close to them, the medium shot offers the possibility of contextualizing character and setting.

Two shot or group shot

When people are shown from approximately the waist up, the expression of the upper body adds to the visual content of the shot, as well as the emotions indicated in the facial expressions.
The medium shot is wide enough to enable you to visually deliver the dynamics of the relationship between the characters through their positioning in the frame, along with their body language.

Transition between wide and close shot sizes

Medium shots are often used in editing as a transition between a wider, more expository shot and a closer, more intimate shot or vice versa. Thereby, you can influence the audience’s emotional involvement with your characters.
Of course, it is also possible to edit directly between a long shot and a close-up, but a medium shot in between might increase your narrative opportunities.
 

Medium wide shots are also referred to as medium long shots. Wider than medium shots and tighter than wide shots, they show one or more characters from approximately the knees up.

How medium wide shots can be used

Medium wide shots are often used for group shots and two shots.
A medium wide shot offers the opportunity to show the body language of the characters and imply their facial expressions while still being wide enough to include the characters’ surroundings. That makes them suitable for emblematic shots.

Combining characters and their surroundings

Medium long shots unite body language, a hint of facial expressions, and the characters’ surroundings. Therefore, they are often used if a narrative or expository point should be presented to the audience through the combination of those three visual elements.

Two shots

The most common shot sizes for two shots are medium long shots, medium shots, and close-ups. By deciding which shot size to use for a two shot, you can add a narrative layer.
By offering enough space in the frame, the medium long shot is suitable for establishing the interpersonal dynamics between characters by the way they are positioned. The shot shows not just two people together in a frame but also how they are placed in relation to each other. Their facial expressions are recognizable but they are not the main focus in this shot.

Group shots

Next to the long shot, a medium long shot is often used for group shots containing three or more people. Compared to the long shot, the medium long shot pays less attention to the setting the group is in and more to the individuals’ facial expressions.
The characteristics of a medium long shot for a group shot are similar to those for a two shot: The way the characters are placed within the shot composition tells the audience about the relations between them.

Emblematic shot

Medium long shots, like long shots, are a suitable size for the concept of emblematic shots.
Emblematic shots intend to confer complex, connotative ideas into single images. By the arrangement of the characters and other visual elements in the frame, such as certain props or the shot’s setting, the image itself provides deeper insight into how the characters feel and what drives them.
A medium long shot is wide enough to include the characters’ surroundings and thereby contextualize the characters and their setting but also narrow enough that the facial expression is visible and thereby can contribute to the message of the shot.

 

A wide shot, also called a long shot, includes the major part of a scene’s setting.
If people are in the frame, a wide shot shows them as a whole, along with their surrounding area.

 

How wide shots can be used

Not as wide as an extreme wide shot, the wide shot can fulfill some of the same characteristics. Nonetheless, it focuses the audience’s view more on certain details, like the characters in the frame.

Establishing shot

Like the extreme wide shot, the wide shot can be used to establish a location and thereby show the audience where the scene takes place. That shot may be placed at the beginning of a scene but can also be placed throughout the scene. If it is used at the end of a scene, it often has a dramaturgical purpose, as described below.

 

Two shot and group shot

Wide shots are suitable for showing two or more characters in the same frame, including the setting in which they are situated. Due to its width, this shot size may also convey the relationship between these characters, depending on how they are positioned in the frame.

 

Emblematic shot

Emblematic shots are images that transmit the filmmakers’ complex, connotative intentions through the arrangement of people and visual elements in the frame. They aim to tell a story within a single image, giving the audience a deeper insight into the characters’ condition.
The wide field of view of a wide shot makes it a suitable shot size for the precept of emblematic shots.

The following example is the last shot of the film. A couple who is struggling in their relationship is cleaning up a devastated apartment, something they have postponed for months. The air is sickening, so they put on gas masks that they have just found.

They are standing in the middle of an overwhelming mess, unable to speak to each other because of the gas masks, trying to cope with the task of cleaning everything.

That image can be seen as a visual expression of their relationship.

 

Positions of the characters in the shot

This thought is similar to the concept of the emblematic shot but pays less attention to the characters’ surroundings. It concentrates more on how the characters are positioned in the frame.

Though a wide shot is usually too wide to really grasp a person’s facial expressions, it can express the feelings and conditions of the characters through the composition: The way the characters are positioned in the frame can visually enunciate their internal state.

This example shows the two main characters toward the end of the film. After unsuccessfully trying to save a valuable jacket from the waste disposal, they resign themselves to that fact and sit in front of a building. Their positioning as two small figures in the lower corner of this wide shot emphasizes their dejection.

The fact that they are sitting so close to each other with so much space around them tells us that the preceding experience has brought them closer together. If one of them were positioned on the left side of the frame, the shot would tell a whole different story.

 

Dramaturgical use

As stated before, a wide shot can set a character in context with the surroundings and thereby contribute to the tone of a scene.
Following that thought, sometimes wide shots are placed at the end of a scene with a composition that articulates a different dramatic mood from the one at the beginning of a scene. The intention behind that is to reveal a change in the emotion or attitude of a character.
Generally, the reasoned combination of a wide shot with tighter shots in editing may bring forth its dramaturgical ability, if intended. 
 

The extreme wide shot, also called extreme long shot, shows the scene’s setting as a whole. If people are in the frame, they are usually depicted as very small in relation to the size of the image.
 

How extreme wide shots can be used

Extreme wide shots can be used as establishing shots or to show the dimensions of a scene. Through good shot composition, and by considering where to place the characters in the frame, extreme wide shots can contribute to the narrative of the film by transporting certain moods of a scene or visually expressing the inner feelings of the characters.

Establishing shot

Extreme wide shots are often used to introduce the audience to a location. In this case, they are referred to as establishing shots. Often, an establishing shot is used at the beginning of a scene to let the audience know where the ensuing action takes place. Due to dramaturgical or editorial decisions, an establishing shot can also be used throughout the course of a scene or at its end. Some scenes or even films don’t contain establishing shots at all. This depends on the narrative and visual language that the filmmakers use to tell their story.

Showing a scene’s dimensions

To show the size of a building or the vastness of a landscape, an extreme wide shot is the way to go.
If there is a large crowd that is important for the narrative of a scene, the filmmakers will most likely show the scope of that crowd in an extreme wide shot. Examples could be concerts, sports events, and battle scenes. For the latter, extreme wide shots are often used to showcase spatial interactions and relationships between several groups.

 

Dramaturgical use

As stated before, the decision to employ a certain shot size usually has not only an information-related reason but, even more so, a dramaturgical or narrative one.
For example, if a single character appears as a small figure in an extreme wide shot, the image might emphasize the character’s loneliness or lostness. An extreme wide shot showing two characters standing far away from each other magnifies the distance between them.