Birds eye view shot

The birds eye view is a shot taken from above and is a very extreme and unatural angle. This makes familiar subjects look unrecognisable and could be sued to confuse the audience. It is used to establish where somone is and the action that is unfolding or even to show a character is lonely; have them alone in a birds eye shot. Birds eye view makes the characters in the shot look ant-like and therefore insignificant. The audience can not see what the people look like, what they're doing or how they feel which emphasises their insignificance and they appear only to be part of the bigger scheme of things. This is represented well in the image above.

Close-up shot

This type of shot concentrates on only one subject for example an actors face or a part of the mise en scene in the scene. It can be used to indicate a lead actors importance or to show an important detail, for example some text or an activity using their hands, or to emphasise and concentrate on someones emotions. It makes the audience empathise with the character because the closeness is very intimate creating trust for the particular character, but too many close-ups can confuse the audience; the characters actions are not put into perspective. A director may not use close ups for a character to create distance between the audience and the character; for instance in a horror film a killer may only be shown through extreme longshots and in the background of other shot tocreate unease. The caption above is a good example of a close up shot. You can clearly see the tears and her eyes and smile show these tears are from happiness.

Medium shot

The medium shot is the most commonly used shot in films and usually shows a character waist up It's used so the audience can closely watch a character; their faces and hands are the focus of the shot and these are what the actor will use the most to express themselves. When it depicts more than three people then it tends not to be called a medium shot but a long shot. This example shows the audience the characters body language without compromising the details of his facial expression; if it showed his whole body then these details wouldn't be so clear.

Long shot

Long shot depicts a scene from a long distance. A person in a long shot would have their feet usually close to the bottom and their head to the top. On a cinema screen the person would appear to be 'life size', as shown in the picture above. It's useful because it shows the whole person and what they're doing without putting anything out of proportion like it may if taken closer.

Extreme long shot

Extreme long shots are used to establish the general place of the scene, for example the outside of a building or a landscape. It gives a very dramatic effect when used to film a war scene because the huge number of people can be seen. The shot can be taken from a quarter of a mile away and if a character is included the details of their actions so they may have to emphasise their gestures. In this particular long shot it shows how vast the landscape is and gives the impression that it never ends.

180 degree rule

180 degree rule, which is shown above, is a basic rule for every scene. When two people in a scene, A and B, are facing each other (e.g. having a conversation) the axis which connects them divides the filming space in half. If the camera crosses this line into AREA 2 it will disorientate the audience (people A and B will be facing different directions). Imagine how confusing it'd be if there was a shot of someone walking down a street and then in the next shot they're walking in the opposite direction. Here is a famous example of a director, Alfred Hitchcock, deliberately cross the 180 degree line in order to confuse and unease the audience in Psycho. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4 After 1:40 the camera crosses the l80 degree line many times in order to distress the audience. It gives the impression that the scene is a caotic and the woman has no control over what is happening, so she is sure to be stabbed. It's extremely hard to cross the line without the sequence looking cheap and unprofessional. Other than this film, most films apply all of their scenes to the 180 degree rule so I'll use the same video i did for shot reverse shot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvof8mI6pXk As you can see the scene is very easy to follow; the characters always stay on the same side of the shot.

Shot reverse shot

Shot reverse shot is a film technique used to show two people facing eachother. The sequence alternates between two shots ;one of one character looking at another, who is often not in the shot, and one showing the other looking back. In actual fact the actors are sat at angles towards a camera each. I think it's very effective because it lets the audience see the actors facial expressions and puts them in the shoes of the character theyre talking to and uses eye line match to make them feel involved. It's important when using shot reverse shot for the character's reactions to what has been said to be included. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvof8mI6pXk This is a sequence using the technique. As you can see it really looks as if they are directly facing eachother. His smile is an example of a well edited reaction to what is happening.

Match on action

When there are a number of different shots from the same piece of action the match on action technique is be used. It involves editing shots together so that the action featured appears to be continuous, even though the shots may be shot at different times, shooting different people (stunt actors), or at different camera angles. If it is not edited well enough the sequenece may look jolty and innacurate, for example the subject may be moving in a differnt direction or the lighting may be different. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI82hsBrq8w&feature=related Here is an example in which quite a few sequences happen by match on action, for example the two shots which contribute to the apple being picked up and changing of the apple to the orange. I think they really succeeded in creating continuity; the cut between the knife cutting the apple from a birds eye view to eye level flows well. IIf i had to fault anything it would be the change from the melon to the apple, this is because its obvious the knife is not actually making contact with the melon. This is because the melon's too big though so it could be a critisism for the makers choice in props and not skills in editing.