The establishing shot may be the first shot you see in a sequence of clips. It helps give the big picture of where the setting is taking place. It also creates the context for a scene. It’s generally a long or an extreme long shot at the beginning of a scene, indicating where a scene takes place.

This shot frames a subject's head and cuts off around mid-chest. The focus is on the subject. Reveals only a little of the surroundings. Shows the facial expressions of the subject. Commonly used for interviews in documentaries and news programs.

A close-up shot adds emotion to a scene. It tightly frames an actor’s face, making their reaction the main focus in the frame. This allows the actor to establish a strong emotional connection with the audience.

An extreme close-up shot frames a subject very closely, often so much so that the outer portions of the subject are cut off by the edges of the frame.

This is used when you want the viewer to see what the character is seeing or feel what they’re feeling. It can be a static shot or you can combine it with one of the camera motions that we’ll look at later.

Depth Staging involves placing the characters in the frame at excessive distances from each other, emphasizing depth.One character could be all the way down a corridor, while another character can be sitting in a close-up toward the front.

An eye level shot refers to when the level of your camera is placed at the same height as the eyes of the characters in your frame. An eye level camera angle does not require the viewer to see the eyes of the actor, nor does the actor need to look directly into the camera for a shot to be considered eye level.

In cinematography, a low-angle shot, is a shot from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up. The effect of the low-angle shot is that it makes the subject look strong and powerful.

The reverse of the low angle shot is the high angle shot, which creates the opposite impression, and makes the subject of the camera seem small.

A Dutch angle is one of the most common ways to convey disorientation. For this shot, simply tilt the camera to one side so it isn’t level with the horizon.

An over-the-shoulder shot is another angle that can shift a viewer’s perception of the scene. A OTS shot is generally a close-up of another character’s face from “over the shoulder” of another character.

The simplest camera movement is a pan or tilt. A pan is when you keep the camera in one place and turn it to the side, and a tilt is when you turn it up or down.

A dolly shot is a shot where the camera moves backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded.

A 360-degree motion shot involves the camera moving entirely around the subject of the shot.

The great thing about camera motion is that you don’t have to restrict it to one axis at a time. You can combine movements to move in multiple dimensions at once and create more complex shots.

The camera moves backwards to reveal the true extent of a scene or subject.

This technique works by framing the character in the scene through the bushes, room inside the closet, or other object. This gives the impression that someone is watching them, but doesn’t want to be seen.

Follow shot or tracking shot is a specific camera angle that seems to pursue the subject