Lesson 1 of 9 · 10 min
The frame
A film is a long line of rectangles. The first choice of a cinematographer is what goes inside the rectangle and what stays out. The size of a person in the frame tells the audience how close they are, and how much they should feel.
In this lesson
- Name the seven common shot sizes.
- Say what each shot size does to the audience.
- Know the four common aspect ratios.
Try it Walk the camera in
The camera has a 35 mm lens and points at the actor in the red shirt. Move the slider to walk the camera toward her. At each stop, ask: how do I feel about this person now? Then change the shape of the frame.
- Make the actor small: find an extreme wide shot.
- Fill the frame with her face: find a close-up.
- Try the 2.39 frame. What happens to the sides of the street?
The name for it Shot sizes
Crews name a shot by how much of the person it shows. The names are a shared language: a director can say "give me a medium close-up" and everyone knows the frame. The lens does not decide the name. The size of the subject in the frame decides it.
| Shot | What you see | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| EWS · Extreme wide | A place. People are tiny. | Tells you where you are. Can make a person look lost or alone. |
| WS · Wide (full) | The whole body, head to feet, and the space around it. | Shows action, body language and where people stand. |
| MLS · Medium long | Knees up. The "cowboy" shot. | Body and face together. Good for groups. |
| MS · Medium | Waist up. | Normal talking distance. You see hands and gestures. |
| MCU · Medium close-up | Chest or shoulders up. | The default for dialogue and interviews. |
| CU · Close-up | The face. | Emotion. The audience feels what the character feels. |
| ECU · Extreme close-up | Eyes, a mouth, a hand on a trigger. | Intensity, detail, a clue. Use it rarely, so it stays strong. |
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio is the width of the frame divided by its height. It is the shape of the window that the audience looks through.
- 1.33 4:3
- Old television and early films (the Academy ratio is 1.37). It feels boxed in and close. Some modern films use it for intimacy.
- 1.78 16:9
- HD television, streaming and most online video.
- 1.85 Flat
- The common widescreen ratio for cinema. A little wider than 16:9.
- 2.39 Scope
- Very wide. Often shot with anamorphic lenses. Good for landscapes and for putting two faces in one frame.
In the lab, a wider ratio kept the same width but cut the height. That is why the same camera distance gave a tighter shot in 2.39: the frame lost its top and bottom.
Check Three questions
A character learns terrible news. You want the audience to feel it with her. Which shot is the best first choice?
A close-up puts the face, and its emotion, at the centre of the screen.
What decides the name of a shot size?
A 100 mm lens far away and a 25 mm lens close up can both give a close-up. The size of the subject in the frame names the shot.
A ratio of 2.39 means the frame is…
Aspect ratio is width ÷ height. 2.39 is a very wide "scope" frame.
Field exercise Count the shots
Watch one dialogue scene from a film you like, about two minutes long. Pause at each cut and write down the shot size: WS, MS, MCU, CU. Look at where the closest shots are. They are almost always at the most important line in the scene.