Extreme Close-Up (ECU)
Extreme close-up is exactly what is says, it is an extremely close capture of a certain feature, e.g. a section of the face such as an eye. This shot can be used to create a sense of intimacy with a character. With an object it may give the sense of some significance. The use of an ECU is rather wide though it may not show much, it can give emotions, a sense of intimacy, show slight or sudden reactions and create a sense of drama. Great genres for this sort of shot could be: horror- to create tension or a specific detail to a character/object, romance- to create a sense of intimacy or emotion to a character. As you can see, it has many effective uses. However, this shot must not be over used, it is a very important shot and is easily misused. If it is placed in too many places it can lose any effect it is trying to portray.
Close Up
A close up would be another helpful use to show an emotion of a character. It can contain the shoulders, head and a little bit of room above the head. From this shot we can see more of the character and part of the way the hold themselves, Because we can see more we are likely to feel more towards the character than the ECU would give of. This is probably due to the fact we can see more and it is more trusting. Useful genres for this shot would be: romance- again for intimacy reasons... In fact, this shot is so widely used it fits into most anything. However, if this shot is over used we miss out on a lot, especially the story, because we would get much of the surrounding and we wouldn't see what it is the character is doing.
Mid-Shot
This shot gives a much greater sense of the character but still not enough. From this we can see a characters head, shoulders and waist/hip area. This shot shows us more of a character, In some cases we are able to see more of a background but not too much, we may just about be able to work out what kind of atmosphere they are in but not where exactly it is. This shot is very effective in many genres such as: fantasy- to create a sense of mystery, action- to show what the character is doing and creating intimacy. This shot is very good, however it still doesn't give off enough information about the character or surroundings.
Long Shot
A long shot. Finally we are able to see all of our character from head to toe. We are given a bit more of a sense as to what their surroundings are but not too much. From this we are able to read the character much more clearly; we can see what they are wearing, if they've been shopping, how the are presented and more. This shot can be used in genres such as: comedy- we can see if the character has something interesting on, action- we can see if they're holding a weapon and what its uses are. If this shot is used too much we can lose a connection with a character and though we see how they hold themselves it can be much harder to read facial expressions.
Mid-Long Shot
This shot is great at giving a sense of atmosphere, we can now see all of the person and more of the background. The setting is very visible and we can associate the character to their surroundings easier and link dialogue to the images making an easier flow to the story. Genres this can be seen in are: thriller- where a character is running, comedy- to show where a character is and their reactions. This is a very nice shot to use as we can see what the character is doing but we lose a sense of connection.
Extreme Long Shot
This shot gives a much greater sense of the surrounding and is normally more focused on what the setting is than what the character is actually doing. (A lot of the time an extreme long shot is more aimed at background and multiple characters rather than just one- though having one character is still very effective. This shot can give us relations between characters and give us a very large impact of the atmosphere. Very good genres for this could be: comedy- to show an impact of something that has happened, romance- to maybe show a whole wedding, action- to show a battlefield. This shot can be very widely used. However, if it is used to much we can lose a sense of intimacy with the characters and also get confused if it is too far back.
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