Film devices and features

Question 1

Medium shot

Answer 1

A medium shot, also called a mid-shot or waist shot, is a type of camera shot in film and television that shows an actor approximately from the waist up.

Question 2

Close-up medium shot

Answer 2

A medium close-up shot (or MCU) is a shot that frames the subject from just above their head down to about midway on their torso.

Question 3

Dolly shot

Answer 3

The term dolly refers to a wheeled cart, usually one that runs on rail tracks. A dolly shot refers to the camera movement when a camera is mounted on a dolly. In a dolly shot, the camera moves towards, away from, or alongside your subject, which can be an actor, location setting, product, etc.

Question 4

Long shot

Answer 4

In film, a view of a scene that is shot from a considerable distance, so that people appear as indistinct shapes.

Question 5

Extreme long shot

Answer 5

An extreme long shot is a view from an even greater distance, in which people appear as small dots in the landscape if at all (eg. a shot of New York’s skyline).