Shot Size
The size of your shot has a tremendous impact on how your audience interprets the image in the frame. It can carry great emotional weight as well as affect how much information the audience receives.
Are you striving to create meaningful intimacy? Do you want to call attention to a particular element or hide it altogether? Do you want to draw your audience in or alienate them?
What you do with your shot size will decide this and much more.
From a purely technical standpoint, shot size determines how much of the scene is shown to the audience. It is always relative to the subject matter.
The basic shot sizes are:
- XCU: extreme close up
- CU: close up
- MS: medium shot
- WS: wide shot
- XWS: extreme wide shot
Note: A wide shot can also be referred to as a long shot.
These shot sizes describe shots in relation to distance—in other words, the proximity of the audience to the subject matter.
Bear in mind that there is no standard shot size. It is always relative to the subject matter.
For example, a wide shot of two dinosaurs on a mountaintop will look very different from a wide shot of two cockroaches on a leaf.
Describing shot sizes in relation to distance from subject matter may not always be enough information to convey what is included in the shot. To help with this, we can also use a reference to the actual subject itself, describing how we frame the body (assuming the subject is a person). We can also describe the physical relationships among people and objects.
Ways to describe shot size in relation to a person include the following:
- head and shoulders
- full
- two shot, three shot, and so on
- bust
- waist
- cowboy
- over the shoulder (OTS)
- point of view (POV)
- body part, such as feet, hands, eyes, and so on
Note: It is vital to note that shot sizes are not a gauge of the proximity of the camera to the subject. Different lens choices give the impression of different distances, but one can just as easily do a close-up with a wide-angle lens as with a telephoto lens. Your shot size should always be a creative decision, not simply a function of the equipment itself.
