Nice Shot:

A Guide to Common Video Shot Types

by Bill Davis

Good shot selection for video, like golf, is fundamental for success. You may not be a video Tiger Woods, yet, but the more shots you add to your repertoire, the more interesting and effective your videos will be.

At the top of its arc, the silver head of the golf club sparkled in the morning sun. It swooped down, snapped the manicured grass and sent the white ball blasting off into the blue. The ball hung in the sky for what seemed an eternity until gravity finally took over. The white dot hit the green turf of the distant fairway and bounced along the clipped grass, past the hole, down the bank and into the hazard. Splash! Too much club.

When I learned to play golf, the really good players seemed to be obsessed with careful club selection. The key, as I soon learned, is to select just the right club to put just the right amount of loft on the ball to deliver it just where it should go. Each club in the golfer's bag has a purpose. The driver gives the golfer great distance off the tee. The sand wedge provides a great deal of loft, to get the golfer out of a hazard, but does not provide much distance. The putter is used when the ball is on the green, providing a great deal of control over direction without any loft at all. I don't get much time on the golf course these days, but the phrase "good shot selection" has stuck with me. And I've learned that the same simple phrase is even more applicable for creating good video. Selecting the right framing for a video shot is like selecting the right club for a golf shot. While this article won't help your golf game, it will help you understand and apply the various types of shots commonly used in making video.

Teeing Up

A shot is the basic building block of every video. Point your camcorder at something, press record, then press stop and you have a shot. It seems simple enough on the surface, but there's more to it than that. Every time you choose one type of shot over another, you're communicating with your audience. Shot selection is extremely important for telling stories well with video. And like selecting the right golf club, video shot selection is a craft that requires planning and practice.

As we look at the variety of clubs in your video bag, we'll use the simple static shot as our reference. In a static shot, the size, the framing and the angle of the shot remain constant throughout. Of course, your camcorder doesn't limit you to static shots. It allows you to zoom, essentially combining several clubs at a time. The static shot, however, will allow us to demonstrate the impact of each "club" on it's own.

Even though they're referred to as static, static shots can be anything but boring. A well-composed static shot is the clearest communicator in your shot inventory. It allows the audience to absorb a scene without distraction. And it can speak volumes to the viewer if you know how to use it well.

What's in the Bag?

Video shots are traditionally divided into five categories:

• extreme wide shots (XWS) or establishing shot. The widest shot you can achieve to set the scene for the audience.
• wide shots (WS) Shots framed near the widest angle the camera lens can achieve.
• medium shots (MS) A shot in the middle of the lens range. For example, when taping interviews a head to thigh shot is considered a medium shot.
• closeups (CU) A shot isolating a single object or one person's face.
• extreme closeups (XCU) A shot designed to bring the viewer nose to nose with the subject.

One of the fundamental skills of good video storytelling involves knowing what each shot type communicates to the viewer, and choosing the right shots in the right order to communicate your message effectively.

Teeing Off

The extreme wide shot, or establishing shot, sets the context for the shots that will follow. The extreme wide shot is usually just a few seconds long, shown at the beginning of a scene and is not used again until the story moves to a new location. While extreme wide shots reveal little detail, they are essential to let the viewer know where a scene takes place. Assume that a scene shows a couple enjoying a candle-lit dinner in a dimly-lit dining room. A series of shots reveals their conversation and tells their story. But where are they? In actuality, the scene was shot on a set in a studio, but add an establishing shot and the pair could be dining in a cabin in the mountains, a suburban home or a big city high rise. Without the establishing shot the viewer doesn't know. The magic of the extreme wide shot is that it allows the producer to create a false reality with a single shot.

On the Fairway

As shots get tighter, more detail is revealed, but less of the surrounding area is seen. Generally, video storytellers will move from wider shots to closer shots in sequence, first setting the context, then revealing more and more detail. Once the scene has been set, wide, medium and closeup shots are the most used shot types. The impact of these three shots is sometimes subtle, you might liken them to a golfer selecting a 5, 6 or 7 iron. There is very little difference to the casual golfer or videographer. But like the experienced golfer, the advanced video storyteller is a master at the subtle art of shot selection.

Sink the Putt

Extreme closeups provide the viewer with an up-close look. The extreme closeup is all about detail. If the gentleman in our scene drops to one knee and pulls a small black box from his pocket in a wide shot, the viewer knows he is proposing. A closeup of her excited face let's the viewer know she is happy with the proposal. The extreme closeup of the ring sliding on her finger allows the viewer to see the ring in all its glory. Follow it with another extreme closeup of her eyes welling up and you'll bring the audience to tears. The extreme close up is the "money shot" that draws the viewer into the story.

One of the biggest challenges of storytelling is getting the audience emotionally involved. Once you've hooked them, the toughest part is over.

Creating intimacy is one way to get your audience involved. It makes them care about your subject. And once they care, they'll want to see what happens and they'll watch for the duration. Once again, shot selection plays an important role in creating intimacy between the viewer and the subject.

Regardless of your budget, by practicing and ultimately mastering a wide range of shot types, you'll add a powerful arsenal to your video production bag. If you think about it, stringing medium shot after medium shot in your video is like trying to play an entire round of golf using only your 5 iron. Sure it's possible, but it limits your effectiveness and takes most of the enjoyment out of the game.

Shooting Exercise

If you're looking to hone your skills as a videographer, try making a video with nothing but static shots. With practice, you'll find that you tell a compelling story using nothing but these fundamental elements. here's a simple story, told in five static shots. notice how each shot differs from the next. Wide, medium, and close-up shots alternate to first set the scene and then to focus the viewer's attention. The following is an example of how static shots can effectively tell a story.

Shot 1: XWS exterior front of recently burned-out home:
CUT TO
Shot 2: MS of the building's scorched doorway. On the wall next to the doorway, the shadow of a small girl appears.
CUT TO
Shot 3: CU a child's arm reaches around the doorframe, toward the floor.
DISSOLVE TO
Shot 4: MS of child outside in sunlight holding a soot-blackened doll.
CUT TO
Shot 5: XCU child's tear-streamed face.
VOICEOVER: (Woman's defeated voice:)
Come on honey, we have to leave now…

Shot variation is one element that will make you videos more interesting. Even a beautiful subject, a lovely garden in bloom foe example, can become boring if your video is just an endless series of extreme close-ups. Shot variation is one way to avoid monotony. It's important to show the beauty of the blooms, but by pulling back and including wide and medium shots of the garden, you put the wonder and beauty of the blooms in perspective.