Shooting scripts

BCU (Big close up)

Extreme close up covering the subject’s face from forehead to chin.

CA (Cut away)

A close up of something other than the current action. It could be a shot of a different subject or a different part of the subject.

Crash In

The camera crashes into the scene containing the subject.

Creep in

The camera ‘creeps in” behind the subject.

CU (Close up)

Unless specified otherwise, it is a close up of the subject’s face.

Cut In

Close up of a part of the subject in detail. For example, a close up of the subject twiddling thumbs.

Dirty Shot

Covers the face of the subject, and the back (head and shoulders) of the person interviewing the subject.

DTL

Provides camera operators with carpeted work area that extends beyond the front of the Dolly.

Dutch angle

The camera is tilted off to the side such that the horizon is at an angle to the bottom of the frame.

Ease In

Gently zoom into the subject.

ECU (Extreme Close Up)

Captures the finer details of the subject without capturing the surroundings. The camera captures only a fraction of the subject in the scene.

Establishing shot

Provides a context for the scene or the subject. For example, an exterior shot of a building at night, followed by an interior shot of people talking. Such a shot implies that the conversation is taking place at night inside that building.

EWS (Extreme Wide Shot)

Establishes the subject’s surroundings. The subject is, most times, barely visible in the shot. The EWS is often used as an establishing shot - the shot used to set the context for the scene.

Extreme Long Shot

Provides a context for the subject in the scene. Similar to the Extreme Wide Shot.

Eye Level

Places the viewer at an equal footing with the subject onscreen.

FS (Full Shot)

Shows in full length the person or object featured in the scene/frame.

High angle

The camera is placed above eye level, looking downward. The shot can make the subject look small or weak.

Long lens shot

Shot using the long lens to zoom into a subject - commonly used in wild life photography.

Long Shot

Places the subject in some relation to the surroundings.

Low angle

The camera is placed below eye level, and looks up at the subject. The shot makes the subject look large, strong, or noble.

MCU

Shows the subject in close up without getting too close. The shot is somewhere between a mid shot and a close up.

Medium Shot

Provides a partial view of the subject, and is sufficient to cover the subject’s expressions and any action around the subject.

Mid Shot

Provides a complete view of the subject along with the action in the scene.

MWS (Medium Wide Shot)

Captures around 75 per cent of the subject’s body.

Noddy shot

Shows the interviewer responding to the guest.

Oblique/Canted

The camera is tilted at an angle to the floor. Such shots usually suggest imbalance, transition and instability. The oblique angle is also used to portray the POV of the subject, that is, it portrays the scene as the subject sees it.

OSS (Over the shoulder shot)

Close up of the subject viewed at shoulder level of another subject in the shot.

Overhead shot

The camera is positioned directly above the subject.

POV (Point of view)

Shows what the subject is looking at (represented through the camera).The camera is placed at the eye position of the character.

Profile shot

A shot of the subject from the side.

Push In

The camera physically moves toward a subject.

Reverse shot

The subject and the other actor in the scene are part of the same scene but not covered by the camera in the same frame. One of the actors is “invisible” to the camera during the conversation.

Slanted

Similar to the Dutch angle. The camera is held at an angle to the subject.

The Bird’s Eye view

Oblique view of the subject from above as though the observer were a bird.

Two Shot

Captures two subjects, not be necessarily next to each other, in the same frame.

VWS (Very Wide Shot)

Defines the environment in which the subject is placed. The shot is much closer to the object than in EWS, but not as near as in the Wide Shot (WS).

Weather Shot

Captures the weather as a subject for the scene.

WS (Wide Shot)

Provides a panoramic view of the action in the scene.

Aerial

Shot with a crane, or with a camera attached to a special helicopter to view large landscapes.

Arc

Camera movement that combines trucking and panning. The camera zooms out of the subject, simultaneously making a circular move, an arc, while panning all the while keeping the subject in frame.

Crab

A less-common term for tracking or trucking.

Crane

A shot taken by a camera on a crane.

Crash zoom in/Crash zoom out

Effects produced by fast lens movements, like zooms and pull-outs.

Defocus

Camera deviates from accurate focus.

Dolly zoom/Contra zoom/Dolly out

The camera is pulled away from a subject when the lens zooms in, or the other way round. During the zoom, there is a continuous perspective distortion, the most noticeable feature being that the background appears to change size relative to the subject.

Dolly

Camera is mounted on a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails.

Dolly In

As the camera moves toward the subject, more and more of the background disappears "behind" the person in the scene.

Dutch tilt

Achieved by tilting the camera so that the horizon is at an angle to the bottom of the frame. Used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed

Follow

Camera movement technique used to follow the subject.

Focus

Focus camera on one object in a close up shot, causing everything in the background to be out of focus,

Handheld

The photographer holds the video camera, and moves around to capture the action.

JIB

Boom device with a camera on one end, and a counterweight on the other. Properly balanced using the counterweight, the camera can move through an extended arc

Pull Focus

The camera shifts focus alternatively between the person in the foreground and the person in the background.

Pan

Camera moves horizontally across the scene. Establishes a time and space for places or characters in the scene.

Pedestal

Camera moves vertically with respect to the subject.

Steadicam

Stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera allowing for a smooth shot.

Throw focus

Starts the shot focused on a foreground object and then “throws focus” onto the subject.

Tilt

Camera is stationary, but rotates vertically on its axis.

Tracking/Trucking

A tracking shot usually follows the subject as it moves along the screen.

Whip pan

Type of pan shot in which the camera moves sideways so quickly that the picture blurs into indistinct streaks.

Zoom

Produced by a zoom lens, which can vary focal length across a large range.