Wide shot

In photography, filmmaking and video production, a wide shot (sometimes referred to as a full shot or long shot) is a shot that typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. ^[1] These are typically shot now using wide-angle lenses (an approximately 25 mm lens in 35 mm photography and 10 mm lens in 16 mm photography). ^[2] However, due to sheer distance, establishing shots and extremely wide shots can use almost any camera type.

Contents

• History
• Types
• Notable examples
• See also
• References
• Further reading
• External links

History

This type of filmmaking was a result of filmmakers trying to retain the sense of the viewer watching a play in front of them, as opposed to just a series of pictures.

The wide shot has been used since films have been made as it is a very basic type of cinematography. In 1878, one of the first true motion pictures, Sallie Gardner at a Gallop , was released. ^{[3] [4]} Even though this wouldn't be considered a film in the current motion picture industry, it was a huge step towards complete motion pictures.^{[ according to whom? ]} It is arguable that it is very basic but it still remains that it was displayed as a wide angle as both the rider and horse are fully visible in the frame.

In the 1880s, celluloid photographic film and motion picture cameras became available so more motion pictures could be created in the form of Kinetoscope or through projectors. These early films also maintained a wide angle layout as it was the best way to keep everything visible for the viewer. Once motion pictures became more available in the 1890s, there were public screenings of many different films only being around a minute long, or even less. These films again adhered to the wide shot style. One of the first competitive filming techniques came in the form of the close-up, as George Albert Smith incorporated them into his film Hove . Though unconfirmed as the first usage of this method, it is one of the earliest recorded examples. Once the introduction of new framing techniques were introduced, more and more styles were developed and used for the benefits they could provide that wide shots couldn't.

In the early 1900s, motion pictures evolved from short, minute long, screenings to becoming full-length motion pictures. More and more cinematic techniques appeared, resulting in the wide shot being less commonly used. However, it still remained as it is almost irreplaceable in what it can achieve. When television entered the home in the 1960s, it was seen as a massive hit to the cinema industry and many saw it as the decline in cinema popularity. This in turn resulted in films having to stay ahead of television by incorporating superior quality than that of a television. This was done by adding color, but importantly it implemented the use of widescreen. This would allow a massive increase in space usable by the director, thus allowing an even wider shot for the viewer to witness more of any given shot.

Modern films will now frequently use the different types of wide shots as they are a staple in filmmaking and are almost impossible to avoid unless deliberately chosen to. In the current climate of films, the technical quality of any given shot will appear with much better clarity which has given life to some incredible shots from modern cinema. Also, given the quality of modern home entertainment mediums such as Blu-ray, 3D and Ultra HD Blu Rays, this has allowed the scope and size of any given frame to encompass more of the scene and environment in greater detail.

Types

There are a variety of ways of framing that are considered as being wide shots; these include:

Wide shot (WS)

The subject comfortably takes up the whole frame. In the case of a person, head to toe. ^[5] This usually achieves a clear physical representation of a character and can describe the surroundings as it is usually visible within the frame. This results in the audience having a desired (by the director) view/opinion of the character or location.

Very wide shot (VWS)

The subject is only just visible in the location. ^[5] This can find a balance between a "wide shot" and an "extreme wide shot" by keeping an emphasis on both the characters and the environment, almost finding a harmony between the two of them. This enables the ability to use the benefits of both types, by allowing the scale of the environment but also maintaining an element of focus on the character(s) or object(s) in frame.

Extreme wide shot (EWS)

The shot is so far away from the subject that they are no longer visible. ^[5] This is used to create a sense of a character being lost or almost engulfed by the sheer size of their surroundings. This can result in a character being made small or insignificant due to their situation and/or surroundings. ^[6]

Establishing shot (ES)

A shot typically used to display a location and is usually the first shot in a new scene. ^[7] These establish the setting of a film, whether that is the physical location or the time period. Mainly it gives a sense of place to the film and brings the viewer to wherever the story requires them to be.

Master shot (MS)

This shot can be commonly mistaken for an establishing shot as it displays key characters and locations. However, it is actually a shot in which all relevant characters are in frame (usually for the whole duration of the scene), with inter-cut shots of other characters to shift focus. ^[8] This is a very useful method for retaining audience focus as most shots in this style refrain from using cuts and therefore will keep the performances and the dialogue in the forefront of what is going on for the duration of the scene.

Notable examples

Many directors are known for their use of the variety of wide shots. A key example of them is the frequent use of establishing shots and very wide shots in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, showing the vast New Zealand landscape to instil awe in the audience. ^[9]

In the 1993 film Schindler's List , there is a running image of a small girl trapped within a concentration camp wearing a red coat (the only colour in the film). She is frequently pictured in a wide shot format as a way to display both her and the horrific surroundings to build a disturbing contrast.

In the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz , a very wide shot is used that keeps all the protagonists on screen with the Wizard's palace in clear view. The Wizard of Oz was also one of the first mainstream motion pictures to include colour.

The 1962 Lawrence of Arabia contains an enormous number^{[ clarification needed ]} of extreme wide shots which successfully induced the feeling of scale of the lead in his surrounding and aesthetically dwarfed him due to his surroundings making him seem more vulnerable and weak.

The 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark contains the use of a wide shot to show the dangerous scale of a boulder that is chasing the protagonist.

The 2008 film The Dark Knight featured a practical stunt in which a large truck and trailer are flipped nose first. This is shot very far back to give the shot more clarity and to see the flip through its entirety as opposed to cutting midway through.

In the 2015 Ridley Scott film The Martian , the protagonist Mark Watney is stranded on Mars and the film contains many wide shots.^{[ clarification needed ]} These are used to show the Martian landscape and give the character the sense of isolation that the film would want.

See also

• Camera operator
• Cinematographer
• Film director
• Long take
• Video production
• Videography

Related Research Articles

A point of view shot is a film scene—usually a short one—that is shot as if through the eyes of a character. The camera shows what the subject's eyes would see. It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction. The POV technique is one of the foundations of film editing.

Cinematography is the art of motion picture photography.

Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use of high-speed cameras and then playing the footage produced by such cameras at a normal rate like 30 fps, or in post production through the use of software.

Bullet time is a visual effect or visual impression of detaching the time and space of a camera from that of its visible subject. It is a depth enhanced simulation of variable-speed action and performance found in films, broadcast advertisements, and realtime graphics within video games and other special media. It is characterized by its extreme transformation of both time, and of space. This is almost impossible with conventional slow motion, as the physical camera would have to move implausibly fast; the concept implies that only a "virtual camera", often illustrated within the confines of a computer-generated environment such as a virtual world or virtual reality, would be capable of "filming" bullet-time types of moments. Technical and historical variations of this effect have been referred to as time slicing, view morphing, temps mort and virtual cinematography.

A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production, still photography, and the comic strip medium is a type of shot that tightly frames a person or object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and long shots. Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving toward or away from a close-up is a common type of zooming. A close up is taken from head to neck, giving the viewer a detailed view of the subject's face.

A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying motion picture film by projecting it onto a screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras. Modern movie projectors are specially built video projectors.

In filmmaking and video production, a shot is a series of frames that runs for an uninterrupted period of time. Film shots are an essential aspect of a movie where angles, transitions and cuts are used to further express emotion, ideas and movement. The term "shot" can refer to two different parts of the filmmaking process:

1. In production, a shot is the moment that the camera starts rolling until the moment it stops.
2. In film editing, a shot is the continuous footage or sequence between two edits or cuts.

Film look is a process in which video is altered in overall appearance to appear to have been shot on film stock. The process is usually electronic, although filmizing can sometimes occur as an unintentional by-product of some optical techniques, such as telerecording. The effect is the exact opposite of a process called VidFIRE.

Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. For example, an image of a scene may be captured at 1 frame per second but then played back at 30 frames per second; the result is an apparent 30 times speed increase.

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A two shot is a type of shot in which the frame encompasses two people. The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common two shots which have one subject in the foreground and the other subject in the background.

This article contains a list of cinematic techniques that are divided into categories and briefly described.

Camera coverage, or coverage, is the amount and kind of footage shot used to capture a scene in filmmaking and video production. The film editor uses coverage in post-production to assemble the final cut.

An ultra wide-angle lens is a lens whose focal length is shorter than that of an average wide-angle lens, providing an even wider view. The term denotes a different range of lenses, relative to the size of the sensor in the camera in question.

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In photography and cinematography, headroom or head room is a concept of aesthetic composition that addresses the relative vertical position of the subject within the frame of the image. Headroom refers specifically to the distance between the top of the subject's head and the top of the frame, but the term is sometimes used instead of lead room, nose room or 'looking room' to include the sense of space on both sides of the image. The amount of headroom that is considered aesthetically pleasing is a dynamic quantity; it changes relative to how much of the frame is filled by the subject. Rather than pointing and shooting, one must compose the image to be pleasing. Too much room between a subject's head and the top of frame results in dead space.

The Horse in Motion is a series of cabinet cards by Eadweard Muybridge, including six cards that each show a sequential series of six to twelve "automatic electro-photographs" depicting the movement of a horse. Muybridge shot the photographs in June 1878. An additional card reprinted the single image of the horse "Occident" trotting at high speed, which had previously been published by Muybridge in 1877.

This glossary of motion picture terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts related to motion pictures, filmmaking, cinematography, and the film industry in general.

References

Further reading

• Bordwell, David; Thompson, Kristin (2006). Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN   0-07-331027-1.

External links

• Further shots and their descriptions
• Images from various films – many of which are wide shots