Close-ups, Mediums and Fulls.

Here's more from Film Directing: Shot by Shot by Steven D.Katz

Close-ups have become more popular thanks to television what with the small size of the screen. They are commonly used for dialogue and for lower budget work as they are easier to light. More than anything though close-ups are useful for showing eyes in detail as the eyes are the most expressive feature of the human face: winks, glances, stares, tears, squints and glares are all some of the most communicating human gestures. The eye line of a subject clearly determines spacial relations in the scene and the viewer can easily detect incongruities in the sight lines between subjects.

I used my monkeys to do a quick mock up of a pair of close ups that would be used for a conversation scene. I've also included a wider angle photo showing how the characters are positioned.

Then there are extreme close ups. These are usually given to eyes and mouths but they can work elsewhere too.

Medium and Full Shots

The medium shot combines the useful qualities of the full shot and the close-up. It captures body gesture but can still show a reasonable amount of facial expression. Medium shots are also the standard for composing group shots for dialogue scenes.

Full shots are an alternative to the medium or close-up. They have gone out of fashion a little and are now usually reserved to connecting a character and location in a single shot. Their lack of popularity has a lot to do with their dependence on dialogue scenes being played out in long takes. This is because a long shot often frames all the speaking characters in a scene making cutting (more convenient for a number of reasons) unnecessary. It will often look unsettling to cut between full shots, mediums and especially close-ups as close-ups more than any of the others must be accompanied by other close-ups. Full shots are best for exhibiting actors body language, hence their prominence in silent film.

When making music videos, the combination of close-ups and mediums is the normal language used. Music videos by their nature usually employ a fast editing technique to catch your attention, which probably explains their hypnotic effect when placed on the wall of a bar. Close ups are also far easier to light and seeing as music videos have less budget producers frequently demand close-ups to be shot as they are simply cheaper. Below are a few contemporary videos that I feel exemplify the right way to go about making a video using the fast cutting together of close-ups and mediums with the occasional full or even wide shot.