How to Write a Feature Film Script

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I want to do this! What's This?

Professional screen writing is a craft that takes years to

develop, but anyone with a computer and an imagination can learn
to write scripts. It takes practice and patience to develop and
write a script, but it is well worth the effort.
Difficulty: Challenging
Instructions
Things You'll Need:
• Basic writing ability
• Understanding of a script format
1. Step 1
Understand the strict industry-standard script format. This
includes writing everything in 12-point courier font, exact
margin settings for the various elements, such as dialogue,
character names, scene headings, general direction and
personal direction, and additional elements, such as writing
sound cues in all caps. See Resources for specific guidelines.
2. Step 2
 Pick a formatting program. Two popular programs are Final
Draft and Movie Magic (see Resources).There are also freeware
screen-writing programs available for download, but these are
usually of questionable quality.
3. Step 3
Sketch a rough outline of events in progressive order for the
script. One page of screenplay is equal to one minute of
movie. An average length for a first-time screenplay should be
from 90 to 100 pages. Scripts are typically broken into three
acts. The first act should familiarize the audience with the
main characters and introduce the conflict. The second act
should expand the conflict and will include the bulk of the
story. The third act should resolve the conflict.
4. Step 4
Focus on characters. Characters must grow and experience
conflicting motivations to interest the audience. Character
dialogue must sound natural and distinct. Practice saying the
dialogue aloud as you write.
5. Step 5
Write the first draft. The writing process can take anywhere
from two weeks to several months, depending on your experience
and the amount of time you devote to writing.
6. Step 6
Ask for feedback after the draft is complete. Some writers
join writing circles, while others get feedback from friends.
You might also consider an online writing circle, such as
http://www.critters.org or http://screenwriter.gather.com.
7. Step 7
Register your completed script for copyright protection. This
can be done through the Writers Guild of America (see
Resources). A more formal and costly option is to register a
script with the U.S. copyright office
(http://www.copyright.gov).
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Tips & Warnings

• Pacing and arrangement of the scenes must be concise to keep a screenplay at
a good length. Each scene must contribute to the progress of the plot and the
development of the characters.
• Avoid dialogue that repeats itself or has characters stating the obvious.
• Try not to show your script to others until you complete it to avoid negative
feedback that might discourage you from finishing the screenplay.
• Avoid the following script pitfalls: too much exposition, scenes that don’t “go”
anywhere or predictable endings.
• Do not deviate from standard structure guidelines for your first screenplay.
Resources
• Screenwriting Basics
• Final Draft
• Movie Magic
• Writers Guild of America, West
• Writers Guild of America, East
Chapter 3

Spec Screenplay Page Properties

The Rules:
Screenplays are traditionally written on 8 1/2" x 11" white 3-hole punched paper. A page number
appears in the upper right hand corner (in the header). No page number is printed on the first
page. The type style used is the Courier 12 font. The top and bottom margins are between .5" and
1". The left margin is between 1.2" and 1.6". The right margin is between .5" and 1".
The extra inch of white space on the left of a script page allows for binding with brads, yet still
imparts a feeling of vertical balance of the text on the page.
The Courier 12 font is used for timing purposes. One script page in Courier 12 roughly averages
1 minute of onscreen film time. Experienced readers can detect a long script by merely weighing
the stack of paper in their hand.
Writing Tip:
Script writing software is pre-programmed with all these rules right out of the box.

Script Length
The average feature screenplay, traditionally, is between 95 and 125 pages long. In Hollywood
these days scripts generally don't run longer than 114 pages. Comedy scripts are typically
shorter, dramas longer. There are, naturally, variations. You could be writing an action-packed
film where your description takes only 10 seconds to read, but will take 45 seconds of film time.
Here's an example:
Cpl. Owens sheds his pack and picks up the machine gun. He runs from doorway
to
doorway, dodging enemy fire while shooting back, until he reaches the church
bell tower.

Writing Tip:
If you had a script full of scenes like this, you could come up with a short script in total pages...
but that doesn't mean when it is filmed it would be short. By the same token, another writer
could write the same scene and have it take up half a page. It just depends on the writing style of
the individual writer.
125 page scripts are considered on the long side for a screenplay. Length is a very important
component of the script. When you turn in a script to a producer, the very first thing s/he will do
is fan through the pages and look at the last page to see how long it is. It doesn't matter if you've
written the most incredible screenplay ever, if it's too long they may refuse to read it.
The Industry's aversion to long scripts is due to economic considerations. Films under two hours
mean more showings per day in a theater, which means more revenue for the exhibitor,
distributor, filmmaker, and possibly even you, the screenwriter.
When you realize your script is long and have to start cutting your work, keep in mind that if a
scene can be removed and the story continues to work, that scene wasn't necessary. EVERY
SCENE should not only move the story along to its conclusion; it should be an integral part of
the path to the climax.
Chapter 4

Script Elements
These are the unique margin, case, and position attributes that give feature film script text the
format and consistency expected by all participants. Once you are accustomed to them you'll be
able to tell your story the way an industry reader is accustomed to seeing it. The elements for a
script are:
• Scene Heading
• Action
• Character Name
 • Dialogue
• Parenthetical
• Extensions
• Transition
• Shot

Scene Heading
Writing Tip:
Scene Heading are aligned flush left (which we learned is about 1.5" from the edge of the paper)
and are rarely long enough to reach the page margin.
The Scene Heading is written in ALL CAPS. Use a period after the INT. or EXT., a hyphen
between the other elements of the Slugline.
The Scene Heading, sometimes called Slugline, tells the reader of the script where the scene
takes place. Are we indoors (INT.) or outdoors (EXT.)? Next name the location: BEDROOM,
LIVING ROOM, at the BASEBALL FIELD, inside a CAR? And lastly it might include the time
of day - NIGHT, DAY, DUSK, DAWN... information to "set the scene" in the reader's mind.
The Slugline can also include production information like CONTINUOUS ACTION, or
ESTABLISHING SHOT or STOCK SHOT. Here are examples of Scene Headings:
INT. BEDROOM - MORNING
EXT. LAS VEGAS STRIP - SUNSET
INT. OFFICE - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS ACTION
EXT. KEY WEST MARINA - DAWN - ESTABLISHING
EXT. PASADENA - ROSE PARADE - STOCK FOOTAGE

Software Tip:
Script writing software will automatically file each new Scene Heading you use. This alleviates
the need to retype the same text again and again, and it also helps you keep your script
consistent. There is nothing more distracting to the reader than to see one Scene Heading read:
EXT. - OUTER SPACE RAIN FOREST - NIGHT

and two pages later:

EXT. - OUTER SPACE JUNGLE - NIGHT

Keeping Scene Headings consistent allows your reader to recognize locations and places and not
have to figure out if this is a new set (location). You don't want to take the reader's mind off your
story, ever.
Here is a sample in Scene Heading sample in script form:
FADE IN:

EXT. KEY WEST MARINA - DAWN - ESTABLISHING

We have 'established' that we're in a marina at dawn.

Books I'm Reading

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• The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds by Peter Bowerman
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• The reader begins to form an idea about the setting and the action taking place. We know
we're on a boat, two characters have been introduced to us, we have some idea about their
physical appearance. And we have a clue to their relationship.
• Avoid a compulsion to write camera angles and shots. If you must emphasize some shot,
write it on a single line. Angles and shots are the domain of the director an will likely be
added in the Shooting Script.
Chapter 11

Shots
The Rules:
Shots are formatted like Scene Headings, flush left margin, all uppercase. Blank line before and
after.
A SHOT tells the reader the focal point within a scene has changed. Here are some examples of
shots:
• ANGLE ON --
• EXTREME CLOSE UP --
• PAN TO --
• FRANKIE'S POV --
 • REVERSE ANGLE --
Writing Tip:
As the writer, for reasons already mentioned you should be very judicious using a SHOT to
redirect the reader's focus. Your "directing" runs the risk of interrupting the flow of your
storytelling. If what you really want to do is direct films, do yourself a favor and DON'T do it in
a script you're trying to sell... wait until it sells and try to negotiate a package deal with you on
board as the director. This most often is a possibility after you've already had one of your
screenplays filmed.
Once in a while, calling a shot is necessary. You want the reader to see something not obvious in
the scene or you want to achieve a particular emotion or build to a climax. This device allows
you to achieve this goal.
If you are describing a prison riot, with a prisoner holding a guard at knifepoint, and you want
the audience to see a sharpshooter aiming at the prisoner, you might use a shot like this:
A PRISONER shoves a homemade shiv against the throat of a PRISON GUARD.

PRISONER
(trembling)
I'll kill him! I mean it.

PRISON GUARD
Take him out! Now! Do it!

ANGLE ON - A PRISON GUARD SHARP-SHOOTER

as he lines up the shot, finger poised on the trigger.

PRISONER
I want to talk to the Warden. NOW!

Another shot used from time to time is INSERT. INSERT is used solely as a direction - to focus
on something integral to the scene, often something that the audience needs to read or what
would otherwise be too small to be clearly seen in a full, wide scene.
INSERT - RANSOM NOTE
Writing Tip:
A well-constructed action paragraph or a single line might achieve the same goal without
distracting the reader. Be vigilant of the flow of the story, and try not to interrupt it.
Chapter 12

Page Breaking
Software Tip:
If you still need convincing that script writing software is a useful tool for a screenwriter, page
breaking will clinch it for you: If you've followed the program's simple directions while writing
your script, then all of the following rules will automatically, dare we say magically?, self-
execute right in front of your eyes, while you are writing. The software will
• Never end a page with a Scene Heading. The ONLY time this is acceptable is
if another Scene Heading or Shot follows. (An example would be an
Establishing shot and then an interior scene heading.)
 • Never start a page with a Transition.
• Automatically place Continued: notations when it breaks an Action paragraph
or a Dialogue.
• Never end a page with a Character Name line. At least two lines of Dialogue if
there are that many (including a Parenthetical, if used) must follow.
• Never end a page at a Parenthetical. Dialogue MUST follow.
• If you have Dialogue, a Parenthetical and then Dialogue again, break the
page BEFORE the Parenthetical.

Finer Points
Now you are familiar with the basic elements and directions for writing a spec script. With these
elements, or simply using a script formatting software, you will write a standardly acceptable
script. It will look professional, and the reader will not automatically assume you are an amateur
storyteller because you don't know basic screenwriting rules. Now there are a few finer points we
should discuss.

Dual Dialogue or Side-By-Side Dialogue

When two of your characters speak simultaneously, that's called dual dialogue or side by side
dialogue. In the script we've been following, our characters might have this conversation:
Frankie and Julie are in a heated argument.

FRANKIE JULIE
Get out of my life! I can't Don't you yell at me! I'll
leave
stand the sight of you any when I'm when I'm good and
more!! ready! Tough!!
Software Tip:
All of the script writing programs let you write this style of dialogue with ease, but you should
probably avoid this device unless absolutely necessary.
Writing Tip:
Amateur screenwriters often do it in emulation of some old favorite scene, or to try to interject
"conflict." However, you are more likely to distract the reader and disrupts the flow of the story.
Don't give them a reason to put your script down by interjecting unclear scenes and dialogue.

Adlibs
Sometimes in a script it's acceptable or even necessary to have a crowd scene with ad lib
dialogue. There are two basic ways of writing this.
The first way to do it is in an action line.
The CROWD in the bleachers taunts the pitcher: "You stink!" "Rubber arm!"
"Ball!" "You throw like my sister!"

The second choice is to do it is as a character and dialogue.

CROWD
You stink! Rubber arm! Ball! You
 throw like my sister!!

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Chapter 13

Abbreviations
The film industry uses several abbreviations as shortcuts in scripts. It's up to you whether you
use these abbreviations or not. Some readers find them distracting, while others prefer the
shorthand. We've already discussed several -- O.S., O.C., V.O. -- which are specific to scripts.
Here are some others.
b.g. = background
b.g. is used in an action paragraph.
Frankie sits on the bed tying his shoes. In the b.g., Julie takes money out of
his wallet. She also pockets his car keys.

CGI = computer generated image

CGI denotes action that cannot be filmed normally and will require the use of computers to
generate the full imagery, as used in films like The Matrix.
CGI: His mouth begins to melt, then disappears entirely.

f.g. = foreground
f.g. is used in action the same as b.g., except the action takes place in the foreground.
SFX = sound effects
SFX tells the sound people an effect is needed.
SFX: The BLAST of a train whistle

SPFX = special effects

SPFX announces that a special effect is necessary (one that might not require the use of CGI).
SPFX: A beam of light illuminates Frankie's face. His features slowly melt
like
a wax figure.

M.O.S. = without sound

The story goes that a German-born director (perhaps Josef von Sternberg, who discovered
Marlene Dietrich) wanted to shoot a scene without sound and told the crew to shoot "mit out
sound," a phrase which the crew found humorous and thus proliferated it. It is most commonly
used to show impending impact of some kind.
M.O.S. Horses stampeding down Main Street.

POV = point of view

The camera 'sees' the action from a specific character's position
JULIE'S POV - Frankie sits on the bed tying his shoes.

Montages
A MONTAGE is a cinematic device used to show a series of scenes, all related and building to
some conclusion. Although a French word, it was created by Russian director Sergei Eisenstein
as a "montage of attractions" to elicit emotions on several levels. Most often it is used as a
passage of time device. Think of a baby being born, then rolling over, then taking its first steps,
and finally running through the sprinklers. For example:
MONTAGE

1) Josh is born. The doctors clean him and hand him over to his smiling
mother.

2) Josh rolls over in his playpen. His mother applauds.

3) Holding on to the coffee table, Josh takes his first steps. His mother
joyously hugs him.

4) Clad in droopy diapers, Josh runs gleefully through the sprinklers. His
mother sighs, and reaches for the diaper bag.

You can also number the scenes A), B), C) if you prefer. Either numbering format is correct.
(Note that the mother's emotions change through the montage from joy to weariness, once Josh is
completely ambulant there should be some element of the story that a montage will illustrate.)
The MONTAGE is formatted as a single shot, with the subsequent scenes action elements of the
complete sequence. It isn't necessary, but some writers write END OF MONTAGE when the
montage is completed.
Chapter 14

A Series of Shots
A SERIES OF SHOTS is similar to a Montage, but it usually takes place in one location and
concerns the same action. Think of the movie Earthquake...
SERIES OF SHOTS

A) Store windows start to rattle and shake.

B) Hanging signs swing back and forth.

C) Bricks and shards of glass begin to fall onto the sidewalks.

D) People run for cover.

A SERIES OF SHOTS is formatted as a SHOT. Just like a Montage, the shot series are action
paragraphs and may also be numbered 1) 2) 3).
A MATTER OF STYLE
Some writers will incorporate a series of shots into a script without noting it as such. This
generally contributes to a smoother flow of the action. The action lines might be short,
descriptive sentences on separate lines.
The Piazza de Palma is packed with Saturday shoppers.

A LOUD SHOT rings out.

Pigeons take flight, WINGS FLUTTERING EN MASSE.

Heads turn in the direction of ANOTHER GUNSHOT.

A frightened child drops his ice cream cone and CRIES.

A woman SCREAMS.

Another style for writing the sequence above is:

THE PIAZZA DE PALMA

is teaming with Saturday shoppers.

A LOUD SHOT
rings out. Pigeons take flight. Heads turn in the direction of ANOTHER
GUNSHOT.

A FRIGHTENED CHILD

drops his ice cream cone and CRIES. A SCREAM is heard.

Writing Tip:
This particular style of writing takes more space on the page, but it also is a faster read. Why?
Look at all the white space in the second example... the reader's eyes can read that passage very
quickly.
Another style of writing has to do with EMPHASIS in the action element. Too often, readers will
skim a script, particularly if the action paragraphs are overly long. Here's an option of how to get
the necessary points across. Italics, bold or underlining are not used for emphasis.
Terry DROPS to the floor as a BEAM OF LIGHT sweeps across the room. He hears
the
FLOOR SQUEAK in the outer office. Terry HOLDS HIS BREATH as a big, bulky
SECURITY GUARD enters.

Short Lines/Poetry/Lyrics
Once in a while, it's necessary to write dialogue with a series of SHORT LINES. One example
might be if your character is reciting poetry, or singing a song.
JULIE
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I'm writing a script,
How 'bout you?

Song lyrics are typically written in all caps.

JULIE
(singing)
ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT
GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM
MERRILY, MERRILY, MERRILY, MERRILY
LIFE IS BUT A DREAM.
Chapter 15

Intercuts
Occasionally in a script, you might want to cut back and forth between two or more scenes.
These scenes are occurring at the same time. Instead of repeating the Scene Heading for each
scene over and over, an INTERCUT is used. This gives the reader the sense that the scene is
moving rapidly back and forth between locations. There is a great sequence of intercuts in The
Deer Hunter of shots of hunters out in the woods with a wedding going on simultaneously, at a
different location. Here's another example:
INT. SHERRI'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Sherri starts disrobing in front of her open bedroom window.

INT. LENNY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Lenny gets up to cross to the fridge to get a beer. He looks out his window
and
catches a glimpse of Sherri across the courtyard. He freezes, watching her.

INTERCUT BETWEEN LENNY AND SHERRI

Sherri sits on the bed and unbuttons her double-breasted suit jacket.

Lenny moves closer to the window for a better vantage point.

Sherri stands, hopping a few feet, trying to step out of her skirt.

Lenny, eyes glued to Sherri, moves to keep her in view. He slams his bare foot
into a dumbbell on the floor.

LENNY
Ow!

Sherri hears the yelp and looks in Lenny's direction.

Lenny sees Sherri and DROPS from her view.

Another type of INTERCUT is used when two characters are on the phone and you don't want
one half of the conversation to be O.S. - you want to show them both.
INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Sherri, comfy on the couch, is reading a book when the phone rings. She
answers
it.

SHERRI
Hello?

EXT. PHONE BOOTH - REST AREA

Lenny sips a Coke as he talks.

LENNY
Hey Honey, I'm in Barstow.

INTERCUT BETWEEN LENNY and SHERRI

SHERRI
Oh, Honey, that's great...
you'll be here by morning.

LENNY
Yep... I've got the pedal to the
metal.

In older films it was common to use a split-screen to show such a conversation. It's not common
these days, and unless you have a very good reason for writing it in, it is best to INTERCUT.
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Chapter 16

Titles or Opening Credits

In some scripts you read, you'll see this notation:
BEGIN TITLES or BEGIN OPENING TITLES followed by END TITLES or OVER OPENING
CREDITS followed by END OPENING CREDITS. An example:
FADE IN:

EXT. KEY WEST MARINA - DAWN - ESTABLISHING

Sailboats, yachts, and cabin cruisers all bob up and down in the warm blue
water.

EXT. BEACH - DAY

BEGIN TITLES

as hundreds of young, perfect bodies of college age kids frolic during spring
break.
Writing Tip:
Don't bother putting in Beginning and Ending titles. It is not usually done in a spec script, and
you can't predict where the producer and director will want to insert the titles, the sequence of
footage shot with the opening credits rolling over it. Don't give yourself the extra work.

Superimpose or Title
When the notation SUPERIMPOSE or TITLE OVER is used, text or an image is placed on top
of the film footage. Most of the time, it contains information the director thinks the audience
needs to know... like the place or time of the next scene.
EXT. BEACH - DAY

Hundreds of young, perfect bodies of college age kids frolic on the sand and
in
the warm water.

SUPERIMPOSE: Daytona Beach, Spring Break, 1966

Only the text, "Daytona Beach, Spring Break, 1966" would appear toward the bottom of the
screen.
Any text, like subtitles or translations of foreign signs, etc., fall into this category.
Do not use SUPERIMPOSE: unless there is a definite need for it. It has been so overused, it is
some times spoofed, the way director Ron Howard did in Splash.
Chapter 19
Locking Your Script Pages
Once the script is "published" and handed out to the department heads and talent in preparation
for production, the pages must be LOCKED so that any changes made after this time are easily
tracked.
If any changes are made to the script after circulation, only the REVISED PAGES will be
printed and distributed. The REVISED PAGES must be easily incorporated into the script
without displacing or rearranging the original pages.
All of our script writing software is designed to break revised pages according to the rules listed
above, and they are capable of "locking the pages" before revisions are made. Once you lock a
script, if you add more material to a page than will fit on that page, the program will generate
what's called an "A" page and the subsequent writing will be a "B" page, i.e. Page 110A or Page
110B.

Locking Your Scenes

In a published script, scene numbers must also remain the same. In other words, if a scene in
OMITTED, though the number is retired, it remains in the script with the word OMITTED next
to it. Any new scene must have a letter next to the number to indicate that it was added after the
original scenes were locked.
If you add a scene to the script, the program will automatically generate an "A" scene number.
Revisions will be automatically generated by script formatting software programs and marked
with an asterisk in the right margin.
1 OMITTED
1*

2 INT. MASTER SUITE - MORNING

2

Expensive designer sheets and comforter covers the nude, shapely body of drop
dead gorgeous JULIE COOPER, 25. Sunlight filters through portholes over the
muscled, tan body of FRANKIE JONES, 38. He pulls the comforter down and begins
kissing Julie's naked body.

FRANKIE
Hey, Baby, rise and shine.
You've got to get up and outta
here.

JULIE
(sleepily)
What? What time is it?

2A INT. BATHROOM - DAY

2A*

The added INT. BATHROOM scene would show us what Julie is doing, while in the previously
mentioned scene we only heard her O.S. as the camera remained on Frankie and the original
room.
Books I'm Reading

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• You Can Write Children's Books by Tracey E. Dils

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

In film, a shot is a continuous strip of motion picture film, created of a series of frames, that runs
for an uninterrupted period of time. Shots are generally filmed with a single camera and can be
of any duration. A shot in production, defined by the beginning and end of a capturing process, is
equivalent to a clip in editing, defined as the continuous footage between two edits. Frames,
shots, clips, scenes, and sequences form a hierarchy of units fundamental to many tasks in the
creation of moving-image works.
The etymology of the term "shot" derives from the early days of film production when camera
were hand-cranked. Hand-cranked cameras operated similarly to the hand-cranked machine guns
of that era. Therefore, one "shot" film the way one would "shoot" bullets from a machine gun.[1]

Contents
[hide]
• 1 Categories of shots
○ 1.1 By field size
 ○ 1.2 By camera placement
○ 1.3 By other criteria
• 2 Film editing
• 3 Duration
• 4 See also
• 5 References

[edit] Categories of shots

[edit] By field size

How focal length affects perspective: 18mm (ultra wide-angle), 34mm (wide-angle),
and 55mm (normal lens) at identical field size achieved by different camera-
subject distances. Notice that the shorter the focal length and the wider the angle of
view, perspective distortion and size differences change.

The term shot is often incorrectly applied to the field size of an image which at times is also
incorrectly referred to as framing. The field size defines how much of the subject and its
surrounding area is visible within the camera's field of view, and is determined by two factors:
Camera-to-subject distance and focal length of a lens. Note that the shorter a lens's focal length,
the wider its angle of view (the 'angle' in wide-angle lens, for instance, which is "how much you
see"), so the same idea can also be expressed as that the lens's angle of view plus camera-subject
distance is the camera's field of view.
(Caution: In this context, the focal length value differs with each film gauge and CCD size for
optical reasons, but the angle of view is the same for any of them, so it's easier comparing the
angle of view with lenses for different formats than their focal lengths. Same angle of view does
always give the same field size at the same camera-subject distance no matter what format you're
using, same focal length does not. For in-depth informations behind the laws of optics regarding
the influence that focal length and different formats have on field sizes, see 35 mm equivalent
focal length, crop factor, image sensor format, and Digital photography: Sensor size and angle of
view.)
An identical field size can be achieved at varied camera-subject distances by using a lens with a
different focal length, and at varied focal lengths by choosing a different camera-subject
distance. Field size differs from framing in that within professional environments where prime
lenses are dominant, the latter applies only to camera placement (including camera angle), not
focal length.
However, maintaining an identical field size at varying camera-subject distances and focal
lengths must be handled with caution as it applies different amounts of perspective distortion to
the image: Wide-angle lenses expand a perspective, while telephoto lenses compress a
perspective (the famous dolly zoom, taken with a variable focal length lense, is a vivid, intuitive
demonstration of this effect). Thus, it's more common in photography and cinematography to
determine an image's field size by only changing one out of the two factors.

An extreme long shot

An American shot (3/4 shot)

An Italian shot

A full shot (figure shot, complete view,

A long shot A medium shot A close-up
medium long shot)

The field size (along with the specific amount of perspective distortion) greatly affects the
narrative power of a shot. There are a number of standardized field sizes, the names of which are
commonly derived from varying camera-subject distances while not changing the lens. The four
basic kinds of field sizes (see gallery above) are:
• the long shot (often used as an establishing shot),
• the full shot (also figure shot, complete view, or medium long shot),
• the medium shot,
• the close-up.
Three rarer used field sizes (see bar on the right) are:
• the extreme long shot (used for epic views and panoramas),
• the American shot (also 3/4 shot), a slight variation of the medium shot to
also include OWB handgun holsters in Western movies, a characterization
from French film criticism for a type of shot in certain American films of the
1930s and 1940s,
• the "Italian shot" or Extreme Close Up (ECU or XCU), where only a person's
eyes are visible, named after the genre of Italo-Westerns, particularly the
Dollars Trilogy by Sergio Leone, that established this particular field size.
There are other variants, such as the medium close up (between medium and close up), and terms
for moving in (such as "lean-in") and moving out (such as "lean-out").
[edit] By camera placement

"Shots" referring to camera placement and angle rather than field size include:
• Camera angles:
 ○ the aerial shot,
○ the bird's eye shot (sometimes performed as a crane shot),
○ the low-angle shot,
• the over the shoulder shot,
• the point of view shot,
• the reverse shot is defined as a 180-degree camera turn to the preceding
image, common in point of view and over the shoulder (in the latter, care
must be applied to avoid a continuity error by violating the 180 degree rule),
• the two shot where two people are in the picture.

[edit] By other criteria

• the establishing shot is defined by giving an establishing "broad overview"
over a scene, whether performed by a wide shot with a fixed camera, a zoom,
a series of different close-ups achieved by camera motion, or a sequence of
independent close-angle shots edited right after each other,
• the master shot is a scene done in one single take, with no editing,
• the freeze frame shot is created in editing by displaying a single frame for an
elongated duration of time,
• the insert shot is created in editing by replacing a picture with another while
the audio stays the same (common in interviews to illustrate topics
mentioned).

[edit] Film editing

Main article: Film editing

Cutting between shots taken at different times is known as film editing, and is one of the central
arts of filmmaking.

[edit] Duration
The length of shots is an important consideration that can greatly affect a film. The purpose of
editing any given scene is to create a representation of the way the scene might be perceived by
the "story teller." Shots with a longer duration can make a scene seem more relaxed and slower
paced whereas shots with a shorter duration can make a scene seem urgent and faster paced.
The average shot length (ASL) of a film is one of its cinemetrical measures. For example, The
Mist has a length of 117 minutes and consists of 1292 shots, so the ASL is 5.4 seconds, while
Russian Ark is a single 96-minute long take, so an ASL of 96 minutes or about 5,760 seconds, a
factor of 1,000 difference.
Shots with extremely long durations are difficult to do because any error in the shot would force
the filmmaker to restart from scratch. They are thus only occasionally used. Films famous for
their long cuts include Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather in which the entire first scene is a
long take featuring Bonasera describing the assault of his daughter, and Alfred Hitchcock's Rope,
which only cuts at the end of each reel, and does so surreptitiously so that it seems as if the
whole film is one take. Orson Welles's Touch of Evil opens with a long tracking crane shot. A
film that was actually a single take is the recent Russian Ark. Another prominent examples
known for its extremely long takes are Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the works
of Andrei Tarkovsky starting with Solaris. Joss Whedon's feature film Serenity introduces the
main characters with a long take.

[edit] See also

• Martini Shot
• Camera angle
• Film frame
• Filmmaking

[edit] References
1. ^ "Movie Speak; Scissorhands Revisited." 10 August 2009. Podcast. "KCRW's
The Business." KCRW 89.9 FM. 12 August 2009.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_(filmmaking)"
Categories: Film production | Film editing

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