Screenplay versus Shooting Script

What is the difference between the pre production script and the script ready for production?

(Gathered from various sources over the internet)

The pre-production script also called the screenplay is the actual blueprint around which a film is built. However screenplays usually differ a lot from the final product because many scenes get modified or cut off and others are added even before filming starts. Yet, screenplay is generally page-locked and scene-numbered meaning the same scene will always fall on the same page even if scenes are deleted or added. A screenplay contains the essentials for making the film and is usually clean of things like camera angles, actor’s marks and prop specifics.

Script ready for production otherwise known as the shooting script is the screenplay which has been updated for the filming. The shooting script may not stay the same as well as it keeps evolving as the production takes place. A shooting script often contains a lot of annotations and updates including directives to the production crew such as the camera angles, prop positions, details about the actor’s position, action and gestures.

Script for Photostory

CHARACTERS:

Johnny Tan, Student

Johnny’s Mom

Johnny’s Friends

Narrator

FADE IN

LONG SHOT OF HOSPITAL ENTRANCE

It is nighttime. There is an ambulance in front of a hospital with a few people waiting outside. We head the sound of a siren and people shouting.

DIP TO BLACK

FADE IN

ECU of FLOWER PETALS

It is day time. Flower petals are falling from trees indicating the end of a season. SAD MUSIC PLAYS.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

It was over. Johnny Tan was no more.

ZOOM OUT to show narrator standing below a tree facing the camera. He is looking somewhere to his front left. Hesitation and restraint mark his eyes.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

I nervously took off my hat and gently

placed my hand over his mom’s shoulder.

ZOOM OUT to show that the narrator had his left hand placed on the mother’s shoulder. The mother had her face covered with a handkerchief. We can tell that she is crying.

            NARRATOR (V.O.)

She was crying like there was no tomorrow.

But I couldn’t bring myself to say a word.

To make any kind of sense out of it, we

need to go back six years, back to the day

I first met “him”.

DIP TO WHITE

BEGIN FLASHBACK:

FADE IN

MS of a group photo of Johnny surrounded by his friends. They are all smiling and look as if they are having fun. PAN camera from left to right, stop at Johnny’s face in the center.

XFADE to LS of Johnny playing sports

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Johnny was nothing short of a comedian,

always playing pranks on students and

teachers alike. Not a particularly bright

student but he knew what he wanted in life.

XFADE to MS of Johnny giving inspirational speech. He looks as if he is displaying great leadership skills and all the people watching are impressed and/or inspired.

JOHNNY

My dream is to become a DOCTOR!

NARRATOR (V.O.)

I admired his sheer determination and

now looking back; watching Johnny

putting up with his studies always cheered

me up. All I wanted was to see him smile

again.

CUT TO

BLACK FRAME

NARRATOR (V.O.)

But dreams can easily turn into a nightmare.

SPLITSCREEN in the CENTER

LEFT HALF FADE IN

ECU of F grade from an assignment.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Reality hit him like a point blank shot

straight in the face. Johnny simply wasn’t

cut out to become a neurosurgeon.

RIGHT HALF FADE IN

CU of Johnny in a depressed state. His head facing down gritting his teeth. We hear people are whispering behind his back.

            JOHNNY

           There’s got to be a mistake!

DISSOLVE

LEFT HALF XFADE

Johnny gets pushed away by the classmates who shun him because he is a failure.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

People around him told him that he

did not belong here. Even his advisor

urged him to try something else as

a career.

RIGHT HALF XFADE

Johnny gets refused a seat at the canteen by his classmates.

CUT TO

Textbooks which have accumulated on the table. On the wall, there is a calendar. It is visible from the calendar that almost all the dates are taken up with several tasks or project work. PAN RIGHT to reveal Johnny grabbing his head in frustration.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Sometimes you feel that school is just

being mean and before you had time

to sort out your personal problems, projects,

assignments and your duties as a student

leader had piled up at your doorsteps.

Bad grades followed by depression.

Almost sounded like a cliché.

FADE OUT

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

But the truth is nothing is a cliché

when it’s happening to you.

FADE IN

CU of suicide notes. Torn pieces of paper on the table. Notes and books in a mess. There are scribbles on the table top. On a piece of paper, the words “I GIVE UP!” are clearly written with a stickman being hanged.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

One thing was certain, you push a

man too far and sooner or later

he’d reach the end of the rope.

Sound of a chair falling on the ground. Then silence.

SPLITSCREEN 1/3 VERTICAL

LEFT FADE IN

MS of left hand holding a rope. Chair toppled over in the background. Uplifting music starts.

CENTER FADE IN

MS of right hand holding a NUS mascot or jacket.

RIGHT FADE IN

MS of Johnny with a reflexive look on his face. ZOOM IN the face until photo takes the full screen.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

For a brief moment back then,

Johnny remembered why he came

here in the first place…

XFADE

Multiple shots of the recounts of Johnny’s memorable times quickly fade in and out of the screen with the CU shot of his reflexive face still in the background. Sounds of laughter play in the background with high level of reverberation. Sounds of himself saying out loud “My dream is to become a doctor” also plays.

XFADE

Expression on Johnny’s face changes to one with determination.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Legend has it there was a place in

this world where thousands of dreams

came true every year.

FADE OUT

BLACK FRAME. Music ends.

NARRATOR (V.O.) (CONT’D)

And Johnny chose to trust this place.

FADE IN

REVERSE SHOT of narrator with left hand on mom’s shoulder. From the back they seem to be looking upwards. TILT UP to show the UCC. Then CUT TO same shot with mom crying. Finale music starts playing.

                NARRATOR

                Let’s go, he’s waiting for us inside.

FADE OUT

BLACK FRAME

                NARRATOR

                Johnny Tan was no more. He had finally found where he belonged.

    Starting today, he is Dr. Tan.

The same music keeps playing throughout the logo/credits.

Kill Bill Script Breakdown

An analysis of Kill Bill Volume 1 opening scenes. The only movie from imsdb which I still remember had voice over. Same key as the previous post: yellow for transition, green for camera and red for place and time. In addition, we have pink for voice over.


Characters:
BILL
THE BRIDE
CHARLES ARTHUR, BRIDEGROOM DEAD BODY
TIM, DEAD BODY
JANEEN, DEAD BODY
ERICA, DEAD BODY
REVEREND HILLHOUSE, DEAD BODY
REVEREND'S WIFE, DEAD BODY
ORGAN PLAYER, DEAD BODY


OVER BLACK
We hear labored breathing.

BLACK FRAME

QUOTE APPEARS:

"Revenge is a dish best served cold"

- Old Klingon Proverb -

QUOTE FADES OUT

WE STAY ON BLACK
...breathing continues...

Then a MAN'S VOICE talks over the breathing;

MAN'S VOICE (O.S.)

Do you find me sadistic?

CUT TO:

BLACK AND WHITE CU of a WOMAN lying on the floor, looking up. The woman on the floor has just taken a severe spaghetti-western-style gang beating. Her face is bloody, beaten up, and torn. The high contrast B/W turning the red blood into black blood.


A hand belonging to the off-screen Man's Voice ENTERS FRAME holding a white handkerchief with the name "BILL" sewn in the corner, and begins tenderly wiping away the blood from the young woman's face. Little by little as the Male Voice speaks, the beautiful face underneath is revealed to the audience. But what can't be wiped away, is the white hot hate that shines in both eyes at the man who stands over her, the "BILL" of the title.

In another age men who shook the world for their own purposes were called conquerors. In our age, the men who shake the planet for their own power and greed are called corrupters. And of the world's corrupters Bill stands alone. For while he corrupts the world, inside himself he is pure.

BILL'S VOICE (O.S.)

I bet I could fry an egg on your head about now,

if I wanted to.

He continues wiping away the blood.

BILL'S VOICE (O.S.)

No kiddo, I'd like to believe, even now,

you're aware enough to know there isn't

a trace of sadism in my actions... Okay

- Maybe towards these other jokers -

but not you.

OVERHEAD SHOT

We see for a moment, A WIDE SHOT looking down at the woman on the floor. Bill (from behind) bent down over her. Four others in black suits, standing over her (three are female, one is male). And about four DEAD BODIES lying in their own blood. We also see we're in a wedding chapel that's been redecorated by blood death and gunfire. And firstly or lastly, depending on the viewer, that the woman on the floor is dressed in a white bridal gown. This woman is our Heroine, and from this moment forth she will only be referred to as The BRIDE.

Back to CU of The BRIDE.

The BRIDE on the floor. Her pretty face is wiped clean.

BILL'S VOICE (O.S.)

No Kiddo at this moment, this is me

at my most masochistic.

While still in her CU The Bride speaks for the first time in the picture. She looks up at the man standing over her and says;

THE BRIDE

Bill, I'm pregnant. It's your baby.

After saying the "y" in "baby", we hear a BANG and The Bride receives a bullet in the side of her head.

CUT TO:
BLACK SCREEN: Presentation Credit


"The 4th Film by QUENTIN TARANTINO"


CUT TO:
B/W CU of a Young MAN in a TUXEDO. Shot to death. The BRIDE speaks to us in a VO;

THE BRIDE (V.O.)

That's Tim, Arthur's best friend.

CU A PRETTY YOUNG WOMAN in a frilly pink dress with two bullet holes in her.

THE BRIDE (V.O.)

That's his girlfriend Janeen.

CU A PLUMP YOUNG WOMAN, shot to death, wedding bouquet still clutched in her dead fist.

THE BRIDE (V.O.)

That's my best friend from work Erica.

AN OLDER MAN IN A BLACK SUIT shot fulla holes.

THE BRIDE (V.O.)

That's the minister. I think his

name was Reverend Hillhouse.

A DEAD OLDER WOMAN by his side in an old-fashioned flower print dress.

THE BRIDE (V.O.)

That's his wife.

A DEAD OLDER WOMAN slumped over an organ.

THE BRIDE (V.O.)

Organ player, don't know her name.

A YOUNG MAN IN A TUXEDO WITH HIS FACE BLOWN OFF.

THE BRIDE (V.O.)

That's Arthur. Arthur Plympton. The

name on his driver's license was

Charles Arthur Plympton, but for

some reason he preferred Arthur.

Maybe if he went by Carles people

would have called him Charlie. If

that was his reason for going by

Arthur I can understand it.

Nothing wrong with the name

Charlie, except he didn't look like

a Charlie, he looked like an

Arthur. Obviously you'll have to take my

word on this. Speaking of names, I

was about two seconds away from

becoming Mrs. Charles Arthur

Plympton.

And then finally, The Bride.

THE BRIDE (V.O.)

And that, that's me. I'm the Bride.

We do a DISSOLVE from the Bride looking dead in the bridal gown To The Bride, still in B/W, still in a bridal gown, but the asswippin she took in the scene before must have been in the past, because she looks like a million dollars now.......three million even.


INT. CAR (MOVING) - NIGHT


The Bride behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Karman Ghia convertible. Her long blonde hair whipping in the wind. A PROCESS SHOT PLAYS behind her.

THE BRIDE (V.O.)

Looked dead, didn't I? Well I

wasn't, but it wasn't for lack of

trying, I can tell you that.

Actually Bill's last bullet put me

in a coma. A coma I was to lie in

for five years.

When I woke up, ...I went on what

the movie advertisements refer to

as a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. I

roarded and I rampaged and I got

bloody satisfaction. In all, I've

killed 33 people to get to this

piont right now.

I have only one more.

The last one.

The one I'M driving to right now.

The only one left.

And when I arrive at my

destination.....

.... I'm gonna Kill Bill.

TITLE SEQUENCE

As a female-sung ballad of heartbreaking lament plays on the soundtrack, we see the credits of "Kill Bill" play over the Bride in her bridal gown, driving to the film's climax. The sequence ends with the Bride arriving at Bill's home.

WE FADE TO BLACK

BLACK FRAME
TITLE APPEARS:
Chapter one "2"

CUT TO:
EX CU The BRIDE's EYEBALL IN GLORIOUS COLOR WE CUT OUT ONE...TWO...THREE...TO A
CU of The BRIDE IN GLORIOUS COLOR She's sitting in a parked pickup truck. Her eyes focused on something.

The BRIDE'S POV:
A very homey three-bedroom house in the affluent suburb of Pasadena, California. A purple Dodge Neon sits parked in the driveway. A tricylce, a big wheel, and a few toys sprinkle the grass on the front yard. A mailbox with the name "The BELLS" on it sits out in front of the lawn. We hear but don't see ice cream truck bells.


SUBTITLE APPEARS AT SCREEN BOTTOM:
"The city of PASADENA, CALIFORNIA"

We hear a Car Door Open and Close....THEN....The Bride Walks into the shot, heading for the front door.

EX CU: A long, white female finger pushes a doorbell.


EXT. RESIDENTIAL PASADENA STREET - DAY
The front door opens and an attractive black HOUSEWIFE the same age as The Bride stands in the doorway. The Housewife's face shows immediate recognition of the blonde on her doorstep.The BRIDE on the porch; we do a quick Shaw-Brothers-style Zoom into her eyes.

FLASHBACK - SPAGHETTI WESTERN STYLE
(That means our Heroine is remembering something, and we see it with an orange filter.) We're back inside the wedding chapel. The Bride is taking the beating of her life by four people in black suits. A black woman PUNCHES HER in the face... WE see it's the black housewife, five years earlier.


The BRIDE ON THE PORCH
We Zoom quick out of her eyes to CU, a VENGEANCE THEME PLAYS LOUD ON THE SOUNDTRACK. (Whenever we hear this theme throughout the picture, we'll quickly learn what accompanies it is The Bride goin Krakatoa all over whoever's ass happens to be in front of her at that moment.) As the Vengeance Theme plays, a Vein in The Bride's forehead begins to pulsate. When the Vengeance Theme stops, The Bride ATTACKS The Housewife.

Presentation of place and time
The presentation of the place and time is very ambiguous in this script which is part of the author's intention to give a sense of mystery to the movie. All we know from the opening scene is that a wedding was supposed to take place at a chapel. Judging from the customs of having weddings in chapels, we can deduce that time at which the story takes place is contemporary. Not much is said about the surroundings however. In the next scene the Bride drives a car to the city of Pasadena in California. We know straight away now that they are located in the United States. Also the car and the house with the porch are very contemporary models and architectures. Thus we can deduce that while the author did not make it explicit in his script,

Alien Script Breakdown

Here's an analysis of the opening scenes from the movie Alien (1979).

Characters in the script:

CHAZ STANDARD, Captain

MARTIN ROBY, Executive Officer

DELL BROUSSARD, Navigator

SANDY MELKONIS, Communications

CLEAVE HUNTER, Mining Engineer

JAY FAUST, Engine Tech

The Cat (seems pretty important)

Computer (Voice only)

Not much importance is attributed to each other’s role inside the spaceship as it only determines where they sit but not their chances of survival. Their personality and cunningness here is more important.

In Yellow Means Video Transition

In Green Means Camera Movement

In Red Means Presentation of Place and Time

FADE IN

EXTREME CLOSEUPS OF FLICKERING INSTRUMENT PANELS. Readouts and digital displays pulse eerily with the technology of the distant future. Wherever we are, it seems to be chill, dark, and sterile. Electronic machinery chuckles softly to itself. Abruptly we hear a BEEPING SIGNAL, and the machinery begins to awaken. Circuits close, lights blink on.


CAMERA ANGLES GRADUALLY WIDEN, revealing more and more of the machinery, banks of panels, fluttering gauges, until we reveal:




INTERIOR - HYPERSLEEP VAULT


A stainless steel room with no windows, the walls packed with instrumentation. The lights are dim and the air is frigid. Occupying most of the floor space are rows of horizontal FREEZER COMPARTMENTS, looking for all the world like meat lockers.


FOOM! FOOM! FOOM! With explosions of escaping gas, the lids on the freezers pop open.


Slowly, groggily, six nude men sit up.

ROBY

Oh... God... am I cold...

BROUSSARD
Is that you, Roby?


ROBY
I feel like shit...


BROUSSARD
Yeah, it's you all right.

Now they are yawning, stretching, and shivering.

FAUST

(groans)

Ohh... I must be alive, I feel dead.

BROUSSARD

You look dead.

MELKONIS

The vampires rise from their graves.

This draws a few woozy chuckles.

BROUSSARD

(shakes his fist in the air triumphantly)

We made it!

HUNTER

(not fully awake)

Is it over?

STANDARD

It's over, Hunter.

HUNTER

(yawning)

Boy, that's terrific.

STANDARD

(looking around with a grin)

Well, how does it feel to be rich men?

FAUST

Cold!

This draws a LAUGH.

STANDARD

Okay! Everybody topside! Let's get
our pants on and get to our posts!

The men begin to swing out of the freezers.

MELKONIS

Somebody get the cat.

Roby picks a limp cat out of a freezer.




INTERIOR - CONTROL ROOM


This is a fantastic circular room, jammed with instrumentation. There are no windows, but above head level the room is ringed by viewscreens, all blank for the moment.


There are seats for four men. Each chair faces a console and is surrounded by a dazzling array of technology.


STANDARD, ROBY, BROUSSARD, and MELKONIS are entering and finding their seats.

BROUSSARD

I'm going to buy a cattle ranch.

ROBY

(putting down the cat)

Cattle ranch!

BROUSSARD

I'm not kidding. You can get one if
you have the credit. Look just like
real cows, too.

STANDARD

All right, tycoons, let's stop
spending our credit and start
worrying about the job at hand.

ROBY

Right. Fire up all systems.

They begin to throw switches, lighting up their consoles. The control room starts to come to life. All around the room, colored lights flicker and chase each other across glowing screens. The room fills with the hum and chatter of machinery.

STANDARD

Sandy, you want to give us
some vision?

MELKONIS

Feast your eyes.

Melkonis reaches to his console and presses a bank of switches. The strip of viewscreens flickers into life. On each screen, we see BLACKNESS SPECKLED WITH STARS.

BROUSSARD

(after a pause)

Where's Irth?

STANDARD

Sandy, scan the whole sky.

Melkonis hits buttons. On the screens the images all begin to pan.


CAMERA MOVES IN ON ONE OF THE SCREENS, with its moving image of a starfield.




EXTERIOR - OUTER SPACE


CLOSE SHOT OF A PANNING TV CAMERA. This camera is remote controlled, turning silently on its base.


CAMERA BEGINS TO PULL BACK, revealing that the TV camera is mounted on the HULL OF SOME KIND OF CRAFT.


When the pullback is finished, WE SEE THE FULL LENGTH OF THE STARSHIP "SNARK," hanging in the depths of interstellar space, against a background of glimmering stars.




INTERIOR - BRIDGE

ROBY

Where are we?

STANDARD

Sandy, contact traffic control.

Melkonis switches on his radio unit.

MELKONIS

This is deep space commercial vessel
SNARK, registration number E180246,
calling Antarctica air traffic control.
Do you read me? Over.

There is only the HISS OF STATIC.

BROUSSARD
(staring at a screen)
I don't recognize that constellation.


STANDARD
Dell, plot our location.

Broussard goes into action, punching buttons, lighting up all his instruments.

BROUSSARD

I got it. Oh boy.

STANDARD

Where the hell are we?

BROUSSARD

Just short of Zeta II Reticuli. We

haven't even reached the outer rim yet.

ROBY

What the hell?

Standard picks up a microphone.

STANDARD

This is Chaz speaking. Sorry, but we

are not home. Our present location

seems to be only halfway to Irth.

Remain at your posts and stand by.

That is all.

ROBY

Chaz, I've got something here on my

security alert. A high priority from

the computer...

STANDARD

Let's hear it.

ROBY

(punches buttons)

Computer, you have signalled a

priority three message. What is the

message?

COMPUTER

(a mechanical voice)

I have interrupted the course of the

voyage.

ROBY

What? Why?

COMPUTER

I am programmed to do so if certain

conditions arise.

STANDARD

Computer, this is Captain Standard.

What conditions are you talking

about?

COMPUTER

I have intercepted a transmission of

unknown origin.

STANDARD

A transmission?

COMPUTER

A voice transmission.

MELKONIS

Out here?

The men exchange glances.

COMPUTER

I have recorded the transmission.

STANDARD

Play it for us, please.

Over the speakers, we hear a hum, a crackle, static... THEN A STRANGE, UNEARTHLY VOICE FILLS THE ROOM, SPEAKING AN ALIEN LANGUAGE. The bizarre voice speaks a long sentence, then falls silent.


The men all stare at each other in amazement.

STANDARD

Computer, what language was that?

COMPUTER

Unknown.

ROBY

Unknown! What do you mean?

COMPUTER

It is none of the 678 dialects

spoken by technological man.

There is a pause, then EVERYBODY STARTS TALKING AT THE SAME TIME.

STANDARD

(silencing them)

Just hold it, hold it!

(glares around the room)

Computer: have you attempted to

analyze the transmission?

COMPUTER

Yes. There are two points of salient

interest. Number one: it is highly

systematized, indicating intelligent

origin. Number two: certain sounds

are inconsistent with the human

palate.

ROBY

Oh my God.

STANDARD

Well, it's finally happened.

MELKONIS

First contact...

STANDARD

Sandy, can you home in on that beam?

MELKONIS

What's the frequency?

STANDARD

Computer, what's the frequency of

the transmission?

COMPUTER

65330 dash 99.

Melkonis punches buttons.

MELKONIS

I've got it. It's coming from

ascension 6 minutes 32 seconds,

declination -39 degrees 2 seconds.

STANDARD

Dell -- show me that on a screen.

BROUSSARD

I'll give it to you on number four.

Broussard punches buttons. One of the viewscreens flickers, and a small dot of light becomes visible in the corner of the screen.

BROUSSARD (CONT'D)

That's it. Let me straighten it out.

He twists a knob, moving the image on the screen till the dot is in the center.

STANDARD

Can you get it a little closer?

BROUSSARD

That's what I'm going to do.

He hits a button. The screen flashes and a PLANET APPEARS.

BROUSSARD (CONT'D)

Planetoid. Diameter, 120 kilometers.

MELKONIS

It's tiny!

STANDARD

Any rotation?

BROUSSARD

Yeah. Two hours.

STANDARD

Gravity?

BROUSSARD

Point eight six. We can walk on it.

Standard rises.

STANDARD

Martin, get the others up to the lounge.

Presentation of the Space and Time

The scriptwriter’s description of the space and time is very detailed and visual. Since the beginning of the script, there is indication that the location is in some sort of technological facility because of the equipment. There is also indication that the time of the event is in the future because the instruments around are futuristic with steel walls, lights, etc… Besides the place and time, the script also contains enough information to deduce what kind of atmosphere the whole scene is taking place in. Later on, the script will reveal that the characters are actually inside a spaceship and their coordinates are located far from any human colonies.

Story For Ken Burns Assignment

Haaah... so many assignments already "due-ing" and my website is still like crap. I can feel the stress so bad now  I can't even think while the words "DIVA DIVA!!" keep ringing in my head.... guess I've been overdosing on Hatsune Miku. Here' my story for the Ken Burns Assignment. Sorry for crappy drawings, I did them in a rush at 1am. I'm not gonna describe the pictures also since I'm going to upload the script in the next posts. Oh yeah...those are the 10 main story points/plots. There's gonna be like a few dozens in betweens.

Camera Movement, Scale, Angle and Lens

From “From Words To Image” by Marcie Begleiter (p. 57)

Camera Movement

Camera movement refers to the movement of the camera during a shot. It can be as subtle as a slight tilt to a swooping motion that covers dozens of feet in a few seconds. Some camera moves are dolly shot; pan; swish pan; tracking shot; tilt; boom shot; crane shot; car mount; static shot; steadicam shot; zoom; zolly; smash zoom; handheld; follow shot and travelling shot.

pan – moving the camera along the horizontal (x) axis, usually panning can be done either with a fixed base or using tracks, if done from a stationary position, simply rotate the camera horizontally to follow the action. Panning is often used with tracking shots to follow the direction of action or to reveal something in the bigger picture.

tilt – camera base does not move but the angle changes up or down (tilt-up, tilt-down). Tilting the camera is similar to making the camera look up or down without moving the absolute position of the camera. Tilting is used to track the movement of objects, if the object moves towards the camera e.g. camera following a plane, and is also used to reveal something something higher than the subject creating the impression that the subject is looking up.

zoom – camera does not move but the operator changes the zoom lens to enlarge or shrink the scale; zoom is used when the producer wants to show the setting before focusing on a specific detail in the composition. Zooming in can also be used when the subject focuses his/her attention on something or someone far away. Zoom in is used to create the impression of getting closer/identifying what the subject is seeing. Zooming out can be used to reveal someone or something who is standing (hiding) far away.

Scale

Scale refers to the relationship between the frame to the object being framed. Scales include extreme close-up; close-up; medium shot (m.s.); American shot; full figure; long shot (l.s.); single; two shot; insert; two-T shot.

extreme close-up (e.c.u.) – a shot with a very narrow field of view, usually half a person’s face, which gives the impression of being very close to the subject; used for showing facial details or subtle expressions.

close-up (c.u.) – larger than the e.c.u. showing the subject’s head and shoulders; most commonly used when subject is interacting with someone; to strike a “conversation-like” feeling with the subject.

wide shot (w.s.) – a shot which spans a wide view horizontally; used to depict a wide scene e.g. a living room or a car park.

Angle

Angle refers to the relationship between the camera position and the point it is focusing on. Camera angle can change both horizontally and vertically. Angles can be high angle; aerial shot; low angle; high hat shot; ¾ shot; profile; straight on/frontal; over the shoulder shot (o.t.s.);  canted frame.

high angle – camera is facing downwards on the object from above; high angles are widely used but one of their uses is for overhead tracking in pursuit/action scenes.

Lenses

Fisheye – A type of camera lens which captures and extremely wide shot in a spherical shape. Shots with Fisheye are usually distorted making the photo look wider in the center and smaller at the edges.

Telephoto – A type of long-focus lens which allows for capturing shots at great distances. One advantage of the telephoto is that it has a narrower shot angle and thus distant objects are more proportionately scaled as opposed to using a normal lens and standing closer.

Video Transitions

Video transitions are used to join 2 seemingly disparate scenes in a smooth way so that viewers do not feel that they suddenly “jump” from one place to another. Below is a list of 5 common transitions used in film and advertisements, I deliberately excluded the Cut because it is so widely used and can be used virtually anywhere that there is not much room for bringing in opinions.

1. Cross Dissolve – By far the most widely used transition in my opinion, can be used anywhere. Most effective use with camera pan to close distances.
2. Dip to White – Bringing closure to a climactic scene, opens for post climax scene especially when sadness or relief is the primary emotion. Also for flashback.
3. Dip to Black (also known as Fade in and Fade out) – Ending of scene usually to depict end of a certain day and next scene is the day later. (e.g. The Shawshank Redemption)
4. Wipes – Rarely used, only found in Star Wars movie when there is transition between planet surface to space and back. Gives the impression that the next scene is happening very far away. (e.g. Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith)
5. Slides – Rarely used in movies but the exciting and fast nature of these transitions made them popular in advertisements where they need to grab the attention of the viewer. Used when multiple photographs are shown sequentially. Slide is also used in TV comedies.
6. Zoom – Zoom as a transition is also used in certain movies. Quite often the camera will zoom in an object in the foreground and then zoom out to show a different scene. This transition is often used when there is a change from reality to a dream analogous to the act of staring at an object and losing oneself in his/her own thoughts. Alternatively zoom can also be used to "zoom out" into splitscreen to show another scene going on at the same time.

Now how do I cut those video clips from the movies....

(Hey Julian if you're reading this, I uploaded the video clips to the server because I cut them from movies and they are copyrighted bla blah blah...)