Let’s get one thing straight. The difference between you (a no-budget indie rebel) and some amateur with a camera is pre-visualization.
Amateurs show up, wander around, and "find" a shot. Pros—the real ones, the ones who make movies people actually watch—know every technical detail of that shot before they even leave the house. They’ve already made it in their head.
Once you master this, your shots will instantly stop looking like home movies and start looking... well, cinematic.
This isn't some "art school" theory. This is an old-school Hollywood secret. We're going to teach you how to know most of your camera settings just by knowing the shot type. To do that, you first need to learn the basic building blocks of our language: The Seven Basic Shot Types.
And no, you don't really know them. You know "Wide" and "Close-Up." You don't know their families, what their job is, or why you'd use one over the other.
Let's fix that.
Look, one director will call it a "Wide Shot." Another calls it a "Master." Another, a "Long Shot." I've even heard "Doinker" (don't ask).
Here’s the GFS rule: Stop arguing about names and pick one.
At the start of a shoot, the Director and DP agree on the terms. If you call it an Extreme Wide Shot, don't suddenly call the Wide Shot a "Long Shot." Pick a lane and stay in it. Don't be the confused person on set.
What matters is knowing what the shot is and how it's framed.
Static Shot: The camera does not move. The action happens inside the frame.
Dynamic Shot: The camera moves (pan, tilt, dolly, whatever).
We're dealing with static shots. Why? Because you need to learn to frame a damn masterpiece before you try to pull off a 10-minute Spielberg-oner. Learn to walk, then run.
There are three main "families" of shots: Wide, Medium, and Close-Up. Inside these families live the seven basic shots that make up 99% of all visual storytelling.
Extreme Wide Shot (EWS)
Wide Shot (WS)
Medium Wide Shot (MWS)
Medium Shot (MS)
Medium Close-Up (MCU)
Close-Up (CU)
Extreme Close-Up (ECU)
You'll notice the Medium family (MWS, MS, MCU) overlaps the others. It's the "transition" family. Cutting from an Extreme Wide Shot straight to a Close-Up is a "crash edit." It’s a jarring, violent cut that can pull the audience out of the story... unless, of course, you're making a horror film and you want to jolt them.
For each of these 7 shots, you need to burn three things into your brain:
The Job: What story-point does this shot communicate? Why are you using it?
The Lens: What kind of focal length (wide, normal, long) is traditionally used and why?
The Framing: Where do the lines go? How much of the person/thing do we see?
Let's build the toolbox.
1. EXTREME WIDE SHOT (EWS)
Also Called: Extreme Long Shot (ELS), Establishing Shot (ES).
Framing: The environment. People, if they're in it at all, are just tiny, unrecognizable specks. This is about the location.
The Job: This shot screams, "HERE is where our story happens." It establishes geography and context. It’s used at the very beginning of a film, a new act, or anytime the location itself is a character. Think exteriors.
What Lens to Grab: Your widest lens. Period. The old-school Hollywood standard (on a full-frame sensor) was around 18mm-24mm.
2. WIDE SHOT (WS)
Also Called: Full Shot, Master Shot.
Framing: Shows the entire person (head to toe) or all of an object (the whole car, the whole house). It’s tighter than an EWS, with more focus on the subject in relation to their environment.
The Job: This is your go-to "Establishing Shot" for a new scene or interior. It gives the audience the "lay of the land"—who's in the scene, what's in the scene, and where they are in relation to each other.
What Lens to Grab: A wide lens. The classic pros used something in the 25mm-35mm range (on full-frame) to get that "all-in-one" master shot.
3. MEDIUM WIDE SHOT (MWS)
Also Called: The "Cowboy Shot" (because it was framed to show a cowboy's gun holsters).
Framing: From the mid-thighs up.
The Job: This is the perfect "relationship" shot. It shows the subject, their body language, and a healthy amount of their environment. You start to see external emotion (body language) but you're still too far to see subtle, internal emotion.
What Lens to Grab: A wide-to-normal lens. You're starting to move away from "all environment" and toward "subject." Think in the 35mm-40mm range (full-frame).
4. MEDIUM SHOT (MS)
Also Called: Mid Shot. This is the workhorse of filmmaking.
Framing: From the waist up. Watch your headroom. A good rule is to put the eyeline on the top "Rule of Thirds" line.
The Job: The perfect balance of subject and environment. It's used to show people reacting to each other or their surroundings. You can read body language clearly, and you're getting just close enough to start seeing real emotion in the face.
What Lens to Grab: A "Normal" lens. The classic is 50mm (on a full-frame). This focal length most closely mimics the human eye's field of view, so it feels natural.
When you cross from a Medium Shot to a Medium Close-Up, you cross the "Line of Intimacy."
On a Medium Shot, you see external feelings (body language, big gestures). When you cross that line to an MCU or CU, you are suddenly close enough to see internal feelings by looking at their eyes.
This is why on MCUs and CUs, you MUST see both eyes if possible. The eyes are the whole god-damn point of the shot. Remember: the closer the shot, the more emotional the shot.
5. MEDIUM CLOSE-UP (MCU)
Framing: From the chest up (just below the breast) to the top of the head.
The Job: You have crossed the Line of Intimacy. The environment is falling away. This shot is all about the person. We are here to see what they are thinking and feeling, both externally (face) and internally (eyes).
What Lens to Grab: A normal-to-long lens. You're starting to compress the background and isolate the subject. The classic Hollywood "intimacy" lens starts around 70mm-75mm (full-frame).
6. CLOSE-UP (CU)
Framing: From the top of the shoulders (think second shirt button) up. You can have a little headroom, or even crop into the top of the hair/head slightly.
The Job: Pure, unfiltered emotion. This is the "reaction" shot. Use it when something critical happens and you need the audience to connect deeply with the character's internal state. Don't waste it.
What Lens to Grab: A long lens (telephoto). This is where you grab the "portrait lens", the classic is 85mm (full-frame). It separates the subject from the background (shallow depth of field) and forces the audience to look at nothing but the actor's face and that gut wrenching performance. The actor's best friend.
7. EXTREME CLOSE-UP (ECU)
Framing: A specific part of a person or object. Just the eyes. The mouth. A hand gripping a knife. A spider on a web.
The Job: To show intense, primal emotion (the "Italian Shot" of just the eyes) or to reveal a critical detail the audience would otherwise miss. Use this sparingly, or it loses all its power.
What Lens to Grab: Your longest lens. The old pros would be on a 100mm, 120mm, or even longer (full-frame). This obliterates the background and gets you uncomfortably, beautifully close, but for Pete's sake, don't overdo it. If every sentence has an exclamation, they lose their meaning.
Okay, so you know the 7 shots. Who cares, your the artist right? Really though, how does this help you?
Because now you can "pre-visualize" all your other settings.
You know your SHOT TYPE (e.g., Close-Up).
That tells you what LENS to grab (a long lens, like an 85mm).
That tells you your DEPTH OF FIELD (DOF). A long lens naturally creates a shallower depth of field (blurry background). If you want it really blurry, you know you need to open your APERTURE (make the hole bigger). If you need to see the background for some reason, you'll need to close your aperture (make the hole smaller) and add a ton of light.
Your SHUTTER SPEED is already set. You're shooting 24 frames per second, so your shutter is 1/48. This is not a creative choice; it's the 180-degree rule. Lock it and forget it.
Your ISO should be at its Base or Native setting (whatever that is for your camera). This gives you the cleanest image. You only raise it if you are desperate. Do not use ISO as a replacement for lighting. That's a hack move.
BOOM. Just by deciding "I need a Close-Up," you've pre-visualized your lens, your aperture, your shutter, and your ISO. You're not just arbitrarily "finding" the shot; you are executing an MF'n plan.
This is where it all comes together.
The 3-Shot Rule: To tell a fluid story, you need at least three shots: a Wide, a Medium, and a Close-Up. How you edit them (W-M-C or C-M-W) dictates the entire feel of your scene.
Establishing a Scene: Any time you show a new location, you must use an EWS or WS to establish it. If a new character walks in later, use a MWS to re-establish the space. Don't confuse your audience.
The 180-Degree Rule: This is not a "guideline." It is THE LAW. Draw an invisible line between your two actors. Keep your camera on one side of that line. If you cross it, their eyelines will be mismatched, and you will look like an amateur.
The 30/20 Rule: When cutting between two shots of the same subject, you MUST change the camera angle by at least 30 degrees or the focal length by at least 20mm (e.g., go from a MS to a CU). If you don't, you get a "jump cut" that looks like a mistake.
Cutting on Action: The best trick in the book. Start an action (a hand reaching for a glass) in one shot (a Medium Shot) and finish it in another (a Close-Up). The audience's brain follows the action, not the cut, making it invisible.
Action/Reaction: Simple. Show a shot of someone looking at something (Action). Then show a shot of what they are looking at (Action). Then, most importantly, cut back to a CU of them to see their Reaction. This is storytelling.
Shot/Reverse Shot: This is 90% of your dialogue scenes. Use the 180-Rule. Film one actor's coverage (their MS, MCU, CU), then turn the camera around and film the other actor's coverage.
Coverage: This is your insurance.
Master Coverage (Slow): Shoot the entire scene from a WS. Then shoot the entire scene again from a MS. Then again from CUs. It gives your editor infinite options, but it takes forever.
"Only What You Need" (Fast): You pre-visualized and know you only need a WS for the entrance, an MWS for the dialogue, and a CU for the final line. You shoot only those pieces. It's fast, it's efficient, and it's what pros do.
Stop reading. Stop "learning." Stop the fragg'n excuses!
Go grab your camera (or your phone, I don't care) and go shoot all seven shots. Then import them into an editor and try to cut from the EWS to the CU. See how it "crashes." Then put the MS in between and watch it "flow."
You don't know this stuff until you do it.
Now go make your monster.
Kavan Out.