Shot, Scene and Sequence

A shot consists of a single take, which can be several seconds or several minutes long. A scene
is composed of several shots, while a sequence is composed of scenes. Finally, narrative films
are composed of sequences.

I. Types of Shot:
1. Long Shot (ls)
Generally used as an establishing shot that begins a film or sequence, a long shot shows
characters in their entirety, as well as some of the surrounding environment.
Ex. Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Mirror (1974)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/long-shot/

2. Extreme Long Shot (els)

Long Shot vs. Extreme Long Shot
A long shot occurs when the frame of the shot includes a character(s) from head to foot with
negligible amounts of the other mise-en-scéne included in the length-wise portion of the
frame. In other words, the character(s) from head to foot fills most of the length of the shot.
This is contrasted by an extreme long shot where the full character(s) is seen in the shot along
with a substantial portion of the other mise-en-scéne length-wise.

The terms extreme long shot and long shot are used to define a way in which the director has
framed the character(s) or item in relation to the setting. An extreme long shot allows the
director to give the viewer a sense that they are seeing the bigger picture along with the
character, while a long shot shows the full character giving the viewer a chance to focus on
the character.

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3. Medium Shot (ms)
A medium shot is one that can include several characters in a frame, usually showing a
character from the waist up.
https://sites.google.com/a/colgate.edu/fmst-terminology/medium-shot

4. 3/4 shot
https://sites.google.com/a/colgate.edu/fmst-terminology/medium-shot

5. Close-Up (cu)
A close-up is a shot in which a person’s face fills most of the screen, although the term can
also refer to any shot that appears to have been taken at close range (or through a telephoto
lens), and in which an object appears relatively large and in detail.
Ex. Edwin Porter’s Great Train Robbery, (1903)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/close-up/

6. Extreme Close-Up (ecu)

The camera focuses on a particular detail of the subject.

7. Long Take
The long take, a shot of some duration, was not an aesthetic choice when it was first used.
Filmmakers in the early days of cinema had no choice but to shoot their works in one
continuous take, until the film ran out. Even as it became technically possible to have cuts in
films, the finished product would often still look more like a stage drama, with a static camera
stringing together a series of narrative sections. Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon (1902)
demonstrates an early use of long takes, albeit ones that tended more toward the theatrical
than the cinematic.
Ex. Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon (1902)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/long-take/

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8. Pan Shot(right/left)
A pan shot is achieved with a camera mounted on a swivel head so that the camera body can
turn from a fixed position. The camera can move left to right, right to left, or even up and down
(the latter is called a tilt shot).

9. Tracking (Trucking or Dolly) Shot

A tracking, or trucking, shot is one in which a camera is mounted on some kind of conveyance
(car, ship, airplane, etc.) and films while moving through space. Tracking refers to the practice
in studio filmmaking of filming from a wagon set on specially placed lengths of railroad tracks.
Ex. Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/dolly-dolly-shot/

10. Tilt(up/ down)

A tilt is the vertical motion of the camera as it shifts up or down on a fixed support.
One situation where a tilt could apply would be to exaggerate the height of a particular object.
For example, if a character was standing on the sidewalk looking up to the top of a large
building, the director might choose to use a tilt shifting the camera from the eye level of the
character to the point where the tip of the building is visible. While tilts are frequently used to
simply show an extension of space, the slow, sweeping motion of the camera can be exploited
for several other purposes. Tilts can be used to build suspense since they gradually reveal the
off-screen space, or to reinforce an idea of rank or social standing by moving from a character
positioned below someone to the character positioned above or vice versa.
Ex. Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2007)
https://sites.google.com/a/colgate.edu/fmst-terminology/tilt

11. Shot/Reverse Shot

The term “shot/reverse shot” refers to a continuity editing technique in which there is an
exchange between either a character and another character, or a character and an object, and
which aims to take place rationally.
One situation in film where the term would apply would be in describing a conversation
between two people. Often, the camera will switch back and forth, recording one person, and
then the other, from each person’s point of view. Sometimes, narrative meaning can be derived
from the “shot/reverse shot” technique in terms of emphasis on certain aspects of character

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or setting. If, for example, the “shot/reverse shot” technique is often used in a Western
between a character and an open desert landscape, or a wooded mountain range, this could
speak to the importance of wide-open land and the West to the characters and to the film.
Ex. 1 Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho(1960) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv88ASiLmgk

Ex. 2 George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
https://sites.google.com/a/colgate.edu/fmst-terminology/shot-reverse-shot

II. Editing
Editing is the process of putting a film together–the selection and arrangement of shots and
scenes. Editing can condense space and time, emphasize separate elements and bring them
together, and organize material in such a way that patterns of meaning become apparent. In
addition, editing can determine how a film is perceived: for instance, quick, rapid cuts can
create a feeling of tension, while a long take can create a more dramatic effect.

1. Fade[fade-in/ fade-out]
The fade is a means of gradually beginning or ending a scene, and is achieved in the camera
by opening or closing the aperture; in an optical printer, this is achieved when the exposure
light is increased or decreased. The fade is used in a number of different ways–when one scene
closes with the image disappearing (fade-out), then transitioning into the next scene, which
slowly comes into view (fade-in); or, in a fade to black, when a scene or film ends with an image
gradually becoming darker (or lighter, in the case of fade to white).

2. Dissolve
A dissolve is a transitional device in which one shot fades out while the next shot fades in, so
it is briefly superimposed over the first and then replaces it altogether. Dissolves are also called
“lap-dissolves” or, in England, “mixes.”
Ex. Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/dissolve/

3. Montage
Taken from the French word monter, meaning “to assemble,” this process of editing was
developed in the theories and films of the Soviet directors Pudovkin, Eisenstein, and Vertov.

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At the core of montage was the idea that a single shot has meaning only in relation to another
shot.
Ex. Sergei M. Eisenstein’s The Battleship Potemkin(1925)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/montage/

III. Camera Angle

Camera angle refers to where the camera is placed in relation to the subject of the image. In
general, the camera is placed approximately at eye level, or up to six feet off the ground.
1. Low angle(la) refers to when the camera is placed below eye level. The viewer is
therefore looking up at the subject.
Ex. John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon(1941)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/low-angle-shot/

2. High angle (ha): A high-angle shot is one in which the camera is placed above eye
level, creating a frame that looks down at the subject.
Ex. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho(1960)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/high-angle-shot/

IV. Sound
Sound is the audio portion of a film. This includes dialogue, music, and effects.
1. Voice-Over
Voice-over is dialogue, usually narration that comes from an unseen, offscreen voice, character,
or narrator. It is an example of non-diegetic sound, which can be heard by the audience but
not by the film characters themselves.
Ex. Francesco Rosi’s Salvatore Giuliano (1962)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/voice-over/
2. Music
3. Synchronous sound
4. Asynchronous sound
5. Diegetic sound
Diegetic sound is any sound that emanates from the story (or narrative) world of a

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 film, which is referred to in film studies as diegesis. Diegetic sound can include
everything from the voices of characters to the sounds of objects or music coming
from a radio or an instrument–anything that exists in the story world.
6. Non-diegetic sound
Non-diegetic sound is sound whose origin is from outside the story world. Voice-overs
are typically non-diegetic, since the narration does not appear in the film’s story world.
Usually, the music soundtrack of a film is non-diegetic.

V. Lighting
Lighting is responsible for the quality of a film’s images and often a film’s dramatic effect. Early
photoplays were usually filmed outside, with natural light, or in studios with glass roofs.
Eventually, better lighting techniques made it possible for studio productions to have a more
natural look.
Ex. Robert Wiene’s Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/lighting/

VI. Other
Black-and-White Film
Black-and-white film contains an emulsion that, when processed, changes colors into various
shades of gray.
The earliest film stock was othochromatic–sensitive to blue and green light waves–and then
panchromatic, which is sensitive to all light waves. By the end of the 1920s, panchromatic film
stock, which creates an image and emphasizes contrasts and shadows, became the norm. The
strong contrasts found in black-and-white film are apparent in this scene from Charles
Laughton’s 1955 film, The Night of the Hunter.
Ex. Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter (1955)
https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/black-and-white-film/

Works Cited
O'Connell, Daniel. Film Terminology Website. 2012 Film and Media Studies Department,
Colgate University. Fall 2011. https://sites.google.com/a/colgate.edu/fmst-terminology.
The Columbia Film Language Glossary. 2015 The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of
New York. https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term.

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Chapter 2
STORY TOLD BY THE CAMERA:
SHOT, SCENE AND SEQUENCE
Plot
Begin End
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Climax
Story

time order

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Shot, Scene and Sequence
A Shot usually refers to the cameraman
shooting one length of continuous (unedited)
action.
A scene is composed of several shots, usually
completed in one setting or relevant settings.
A sequence can be divided into one or more
scenes.
Edwin S. Porter (1870-1941)
Porter is an American film producer, director, studio manager and
cinematographer. As the Edison Manufacturing Company's director-
cameraman, he filmed The Great Train Robbery (1903).
Q1: How many sequences can you identify from The Great Train
Robbery?
Q2: What are the scenes in The Great Train Robbery? Identify and
describe them.
Q3: Putting together the scenes, how did Dir. Porter tell the story in
The Great Train Robbery?