Demystifying Camera Terms: How to tell a Master from a Long Shot

Whether you’re walking onto set, reading a shooting script or grabbing a seat in the editing room, there’s a lot of film-specific terminology being thrown around. To that end, here’s some language that’s used to describe the kinds of camera shots you see on screen:

Wide Shot (WS): Think landscape photo. The camera uses a wide-angle lens to achieve this shot.

Master Shot: A shot that contains a complete picture of the action (i.e.: you see all characters in the scene and the location). Ideal for giving context.

Long Shot (LS): A shot taken some distance from the action. Variations include the Medium Long Shot (MLS) or the Extra Long Shot (XLS). Often achieved using a telephoto lens.

Medium Shot (MS): A shot taken closer to the subject (i.e.: for a person, this would be waist up). A variation is the Medium Close Shot (MCS) (upper torso to the head).

Close-ups (CU) or Close shots (CS): Even tighter than the MS, framing the head or the head and shoulders. A Big Close-up (BCU) or Extreme Close-up (XCU) captures only part of the face to convey strong emotion.

Insert or Cut-in: These are shots of close up detail that an editor would insert into a Long Shot (or the Master Shot). In the same vein, a Cutaway Shot cuts away from the action to illustrate what’s being talked about.

Two Shot (2S): Shows 2 people in the frame. A Three-shot (3S) includes 3 people, a Single shows one. And people think this stuff isn’t intuitive.

Over-shoulder (O/S): When the camera looks over one person’s shoulder to focus on another person. The reverse shot is called a Complementary shot.