In filmmaking

Filmmaking

Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...

, television production, still photography

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 and the comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 medium a close-up tightly frames

Film frame

In filmmaking, video production, animation, and related fields, a film frame or video frame is one of the many still images which compose the complete moving picture...

 a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots (cinematic techniques

Cinematic techniques

- Basic Definitions of Terms :Aerial Shot:A shot taken from a crane, plane, or helicopter. Not necessarily a moving shot.Backlighting:The main source of light is behind the subject, silhouetting it, and directed toward the camera....

). Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving in to a close-up or away from a close-up is a common type of zooming

Zoom lens

A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length lens...

.

Close-ups are used in many ways, for many reasons. Close-ups are often used as cutaways from a more distant shot to show detail, such as characters' emotion

Emotion

Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...

s, or some intricate activity with their hands. Close cuts to characters' faces are used far more often in television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 than in movie

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s; they are especially common in soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

s. For a director to deliberately avoid close-ups may create in the audience an emotional distance from the subject matter.

Close-ups are used for distinguishing main characters. Major characters are often given a close-up when they are introduced as a way of indicating their importance. Leading characters will have multiple close-ups. There is a long-standing stereotype

Stereotype

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

 of insecure actors desiring a close-up at every opportunity and counting the number of close-ups they received. An example of this stereotype occurs when the character Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, announces "All right, Mr. DeMille

Cecil B. DeMille

Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...

, I'm ready for my close-up" as she is taken into police custody in the film's finale.

Close-up shots do not show the subject in the broad context of its surroundings. If overused, close-ups may leave viewers uncertain as to what they are seeing. Close-ups are rarely done with wide angle

Wide Angle

Wide Angle is the debut studio album by British breakbeat trance producers Hybrid, and was re-released in 2000 as a double-CD edition entitled Wider Angle...

 lenses, because perspective causes objects in the center of the picture to be unnaturally enlarged. Certain times, different directors will use wide angle lenses, because they can convey the message of confusion, and bring life to certain characters.

Types of close-up

There are various degrees of close-up depending on how tight (zoomed in) the shot is. The terminology varies between countries and even different companies, but in general these are:

• Medium Close Up ("MCU" on camera scripts): Half-way between a mid shot and a close-up. Usually covers the subject's head and shoulders.
• Close Up ("CU"): A certain feature, such as someone's head, takes up the whole frame.
• Extreme Close Up ("ECU" or "XCU"): The shot is so tight that only a detail of the subject, such as someone's eyes, can be seen.
• Lean-In: when the juxtaposition of shots in a sequence, usually in a scene of dialogue, starts with medium or long shots, for example, and ends with close-ups.
• Lean-Out: the opposite as a lean-in, moving from close-ups out to longer shots.
• Lean: when a lean-in is followed by a lean-out.

When the close-up is used in shooting, the subject should not be put in exactly the middle of the frame. Instead, it should be located in the frame according to the law of golden section.

The history of the close-up

The earliest filmmakers — such as Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

, Auguste and Louis Lumière

Auguste and Louis Lumière

The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean , were among the earliest filmmakers in history...

 and Georges Méliès

Georges Méliès

Georges Méliès , full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was very innovative in the use of special effects...

 — tended not to use close-ups and preferred to frame their subjects in long shots. Film historians disagree as to which filmmaker first used a close-up, but D.W. Griffith used the shot extensively at an early date. For example, one of Griffith's short films, The Lonedale Operator

The Lonedale Operator

The Lonedale Operator is a 1911 short drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City....

(1911), makes significant use of a close-up of a wrench that a character pretends is a gun.

Close-ups may be more expensive than other shots due to the extra lighting and make-up needed.

See also

• Aerial perspective
  Aerial perspective
  Aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective refers to the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as it is viewed from a distance. As the distance between an object and a viewer increases, the contrast between the object and its background decreases, and the contrast of any...
  
  
• Aerial shot
  Aerial shot
  Aerial shots are usually done with a crane or with a camera attached to a special helicopter to view large landscapes. This sort of shot would be restricted to exterior locations. A good area to do this shot would be a scene that takes place on a building. If the aerial shot is of a character it...
  
  
• American shot
  American shot
  "American shot" is a translation of a phrase from French film criticism, "plan américain" and refers to a medium-long film shot of a group of characters, who are arranged so that all are visible to the camera...
  
  
• Angle of view
  Angle of view
  In photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view....
  
  
• Bird's eye shot
  Bird's eye shot
  In filmmaking and video production, a bird's-eye shot refers to a shot looking directly down on the subject. The perspective is very foreshortened, making the subject appear short and squat. This shot can be used to give an overall establishing shot of a scene, or to emphasise the smallness or...
  
  
• Bird's-eye view
  Bird's-eye view
  A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object from above, with a perspective as though the observer were a bird, often used in the making of blueprints, floor plans and maps.It can be an aerial photograph, but also a drawing...
  
  
• Boom shot
  Boom shot
  "A Boom shot, Jib shot, or Crane shot refer to high-angle shots, sometimes with the camera moving."-See also:*Aerial perspective*Aerial shot*American shot*Angle of view*Bird's eye shot*Bird's-eye view*B-roll*Camera angle*Camera coverage...
  
  
• B-roll
  B-roll
  B-roll, B roll, or Broll is the supplemental or alternate footage intercut with the main shot in an interview or documentary.- History :The term B-roll originates from the method of 16 mm film production from an original camera negative...
  
  
• Camera angle
  Camera angle
  The camera angle marks the specific location at which a camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles. This will give different experience and sometimes emotion. the different camera angles will have different effects on the viewer and how they perceive the scene...
  
  
• Camera coverage
  Camera coverage
  Camera coverage, in filmmaking and video production, is the amount of footage shot and different camera angles used to capture a scene. When in the post-production process, the more camera coverage means that there is more footage for the film editor to work with in assembling the final cut.-See...
  
  
• Camera Dolly
  Camera dolly
  A camera dolly is a specialized piece of filmmaking and television production equipment designed to create smooth camera movements . The camera is mounted to the dolly and the camera operator and focus puller or camera assistant, usually ride on the dolly to operate the camera...
  
  
• Camera operator
  Camera operator
  A camera operator or cameraman is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In filmmaking, the leading cameraman is usually called a cinematographer, while a cameraman in a video production may be known as a television camera operator, video camera operator, or videographer, depending on...
  
  
• Camera tracking
• Cinematic techniques
  Cinematic techniques
  - Basic Definitions of Terms :Aerial Shot:A shot taken from a crane, plane, or helicopter. Not necessarily a moving shot.Backlighting:The main source of light is behind the subject, silhouetting it, and directed toward the camera....
  
  
• Close-up
  Close-up
  In filmmaking, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium a close-up tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots . Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene...
  
  
• Crane shot
  Crane shot
  In filmmaking and video production a crane shot is a shot taken by a camera on a crane. The most obvious uses are to view the actors from above or to move up and away from them, a common way of ending a movie. Some filmmakers like to have the camera on a boom arm just to make it easier to move...
  
  
• Dolly zoom
  Dolly zoom
  The dolly zoom is an unsettling in-camera effect that appears to undermine normal visual perception. It is part of many cinematic techniques used in filmmaking and television production....
  
  
• Dutch angle
  Dutch angle
  Dutch tilt, Dutch angle, Dutch shot, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle, Batman angle, or jaunty angle are terms used for one of many cinematic techniques often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed...
  
  
• Establishing shot
  Establishing shot
  An establishing shot in filmmaking and television production sets up, or establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects...
  
  
• Film frame
  Film frame
  In filmmaking, video production, animation, and related fields, a film frame or video frame is one of the many still images which compose the complete moving picture...
  
  

• Filmmaking
  Filmmaking
  Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
  
  
• Follow shot
  Follow shot
  Follow shot or tracking shot is a specific camera shot in which the subject being filmed is seemingly pursued by the camera. The follow shot can be achieved through tracking devices, panning, the use of a crane, and zoom lenses resulting in different qualitative images but, nevertheless, recording...
  
  
• Forced perspective
  Forced perspective
  Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It is used primarily in photography, filmmaking and architecture...
  
  
• Freeze frame shot
  Freeze frame shot
  A freeze frame shot is used when one shot is printed in a single frame several times, in order to make an interesting illusion of a still photograph....
  
  
• Full frame
  Full frame
  In cinematography, full frame refers to the use of the full film gate at maximum width and height for 35 mm film cameras. It is sometimes also referred to as silent aperture, full gate, or a number of other similar word combinations. It is the original gate size pioneered by William Dickson and...
  
  
• Full shot
• Hanging miniature
  Hanging miniature
  Hanging miniature is an in-camera special effect similar to a matte shot where a model, rather than a painting, is placed in foreground and the action takes place in the background. It is thus a specific form of forced perspective.-Description:...
  
  
• Head shot
  Head shot
  A head shot is a photographic technique where the focus of the photograph is a person's face. Headshot is essentially the same as portrait. However, headshot is an image that portrays people as they are and is more of a "mug shot", however simple or stylized it might be. Whereas, a portrait will...
  
  
• High-angle shot
  High-angle shot
  In film, a high angle shot is usually when the camera is located above the eyeline.With this type of angle, the camera looks down on the subject and the point of focus often get "swallowed up" by the setting....
  
  
• Long shot
  Long shot
  In photography, filmmaking and video production, a long shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings...
  
  
• Long take
  Long take
  A long take is an uninterrupted shot in a film which lasts much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general, usually lasting several minutes. It can be used for dramatic and narrative effect if done properly, and in moving shots is often accomplished...
  
  
• Low-angle shot
  Low-angle shot
  In cinematography, a low-angle shot, is a shot from a camera positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eyeline, looking up.-Famous examples:...
  
  
• Macrophotography
• Master shot
  Master shot
  A master shot is a film recording of an entire dramatized scene, from start to finish, from an angle that keeps all the players in view. It is often a long shot and can sometimes perform a double function as an establishing shot...
  
  
• Medium shot
  Medium shot
  In film, a medium shot is a camera shot from a medium distance. The dividing line between "long shot" and "medium shot" is fuzzy, as is the line between "medium shot" and "close-up"...
  
  
• Micrograph
  Micrograph
  A micrograph or photomicrograph is a photograph or digital image taken through a microscope or similar device to show a magnified image of an item.Micrographs are widely used in all fields of microscopy.-Photomicrograph:...
  
  
• Money shot
  Money shot
  A money shot is a moving or stationary visual element of a film, video, television broadcast, print publication, etc., that is disproportionately expensive to produce and/or is perceived as essential to the overall importance or revenue-generating potential of the work.-Cinema:Originally, in...
  
  
• Multiple-camera setup
  Multiple-camera setup
  The multiple-camera setup, multiple-camera mode of production, or multicam is a method of filmmaking and video production. Several cameras—either film or professional video cameras—are employed on the set and simultaneously record or broadcast a scene...
  
  
• One shot (music video)
  One shot (music video)
  A "one-shot" is any music video which consists of action, continuous in time and space, from the perspective of a single camera — a single long take. In order to be able to make one shot videos several special techniques are used. Most commonly the stage props which are not currently caught on...
  
  
• Over the shoulder shot
  Over the shoulder shot
  In film or video, an over the shoulder shot is a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective or camera angle from the shoulder of another person. The back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image of whatever the camera is pointing toward...
  
  
• Panning (camera)
  Panning (camera)
  In photography, panning refers to the horizontal movement or rotation of a still or video camera, or the scanning of a subject horizontally on video or a display device...
  
  
• Point of view shot
  Point of view shot
  A point of view shot is a short film scene that shows what a character is looking at . It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction...
  
  

• Rack focus
• Reaction shot
  Reaction shot
  Reaction shot is a term used in motion picture production and cinematography referring to a basic unit of film grammar. It is a shot which cuts away from the main scene in order to show the reaction of a character to it....
  
  
• Shot (filmmaking)
• Shot reverse shot
  Shot reverse shot
  Shot reverse shot is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character , and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character...
  
  
• Single-camera setup
  Single-camera setup
  The single-camera setup, or single-camera mode of production, is a method of filmmaking and video production. A single camera—either motion picture camera or professional video camera—is employed on the set and each shot to make up a scene is taken individually...
  
  
• Tilt (camera)
  Tilt (camera)
  Tilting is a cinematographic technique in which the camera is stationary and rotates in a vertical plane . A rotation in a horizontal plane is known as panning...
  
  
• Top-down perspective
• Tracking shot
  Tracking shot
  In motion picture terminology, a tracking shot is a segment in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly, a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken...
  
  
• Trunk shot
  Trunk shot
  The Trunk shot is a camera angle used in cinema when one or more characters need to retrieve something or someone from the trunk of a car. Though the trunk shot can be produced with great difficulty by placing the camera inside the trunk of a car and filming the action outside the trunk of the car,...
  
  
• Two shot
  Two shot
  A Two shot is a type of shot employed in the film industry in which the frame encompasses a view of two people . The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common two-shots which have one subject in the foreground and the other subject in the background.The shots are also...
  
  
• Video production
  Video production
  Video production is videography, the process of capturing moving images on electronic media even streaming media. The term includes methods of production and post-production...
  
  
• Walk and talk
  Walk and talk
  Walk and talk is a distinctive storytelling-technique used in filmmaking and television production in which a number of characters have a conversation en route. The most basic form of walk and talk involves a walking character that is then joined by another character. On their way to their...
  
  
• Whip pan
  Whip pan
  A whip pan is a type of pan shot in which the camera moves sideways so quickly that the picture blurs into indistinct streaks. It is commonly used as a transition between shots, and can indicate the passage of time and/or a frenetic pace of action....
  
  
• Worm's-eye view
  Worm's-eye view
  A worm's-eye view is a view of an object from below, as though the observer were a worm; the opposite of a bird's-eye view.A worm's eye view is used commonly for third perspective when you put one vanishing point on top, one on the left, and one on the right....