Secrets and Lies Analysis

Camera Movements

Panning -



Panning is where the camera is on a fixed point and turns horizontally.  This movement is great when you want the audience to get a feel of your surroundings or to follow an object or person to see where they are going.

Tilt -



Tilting is where you move the camera lens up or down while keeping its horizontal axis constant.  This movement is useful when maybe you want the audience to see what a character is wearing or to introduce a character or to show where someone is going.

Dolly -



Dolly is the motion towards or motion from, normally on some kind of track or vehicle.  This can create a flowing effect without any unwanted camera movement, if it is done correctly.

Zoom In/Out -



Zooming involves changing the focal length of the lens to make the subject appear closer or further away in the frame.  This is one of the most used camera movements.  This movement will sometimes be used to that the audience knows what the main object of that shot is or just to make the shot more interesting.

Handheld -



Handheld is used to either make the audience feel more involved as it seems more realistic, like you are actually following someone or it is used when sometimes the action is moving too quickly or too unpredictably for the camera to be on a tripod.

Crane -



Crane shots are used when the shot needs to be looking down on the subjects/objects in the frame.  A crane is used to lift the camera (and operator, if bit's big enough) from low to high shooting positions or vice versa.

Steadicam -



Steadicam is used when you want a steady, gliding effect without having to use very expensive equipment, even when moving across very uneven ground, as it absorbs shakes, jerks and bumps in the camera movement,

Aerial -



The aerial shot is normally done by a special helicopter and is used to show big areas of landscape or something on top of buildings or high places so the audience get a feel for how high up it is.

Pull Focus -



The pull focus is where you are shifting the focus from the foreground to the background or vice versa and is one of the most popular effects in film and television.  This shot is normally used to see what is going on in front or behind an object or character.

Track -



The tracking shot is used to follow subjects and objects in the frame and anything can be used to do this shot, from dollys to handheld.

Framing/Shot Distance

There are many different types of shots that you can use, and they are all used for a reason, to maybe get a reaction, to give the viewer a feel for how big something is, e.t.c.

• This is a Extreme Close Up (ECU) - 

This shot is to get right in and up close to something, to get extreme detail.  This shot could be used in a dramatic scene, to create suspension.

In this shot, the extreme close up was used to show what he was seeing, by the reflection in his glasses.  Half his face is in the dark which creates mystery and it could mean that he has a dark side to him.  A little bit of the shot shows the setting in which he is in and in this case it is raining and dark.  This is used to make the scene more intense and mysterious.

• This is a Close Up (CU) -

 In this shot, a certain feature or part of the subject takes up most of the frame. A close-up of a person emphasizes their emotional state and the viewer is drawn into the subject's personal space and shares their feelings.

In this scene, the use of the close up shot means that you can see that this character has no emotion and the use of make up on this person is very good, because it creates a false emotion for the character.

• This is a Medium/Close Up Shot (MCS) - 

The medium closeup is half way between a mid shot and a close up. This shot shows the face more clearly, without getting uncomfortably close.

In this scene, because of the use of the medium close up shot, you can see that she is troubled and has a lot on her mind.  Behind her is just black and there is a shadow cast on one side of her face, this could signify that something has happened to her in the past and this is what's troubling her.

• This is a Medium Shot (MS) - 

The mid shot shows some part of the subject in more detail, whilst still showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking at the whole subject.  The medium shot is appropriate when the subject is speaking without too much emotion or intense concentration. 

In this shot, they have used a medium shot to not only get the emotion on the characters face, but also the state in which he is in.  He has obviously been on the ground a lot, maybe due to fighting or an explosion.  He also has cuts on his face and body indicating that he has been hit or thrown down.

• This is a Long Shot (LS) - 

In the long shot, the subject takes up the full frame.  Obviously the subject doesn't take up the whole width and height of the frame, since this is as close as we can get without losing any part of the people in the scene.

 This long shot is used to get both the characters in and their surroundings .  They are down an alley way, maybe starting off their day as they have coffee.  They are both well dress, signifying, they are not short of money, and they have jobs in which they need to smartly dressed for.  Both their body languages indicates that they are in happy and they are comfortably around each other, because of how close they are standing to one another.