writing with a camera

Brief Notes on Cinematic Language

Thrown together by David Tamés, Revised October 5, 2024

These notes cover the fundamental terms and concepts that are essential to understand in order to more effectively orchestrate cinematic language in your narrative moving image work1 Includes a list of video tutorials, essays, and examples of short films at the end. If you have suggestions on how to improve these notes, please contact me.

The Shot

The smallest unit of cinematic language is the shot. When we assemble shots into a sequence, we call the activity editing (a.k.a. montage). This principle, that meaning in cinema emerges from the relationship between shots, not just within them, is foundational to cinematic storytelling.

Camera Support and Movement

  • Dolly shot. A shot made from a moving dolly (a platform on wheels upon which a camera can be mounted to give it mobility, it may run on the ground or dedicated tracks)
  • Handheld: Camerawork done without support devices.
  • Shaky Cam: Coined by Sam Raimi for Evil Dead (1981). The rig consists of a camera bolted to the middle of a 2×4 piece of lumber, held on each end by a grip running alongside the camera, producing a mix of handheld shakiness and Steadicam-like floating.
  • Steadicam: A camera support device that produces a floating camera look. Note: Steadicams and gimbals are different tools with overlapping but distinct characteristics. Putting a camera on a Steadicam rig is not considered handheld camerawork. The Steadicam was invented by Garrett Brown and first used prominently in Bound for Glory (1976) and Rocky (1976). The “big-wheel scene” in Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) remains a landmark in expressive camera movement using the Steadicam.

Lenses

  • Wide angle: A lens with a short focal length. Exaggerates depth and spatial relationships; commonly used for establishing shots and to create a sense of immersion or unease (roughly 35mm or shorter on a full-frame camera.
  • Normal: A lens with a perspective characteristic similar to the human eye (roughly 35–50mm on full-frame cameras).
  • Telephoto: A lens with a long focal length. Compresses depth; useful for isolating subjects and flattening spatial planes (70mm or longer on a full-frame camera)

Shot Sizes and Their Narrative Functions

Editor Michael Wohl frames shot sizes as answers to the questions we instinctively ask about everything we see: who, what, where, when, why, and how.2

Shot SizeAbbreviationNarrative Function
Extreme Long ShotELS / XLSWhen — Establishes time period, season, or shows a subject moving through terrain.
Long ShotLSWhere — Shows the environment with the subject in it. Provides spatial context. Omitting the LS can emphasize suspense or disorientation.
Full ShotFSCovers the whole human body within the frame.
Medium ShotMSWhat — Shows what the subjects are doing; the actions taking place. Cuts off below the pelvis, does not include knees.
Medium Close-UpMCUHow — Shows the steps or components of a process. Enough to see the face and upper torso/shoulders. Typically more subtle and subjective.
Close-UpCUWho — Introduces characters, especially during dialogue. Shows face and collar, focus on expression. Avoid excessively long close-ups.
Extreme Close-UpECU / XCU / BCUWhy — Shows what a subject is thinking or their motive. Conveys abstract ideas such as emotion and feeling. Just the eyes, just the mouth — gets “inside the character’s head.”
Two-Shot2-ShotWith whom — Shows both subjects in the frame. Expand to group shots as needed, or split into singles to isolate characters.

These functional correspondences are heuristic, not rigid rules. Many filmmakers deliberately subvert them, for example, Sergio Leone’s extreme close-ups in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) answer where and when as much as why, loading duration and landscape into a face.

Cinematic Vocabulary

  • Establishing shot: Identifies location. Uses a wide or long shot. Note: “establishing shot” describes a purpose, not a shot size — it is defined by function, not framing.
  • Reaction shot: A close-up showing a character’s reaction to an occurrence. Central to the Editor’s Effect, the meaning of a face changes based on what it is juxtaposed with.
  • Insert shot: A close-up providing detailed information not visible in a wider shot. Note: an insert is not synonymous with a close-up; close-up is a description of shot size, while insert describes an editorial function.
  • Cutaway: Similar to an insert but shows something not previously seen in the scene. Example: a character in a park looks offscreen; cut to dogs running in the park.
  • Point-of-view shot (POV): Taken from the vantage point of a particular character, as if through their eyes.

Camera Techniques

  • Rack focus (a.k.a. focus pull): A shot in which the focus point changes during the shot, directing the viewer’s attention within the frame.
  • Dutch angle (a.k.a. Dutch tilt): A composition in which the horizon is not level. Often used to convey psychological instability or unease.
  • Smash zoom (a.k.a. crash zoom): A rapid zoom into an object, often for comedic or shock effect.
  • Reverse-zoom: A dolly back while zooming in (or dolly forward while zooming out), changing the amount of background in the shot while maintaining consistent subject size as the perspective shifts. Classic examples may be seen in Vertigo (1958), Jaws (1975), and Goodfellas (1990). Also known as a dolly zoom or Vertigo shot.

Lighting

  • Key light: The primary light source in a scene.
  • Fill light: The light source that fills in the shadows created by the key light. The ratio of key to fill determines the contrast and mood of the image.
  • Three-point lighting (key, fill, backlight) is the conventional starting point for narrative cinematography, but many contemporary cinematographers favor naturalistic or single-source approaches. See the work of Roger Deakins for masterful examples of motivated, minimal lighting setups.
  • High key refers to scenes with low-contrast, even illumination (a lighting style, not a description of source or direction), typically used in comedies and the average Netflix show.
  • Low key refers to scenes with high contrast, dominant shadows (a lighting style, not a description of source or direction), typically used in dramas and film noir; note that good low-key lighting requires proper exposure and some highlights in the scene.

Editing

  • Continuity cut: Time and action remain continuous across shots.
  • Jump cut: Time and/or place are mismatched between shots. Godard’s use in Breathless (1960) made the jump cut a deliberate stylistic device.
  • Scene cut: Transition from one location or event to another.
  • Cutting on action (a.k.a. *cutting on movement): The same action continues across the cut, making the transition smoother and less perceptible.
  • Split edits (a.k.a. L-cuts and J-cuts): Audio and video edits are offset/staggered. L-cut: audio from the outgoing shot continues over the incoming image. J-cut: audio from the incoming shot precedes its image. Essential for naturalistic dialogue scenes.
  • Matching angles: Match shot type in shot-reverse-shot sequences (e.g., CU to CU, MS to MS) to maintain visual balance.

Spatial Continuity Rules

  • 180-degree rule: An invisible line (axis of action) exists between two characters or elements of focus. The camera must stay on one side of this line to maintain consistent screen direction and logical eye lines. Crossing the line during a continuous shot does not violate the rule. Deliberately breaking it can create disorientation or confusion as Kubrick did throughout The Shining.
  • 30-degree rule: When cutting to the same subject, the second shot must be taken from a camera position at least 30 degrees away from the first to avoid a jump cut.

Diegesis and Sound

  • Diegesis refers to the world of the story.
  • Diegetic sound is sound that exists within the story world (e.g., dialogue, footsteps, a radio playing onscreen).
  • Non-diegetic sound is sound that does not exist within the story world (e.g. score used to guide emotion, voiceover narration, sound effects added for emphasis).3

Presence and Motion

Film viewing involves two foundational qualities: the presence-in-absence of what the camera photographed (we see traces of a real world that is not here), and the experience of apparent motion (still frames perceived as continuous movement). These two qualities underpin cinema’s unique power as a narrative medium.

The Overriding Rule

If it works, it’s right. If the audience does not understand what you are trying to say, check that you are answering the six questions (who, what, where, when, why, how) and not dwelling too long on any one of them. When done right, cinema stirs our emotions.

Example Short Films and Adverts

Here’s are some videos recommended for analysis of how cinematic language is used to tell a story and bring the audience into the consciousness of the protagonist and to identify with them. Some are adverts.

  • A Ninja Pays Half My Rent (Steven Tsuchida, 2003) — revisit from the perspective of “character”
  • The Black Hole (Phil Sampson and Olly Williams, 2008) — a clear premise articulated in under three minutes with precise execution
  • Passing (Adrian Yang, 2025, 2:03) tells the story of a woman who gathers the courage to say hello to a stranger on the street, this is short fiction filmmaking at it’s best, it captures one moment, one character reversal, produced on a micro–budget, with strong writing and performances.
  • Lamp (Spike Jonze, 2002) — Ikea advert, consider how identification is orchestrated and the effective use of breaking the fourth wall
  • Lamp 2 (Mark Zibert, 2018) — Ikea advert, consider how cultural change is reflected in this sequel to Lamp
  • The Call (Ammar Sonderberg, 2016, 3:49) — object of analysis for Lens and Focus Workshop
  • Milky Way (Dayton/Faris, 2006) — Volkswagen advert, music: Nick Drake, “Pink Moon”
  • Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, 1943, 14 min.) — available through Kanopy via Snell Library; best watched in a dimly lit room without distractions
  • Black of Space (Gabriel Reid, 2020) — example of student work, final project produced for ARTD 2380 Video Basics
  • Wanderlust (Alli Kramer, Trevor Hewitt, Erica Hink, 2016) — example of a group final project produced for ARTD 2380 Video Basics
  •  The Loop (Sadiel Gomez, 2024, 5:16)  — the protagonist is stuck in an endless loop of working and living, an example of expressive cinematography in the service of storytelling

Video Essays and Tutorials

Here is a short list of videos that will introduce you to cinematic language and fundamental techniques.

Cinema Language

Writing and Preproduction

Video Production

Editing

Footnotes

  1. This handout draws on and expands on the definitions covered in Bill Nichols, “Film as a Language.” In Engaging Cinema: An Introduction to Film Studies. W. W. Norton & Co., 2010. ↩

  2. Based on Michael Wohl, “The Language of Film.” KenStone.net, 2008, download PDF. ↩

  3. Michel Chion’s concept of the acousmêtre (a voice heard but whose source is unseen) complicates the diagetic/non-diagetic binary in productive ways for narrative filmmakers, see: Michel Chion, Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen (Columbia University Press, 1994). ↩

Backlinks