Home: Writing for Comic Books: Chapter Five - Writing the Script: Common Types of Shots

Chapter Five
Writing the Script
(cont'd)

COMMON TYPES OF SHOTS

Shots are defined by the distance from the subject of the panel to the camera.

Establishing Shot

Establishing Shot - usually an extreme long shot that defines the location and the spatial relationships between people and objects in the panel. I think it is useful to have an establishing shot on every page of a story, or at the very least, within every scene of a story.

Establishing shots can also be for people or objects that we need to define for the audience.

Extreme long shot - a shot so distant that the main subject is a dot or not visible at all.

Distant long shot - a shot where the subject can still be seen, but no meaningful information about the subject is discernable.

Long Shot

Long Shot (for a person) Medium Shot Close Up Extreme Close Up

When the term long shot is used to describe a person, then it usually means a full body shot of the subject(s).

Long medium shot - a shot where meaningful information about the subject can be seen, but the subject of the panel occupies less space than the surroundings within the composition.

When referring to people, a long medium or medium long shot might be from the knees up. Part of the body is cropped outside of the panel, but we can still see about 3/4 of the individual.

Medium shot - A shot that shows the subject and the surroundings equally well.

When referring to people, a medium shot would be from about waist up, revealing maybe 1/2 of the individual.

Close medium shot - the subject takes up more of the frame than the surroundings, but is significantly cropped within the panel. The emphasis is clearly on the subject.

When referring to people, a close medium or medium close shot would be from the breastbone up.

Bust shot - this is the head and shoulders shot as mentioned above.

Close up - the subject fills the panel with very little room around it. For a person, it's a full face shot. For an object, it's the entire object

Extreme close up (ECU) - this shows a specific detail of the subject: the dial pad of a telephone; the mole over someone's lip; a finger tightening on the trigger of a gun; etc.

And here's an important aside to artists (and I do hope that artists are taking the time to read this, just as writers should learn the theory of layout, design, lettering, and coloring. The more we all know about the other disciplines, the better we are at communicating with our collaborators)--when you think in terms of close ups and extreme close ups, remember that the copy (caption boxes, word balloons, sound effects) make up part of your frame. If the writer calls for a close up and indicates that there will be text in the panel, don't fill the entire panel with the close up and leave no room for the copy. The copy elements are part of your framing device.

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