Grammar of the shot / Christopher J. Bowen.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The newly-revised and updated fourth edition of Grammar of the Shot teaches readers the principles behind successful visual communication in motion media through shot composition, screen direction, depth cues, lighting, camera movement, and shooting for editing. Many general practices are suggested that should help to create rich, multi-layered visuals. Designed as an easy-to-use reference, Grammar of the Shot presents each topic succinctly with clear photographs and diagrams illustrating key concepts, practical exercises, and quiz questions, and is a staple of any filmmaker's library.

New to the fourth edition:

Together with its companion volume, Grammar of the Edit , the core concepts discussed in these books offer concise and practical resources for both experienced and aspiring filmmakers.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. xiii)
• Acknowledgments (p. xv)
• Chapter 1 The Shots: What, How, and Why? (p. 1)
• What to Show Your Audience? (p. 2)
• Choosing Your Frame (p. 4)
• Aspect Ratio (p. 5)
• A Brief History of Aspect Ratios (p. 6)
• Further Exploration: Why Do We Like Widescreen So Much? (p. 8)
• An Introduction to Shot Types: The Basic Building Blocks of Motion Pictures (p. 9)
• The Long Shot/Wide Shot (p. 9)
• The Medium Shot (p. 10)
• The Close-Up (p. 10)
• The Extended Family of Basic Shots: The Powers of Proximity (p. 12)
• The Extreme Long Shot/Extreme Wide Shot (p. 14)
• The Very Long Shot/Very Wide Shot (p. 15)
• The Long Shot/Wide Shot/Full Shot (p. 15)
• The Medium Long Shot/Knee Shot (p. 16)
• The Medium Shot/Waist Shot/Mid-Shot (p. 17)
• The Medium Close-Up/Bust Shot (p. 18)
• The Close-Up (p. 19)
• The Big Close-Up (UK)/Choker (USA) (p. 20)
• The Extreme Close-Up (p. 21)
• Why Do We Even Have Different Shot Types? (p. 25)
• Pulling Images from the Written Page (p. 26)
• Script Breakdown for Cinematographers (p. 27)
• Shot Lists (p. 27)
• Storyboards and Animatics (p. 29)
• Phases of Film Production (p. 29)
• Let's Practice (p. 30)
• Chapter One - Final Thoughts: The Pictures Speak (p. 31)
• Related Material Found in Chapter Seven - Working Practices (p. 32)
• Chapter One - Review (p. 32)
• Chapter One - Exercises (p. 33)
• Chapter One - Quiz Yourself (p. 34)
• Chapter 2 The Basics of Composition (p. 35)
• Simple Guidelines for Framing Human Subjects (p. 36)
• Headroom (p. 37)
• Subjective versus Objective Shooting Styles (p. 39)
• Look Room/Nose Room (p. 42)
• The Rule of Thirds (p. 45)
• Camera Angle (p. 48)
• Horizontal Camera Angles (p. 49)
• The 360-Degree Method (p. 50)
• The Clockface Method (p. 50)
• The Camera Position Method (p. 52)
• The Frontal View (p. 52)
• The 3/4 Front View (p. 53)
• The Profile View (p. 54)
• The 3/4 Back View (p. 55)
• The Full Back View (p. 55)
• Vertical Camera Angles (p. 56)
• The Neutral-Angle Shot (p. 58)
• The High-Angle Shot (p. 58)
• The High-Angle Shot of an Individual (p. 59)
• The High-Angle Shot as a POV (p. 59)
• The High-Angle Shot of an Environment (p. 60)
• The Low-Angle Shot (p. 62)
• The Low-Angle Shot of an Individual (p. 62)
• The Low-Angle Shot as a POV (p. 63)
• The Low-Angle Shot of an Environment (p. 64)
• The Two-Shot: Frame Composition with Two People (p. 66)
• The Profile Two-Shot (p. 66)
• The Direct-to-Camera Two-Shot (p. 69)
• The Over-the-Shoulder Two-Shot (p. 70)
• The Dirty Single (p. 72)
• The Power Dynamic Two-Shot (p. 73)
• The Three-Shot (p. 74)
• Chapter Two - Final Thoughts: Wrapping Up the Basics of Composition (p. 77)
• Related Material Found in Chapter Seven - Working Practices (p. 77)
• Chapter Two - Review (p. 77)
• Chapter Two - Exercises (p. 78)
• Chapter Two - Quiz Yourself (p. 79)
• Chapter 3 Composition: Beyond the Basics (p. 81)
• The Illusion of the Third Dimension (p. 81)
• The Use of Lines (p. 83)
• The Horizon Line (p. 83)
• Vertical Lines (p. 86)
• Dutch Angle (p. 87)
• Diagonal Lines (p. 89)
• Curved Lines (p. 93)
• The Depth of Film Space: Foreground, Middle Ground, and Background (p. 95)
• Foreground (p. 95)
• Middle Ground (p. 96)
• Background (p. 97)
• Depth Cues (p. 98)
• Overlapping (p. 98)
• Object Size (p. 99)
• Atmosphere (p. 101)
• The Camera Lens: The Observer of Your Film World (p. 103)
• What Is a Camera Lens? (p. 104)
• Primes vs Zooms (p. 105)
• The Prime Lens (p. 106)
• The Zoom Lens (p. 106)
• Lens Perspective (p. 107)
• Lens Focus- Directing the Viewer's Attention (p. 112)
• Pulling Focus or Following Focus (p. 114)
• Chapter Three - Final Thoughts: Directing the Viewer's Eyes Around Your Frame (p. 117)
• Related Material Found in Chapter Seven - Working Practices (p. 117)
• Chapter Three - Review (p. 117)
• Chapter Three - Exercises (p. 119)
• Chapter Three - Quiz Yourself (p. 120)
• Chapter 4 Lighting Your Shots: Not Just What You See, but How You See It (p. 121)
• Light as an Element of Composition (p. 121)
• Light as Energy (p. 123)
• Color Temperature (p. 124)
• Color Balance of Your Camera (p. 125)
• Natural and Artificial Light (p. 126)
• Correcting or Mixing Colors on Set (p. 126)
• Quantity of Light: Sensitivity (p. 128)
• Quantity of Light: Exposure (p. 129)
• Quality of Light: Hard versus Soft (p. 133)
• Hard Light (p. 133)
• Soft Light (p. 135)
• Contrast (p. 136)
• Low-Key Lighting (p. 137)
• High-Key Lighting (p. 138)
• Color (p. 139)
• Basic Character Lighting: The Three-Point Lighting Method (p. 141)
• Contrast Ratio or Lighting Ratio (p. 143)
• Motivated Lighting: Angle of Incidence (p. 144)
• Front Lighting (p. 144)
• Side Lighting (p. 147)
• Lighting from Behind (p. 148)
• Lighting from Other Places (p. 148)
• Set and Location Lighting (p. 150)
• Controlling Light: Basic Tools and Techniques (p. 154)
• Chapter Four - Final Thoughts: Learning to Light... and Lighting to Learn (p. 155)
• Related Material Found in Chapter Seven - Working Practices (p. 155)
• Chapter Four - Review (p. 155)
• Chapter Four - Exercises (p. 157)
• Chapter Four - Quiz Yourself (p. 158)
• Chapter 5 Will It Cut? Shooting for Editing (p. 159)
• The Chronology of Production (p. 160)
• Matching Your Shots in a Scene (p. 161)
• Continuity of Performance (p. 161)
• Continuity of Screen Direction (p. 162)
• The Line: The Basis for Screen Direction (p. 165)
• The Imaginary Line: The 180-Degree Rule (p. 167)
• Jumping the Line (p. 168)
• The 30-0egree Rule (p. 171)
• Reciprocating Imagery (p. 173)
• Eye-Line Match (p. 176)
• Chapter Five - Final Thoughts: Be Kind to Your Editor (p. 177)
• Related Material Found in Chapter Seven-Working Practices (p. 177)
• Chapter Five - Review (p. 178)
• Chapter Five-Exercises (p. 178)
• Chapter Five - Quiz Yourself (p. 179)
• Chapter 6 Dynamic Shots: Subjects and Camera in Motion (p. 181)
• The Illusion of Movement on a Screen (p. 181)
• Presentation Speed: Slow Motion and Fast Motion (p. 182)
• Slow Motion (Overcranking) (p. 182)
• Fast Motion (Undercranking) (p. 183)
• Subjects in Motion: Blacking Talent (p. 183)
• Camera in Motion (p. 185)
• Handheld (p. 185)
• Pan and Tilt (p. 187)
• Shooting the Pan and the Tilt (p. 190)
• The Start Frame (p. 191)
• The Camera Movement (p. 191)
• The End Frame (p. 191)
• Equipment Used to Move the Camera (p. 192)
• Tripods (p. 192)
• Dollies (p. 193)
• Crab (p. 196)
• Dolly/Track/Truck (p. 196)
• Zoom (p. 198)
• Steadicam™ and Other Camera Stabilization Devices (p. 200)
• Cranes and Booms (p. 200)
• Chapter Six - Final Thoughts: Movies Should Move (p. 201)
• Related Material Found in Chapter Seven - Working Practices (p. 201)
• Chapter Six - Review (p. 201)
• Chapter Six - Exercises (p. 202)
• Chapter Six - Quiz Yourself (p. 203)
• Chapter 7 Working Practices (p. 205)
• 1 Storyboards and Shot Lists (p. 205)
• 2 Slate the Head of Your Shots (p. 206)
• 3 Help the Boom Operator to Place the Microphone (p. 209)
• 4 Use of Two of More Cameras (p. 210)
• 5 Be Aware of Reflections (p. 211)
• 6 Communicating with the Talent (p. 213)
• 7 Safe Action/Safe Title Areas (p. 214)
• 8 How to Manually Focus a Zoom Lens (p. 216)
• 9 Always Have Something in Focus (p. 217)
• 10 Control Your Depth of Field (p. 218)
• 11 Be Aware of Headroom (p. 220)
• 12 Shooting Tight Close-Ups (p. 222)
• 13 Beware of Wide Lenses When Shooting Close-Up Shots (p. 224)
• 14 Try to Show Both Eyes of Your Subject (p. 225)
• 15 Be Aware of Eye-Line Directions in Closer Shots (p. 227)
• 16 Place Important Objects in the Top Half of Your Frame (p. 228)
• 17 Keep Distracting Objects out of the Shot (p. 229)
• 18 Use the Depth of the Film Space to Stage Shots with Several People (p. 230)
• 19 Ensure an Eye Light (p. 232)
• 20 Be Aware of Color and Contrast Choices Made Throughout Your Project (p. 233)
• 21 Allow the Camera More Time to Record Each Shot (p. 234)
• 22 Follow Action with a Loose Pan and Tilt Tripod Head (p. 236)
• 23 Shooting Overlapping Action for the Edit (p. 237)
• Continuity of Action (p. 237)
• Matching Speed of Action (p. 238)
• Too Much Overlapping Action (p. 238)
• 24 Frame for Correct Look Room on Shots that Will Edit Together (p. 239)
• 25 Shoot Matching Camera Angles When Covering a Dialogue Scene (p. 240)
• 26 A Three-Person Dialogue Scene: Matching Two-Shots Can Be
• Problematic for the Editor (p. 241)
• 27 Beware of Continuity Traps While Shooting a Scene (p. 242)
• 28 Ways to Cross the 180-Degree Line Safely (p. 244)
• 29 The Long Take (p. 245)
• 30 Zooming During a Shot (p. 246)
• 31 Motivate Your Dolly-in and Dolly-Out Camera Moves (p. 247)
• 32 Use Short-Focal-Length Lenses to Reduce Handheld Camera Shake (p. 249)
• 33 Allow Actions to Complete Before Cutting the Camera (p. 250)
• 34 Shooting a Chromakey (p. 251)
• 35 Shooting B-Roll, 2nd Unit, and Stock Footage (p. 252)
• 36 Shooting a Talking-Head Interview (p. 253)
• 37 During Documentary Filming, Be as Discreet as Possible (p. 254)
• 38 Use Visual Metaphors (p. 255)
• 39 Aim for a Low Shooting Ratio (p. 255)
• Chapter Seven - Review (p. 256)
• Chapter Seven - Exercises (p. 258)
• Chapter Seven - Quiz Yourself (p. 259)
• Chapter 8 Concluding Thoughts (p. 261)
• Know the Rules Before You Break the Rules (p. 261)
• The Reason for Shooting Is Editing (p. 262)
• Your Shots Should Enhance the Entire Story (p. 263)
• Involve the Viewer as Much as Possible (p. 264)
• Take Pride in the Quality of Your Work (p. 265)
• Practice Proper Set Etiquette (p. 266)
• Know Your Equipment (p. 267)
• Be Familiar with Your Subject Matter (p. 268)
• Understand Lighting - Both Natural and Artificial (p. 268)
• Study What Has Already Been Done (p. 269)
• Conclusion (p. 270)
• Appendix A Helpful Resources for the New Filmmaker (p. 271)
• Appendix B Crew Members Commonly Needed for Motion Picture Production (p. 275)
• Glossary (p. 279)
• Index (p. 301)

Author notes provided by Syndetics