Medium Shots and Close up Shots

Medium Shot: This is a shot where the subject and background share equal dominance in the picture. A medium shot of an individual will take in the body from the knees or waist up.
Close Up: This is a shot in which the subject is tightly framed and shown at a relatively large scale i.e. a very close shot of a person or an object.

Medium Shot Picture

The Medium Shot is a good framing for conversation scenes (like the one seen above) between characters, especially if hand movements are part of the performance.

Close Up Picture

Close ups (example seen above) of characters are a good way to engaging the audience into the character emotionally, such as in this seen, when the director used this dramatic close up to show the detached feelings of Ben (character above) to the character he was in the scene to show a side of Ben's character to the audience.

Medium and Close Up Video



In this clip, the audience is immediately engaged in the character as the director uses a number of close up shots to get across the tense feeling in the room (from 0:08-0:27). Later in the video we see the director begin to use medium shots and close ups for discussion between the characters (from 0:44-1:54).