Full Shots: Place and Action

We are back with camera distances and we have now moved our camera a good bit closer into a full shot.

Full shots show the full length of the character but are close enough so that we can see their details.  Their faces are no longer dots, their arms and legs are now more than squiggly lines…well, they might still be squiggly lines if you’re still working on your anatomy, but ideally they should be looking more like arms and legs now.  Bobby-Boy’s gun is also becoming more gun-like.

Full shots are about the characters’ action and their position in the scene.  Do you need to establish that Annoying-Kid is sitting at a table waiting for dinner?  A closer shot might not get that message across, but if you pull back a bit so that we can see him at the table and the mom preparing the dinner, then bingo, the audience gets the message. But pull back too far into a wide shot and it becomes more about the room and less about Annoying-Kid and his annoying body language. Body language is key in full shots.

Full shots also allow us to see more of the characters’ interaction with their environment. It’s not just about placement as it was with wide shots, but it’s about what they are doing in said environment.  Is Hero-Chick now hiding behind a box?  Is Bobby-Boy now strolling down the pathway? These could be full shots; place and action.

Next: Guess what…yes! Bobby-Boy took a breath mint so we can move closer!  It will be medium shot time! Yippee! 

Wide Shots and Bobby-Boy’s Gun

With all visual storytelling, the first question to ask yourself is: “Do I have enough munchies on hand?” (I suggest Hot Tamales, mmmmm Hot Tamales.) The second question is: “Where should the camera be?”  By camera, I mean either a-soon-to-be-real one with storyboards or a virtual one with comics.

This breaks down in the simplest terms of distance and angles (though some might call on angels to help too). 

Let’s look at distance first.

First, we have the farthest away shot called a wide shot where the camera is far, far away from the characters. It’s all about the place, the mood, the setting.  This is where you let the location speak. 

Wide shots are about the big details. If you need the audience to see that Bobby-Boy is holding a gun, don’t use a wide shot.  The gun will be a teeny-tiny widdle line that your audience will never know is a gun (unless that’s already been established earlier). But this shot is not about his gun, it’s about the location, and his location in the location. It’s about how close he is to our Hero Chick. Is she close enough to kick the gun out of his hand or far enough that she could dodge the bullet; or is she fully screwed and in that sweet spot that is making Bobby-Boy a very happy boy? It’s also about the environment, the creepy warehouse our characters are currently in.  Are there boxes Hero Chick can hide behind? Are things lurking behind those boxes? Will she get tetanus from the rusty, ugly nails that are sure to be littering the ground is this worn out, abandoned warehouse or is the warehouse so clean and modern that she might slip on the floor as she tries to run?

Often you’ll hear of an establishing shot.  This is usually a wide shot that is used as the first image of a story. This tells the audience where your lovely story is taking place.  It orientates them, grounds them in the world you are creating. It’s your tour guide greeting the tourist.

If what you need to convey in the shot is the location, location of your characters, the mood, or the big details, a wide shot is your friend. 

Please Won’t You Be My Neighbor

Keep in mind that shots cannot be thought of alone. They are social creatures. They like their neighbors; they like to know what their neighbors are doing.  Did wide shot’s neighbor to the left (assuming we are reading left to right) establish who the two figures in the warehouse of horrors already were? Or is wide shot the first house on the block and therefore these two tiny blobs of figures are a mystery to the audience?  Or is wide shot pissed off at his neighbor for mowing the damn lawn at 9am on a Saturday?

Next, we move a bit closer with full shots. Yahhhhh!

Not a Blog

This is not a “blog”. The word “blog” sounds like the noise you make when regurgitating.  “Oh, my stomach is not to happ- bloooooooooooooggggg, spew…ewww”  Cannot stand that word!  This is a...um, Wlog, Elog…great, now it sounds like alien names.  Epost?  Virtual Letter? ViLet? Post-E?  Er…ok, we’ll figure this out later. Anyways, whatever this is called, I will NOT be updating you on my boring-ass life.  There will be no posts of “Oh, my rabbit ate my comics!”, even if my rabbit does eat my comics, you will not hare about it hare.  This will be a place of learning, of fun and of sharing ideas. Though, if I seem very down one day, you can assume that my rabbit did in fact eat my comics.  Bad, cute, adorable rabbit with Batman’s speech balloon hanging out of his mouth.

Ok, now to explain the reason for this…This-Thing-That-Has-Yet-To-Be-Named:

Films, TV, comics; I love them all. I love how they tell stories visually. I love the creativeness, the playfulness and the richness of the images. How image after image are placed together to tell a tale that whisks you away from reality. This love made me become a comic book artist and then a storyboard artist.  This is also what filled my head with a ton of visual storytelling knowledge; knowledge that I want to share so others can create wonderful worlds and stories.

So, over the next few months, years, or however long this lasts, I hope to share some of this knowledge that is shoved in my head with anyone interested…even if it’s just me.  *Waves*  “Hi Me!” “Hi Me back!”   Aww…good company.

Enjoy!

Oh, and help me up with a better word than blooooooog. Please!