TV NEWS COVERAGE

26     Camera shots

‘The camera is now the most powerful weapon in the world.’

– DOCUMENTARY FILM MAKER PAUL BERRIFF

The shots

For aspiring videojournalists the following is essential reading. But even if you have no aspirations to shoot your own stories, you need to know the kind of shots your cameraperson will have to capture to compile your report.

The camera is only a clumsy impersonator of the human eye, but with one important advantage – it can zoom in and out of a scene. Three shots form the basis of all camerawork – the long shot, medium shot and close-up. These expand into at least six different shots in everyday use. The following shows how they would be used for screening a person:

  The long shot (LS) takes in ...

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