Talk:Shot (filmmaking)

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 24 February 2020 and 11 April 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Musick64.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:16, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Shots are compared to words

 * Shots are compared to words with each frame being a letter and scenes being sentences.

Does this have a source or is it just a common film adage? It's a nice metaphor, but it seems a little skewed - I'd be more inclined to write, "Shots are compared to sentences with each frame being a letter and scenes being paragraphs." - Indeed this matches up a lot more closely with a page of writing, since in dialogue, the usual length of a shot is one sentence of dialogue. Is this more accurate or am I speaking heresy against old film-talk? &mdash;EatMyShortz 09:13, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
 * This comment has been here long enuf w/o producing a citation that i'm comfortable rewriting it completely. If it's not OR, that can be reflected when there's a source indicating that. --Jerzy "Eat your own damn shortz" Jerzinski•t 19:39, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
 * BTW, before catching my attention, it had become
 * A shot can be compared to a word with each frame being a letter, a scene as being a whole sentence, and a sequence as being an entire paragraph or chapter.
 * It would be interesting (as long as it's not OR) to know how they "can be compared", beyond what the sentence makes apparent: there's a hierarchy (as there is stretching from strings or quarks to island universes, or doorways to front walks to local streets to intercontinental vehicles to border-control stations, etc. ad naus.), and are both (tho it's left to the reader to notice it) about embodying information. Yawn. Bring it back only if someone notable said it in order to make a significant point. --Jerzy•t 23:29, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Changes made on April 3rd 2019
I've added several other shot types in the "by field size" section, like the extreme close-up, the medium close-up, and the medium long-shot. I've also added brief descriptions by each shot type. I added in an anecdote about closure within the frame that necessitates the use of these shot types. Musick64 (talk) 16:47, 2 March 2020 (UTC)