The Filmmaker's Eye

medium close up

Medium close up shots include a character from the shoulders/chest area up to the top of the head; this shot is tighter than a medium shot, but slightly wider than a close up (as with all shots that use the human body for reference, the cutoffs between them are not strictly defined). Like the close up, the medium close up showcases the face of a subject, letting audiences see small nuances of behavior and emotion while eliciting a higher degree of identification and empathy; the slightly wider framing also lets body language convey meaning by the inclusion of a character’s shoulders. This shot is generally taken with a short camera to subject distance, resulting in a shallow depth of field that blurs the background to a degree ...