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Film & Television vocabulary · Shots and Camera Movements

Medium shot

Meaning in film & television, with examples

/ˈmiːdiəm ʃɒt/nounCore term

In film & television, medium shot means: A shot that shows a person from about the waist up, close enough to see expressions but wide enough to show gestures and some background.

In Turkish: bel plan, orta plan

How it is used

Written MS in shot lists. It is the standard shot for dialogue, interviews and TV news. A two-shot frames two people in a medium shot; a medium close-up (MCU) is a little tighter, from the chest up.

Example sentences

  1. For the interview, keep her in a medium shot with the bookshelf behind her.

  2. Most of the dinner scene is covered in medium shots.

Common collocations

  • medium close-up
  • medium wide shot
  • frame a medium shot
  • in a medium shot
  • close-upA shot taken very near the subject, usually showing a person's face or a small object so that the audience can see emotion or detail.
  • wide shotA shot that shows a large area, with people appearing small or full-length inside their surroundings, so that the audience sees where they are.
  • frameThe edges of the image that the camera records, and everything inside them. It also means one single still image of a film.
  • shotOne continuous piece of film recorded from the moment the camera starts until it stops, or the piece of it that appears between two cuts.

More terms: Shots and Camera Movements

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