Open this lesson in your favourite AI. It'll walk you through the why, explain the demo, and quiz you on the try-it list.
'Shot type' is the single knob that separates film-literate prompts from random generations. Wide vs medium vs close-up isn't decoration — it's about where the viewer's attention lands. A wide shot says 'see the world'; a close-up says 'see her face'. Learning the five standard shot types and when each one is wrong is a two-hour investment that pays out forever.
Shot type controls what the viewer pays attention to: a wide shot says 'here is the world,' a close-up says 'here is a face' — and the model follows that contract faithfully. Swapping one shot-type line while keeping every other variable constant isolates the effect, which makes the creative decision legible. The five variants below use an identical subject and setting so nothing else can explain the difference.
Subject: a chef plating a dish in a hurry
Setting: a busy restaurant kitchen, warm tungsten light
Shot variants to try (change ONLY this line):
- Wide shot: camera far back, whole kitchen visible
- Medium shot: camera at chef's hip, plate and hands visible
- Close-up: camera on the plate, chef's hands enter frame
- Extreme close-up: camera on a drop of sauce landing
- Over-the-shoulder: we see the plate from behind the chefUse these three in order. Each builds on the one before.
Name and define the five standard shot types (wide, medium, close, extreme close, over-the-shoulder). Give an example from any film where each is used and why.
Why does the same subject feel 'epic' in a wide shot and 'intimate' in a close-up? Walk me through what the human eye does with the information in each frame — what's in focus, what isn't, what we fill in.
I want a three-shot sequence that takes the viewer from 'observer' to 'participant' in ten seconds. Suggest the shot order, the transitions, and how the subject's motion changes in each shot.