FREE Film School: Know the Shots 3 – Close-Up Shots

I’m writing as series a FREE Film School posts to provide some tips on how to teach yourself filmmaking. Recently, I’ve talked about shots used by filmmakers, what they are called and how and when they are used.

Please remember film is supposed to be a creative activity. We talk about the legends of cinema for a reason: they did things differently. Therefore, the way to emulate your favourite filmmaking gods and goddesses is not to copy them, but to copy their spirit of adventure.

In other words, break the rules, do things differently, create your own cinematic voice. That said, a solid grounding in film language is useful first. Last week, I talked about medium to medium close-up shots so this week I’ll move on to close-up shots.

Close-Up

Like the medium shot, close-ups are another well-used framing style. A close-up (CU) fills the screen with part of the subject. Generally speaking, if that subject is an actor that part will usually be the actor’s face. However, the close-up is often used to focus on other parts of the actor or key non-actor objects.

A close-up on an actor’s face will focus the audience’s attention further on the actor’s expression. So, as a director or editor, you move to this shot when you want the audience to have a more intimate view of the actor. While the medium close-up places the audience at normal human conversation distance, a close-up moves us beyond that natural bodyspace barrier.

Aside from actors’ expressions, the close-up is also used to show key actor actions.

Character Action Examples:

gangster reloads a pistol.

spy slips sleeping pill into Bond’s drink.

store keeper turns the “open” sign to “closed”.

racing driver shifts gear.

Deckard’s broken fingers grip the ledge.

And so on. Now ask yourself why the director and/or editor would decide to switch to these close up shots. Could these moments be shown in a wider shot? And what difference would this make to how the audience experience the story?

Aside from close-ups of actors, a close-up is often used to other key information. We switch to a close-up to make sure the audience doesn’t miss some vital information. The close-up also tells the audience “this is very important!”

Non Character Action Examples

knife lying in a puddle of blood.

family photograph stuck to a fridge.

cracks appear in a rocky overhang.

man’s underwear lying on the floor by the wife’s bed.

light bulb pops and goes out.

All these examples show an important moment in a story vital to keeping the audience informed. A close-up like this also adds dramatic tension to the moment.

Can you think of any other examples? Can you imagine how these moments would feel for the audience using a wider shot?

With a wider shot, the audience are less likely distinguish the important element from other elements in the frame. For example, a wider shot of the fridge would likely include other things stuck to the door, the cooker, the toaster and so on. They would be left wondering why they’re looking at a fridge door.

Close-up as a Reveal

Often, the close-up is used to reveal key information the audience otherwise wouldn’t know. Take the example of the close up of the cracks appearing. Perhaps our heroes are travelling along a mountain path in a jeep as they approach a rocky overhang. Suddenly, a huge rock slams into the road ahead without warning.

Now add a CLOSE UP of cracks appearing in the rocky overhang. CUT BACK to our heroes arguing as they drive along the road. Now the audience is waiting for that rock to fall on them, adding extra tension to the scene.

Therefore, in this example, the use or non-use of a close up makes a big difference to how the story is experienced by the audience. In one, a rock hits the road and gives us all an almighty shock. During this version, the audience experience the story as the heroes do.

In the the second version, the audience is forewarned that a rock could hit our heroes any minute. They’ll probably be less focused on the argument, as they anticipate the impending rock fall. When the rock hits, there will be less of a shock but far more tension.

So the question is, therefore, do you want the audience to feel shock or tension?

Paper Year (2017)

Check out this clip from the film Paper Year (2017) and observe the use of close ups. In this sequence we see close-ups used to create an intimate feeling between the two main characters (lovers). Notice also that when other characters are shown in the sequence, the shots are wider.

The use of close-ups conveys the intense emotion between the two characters. But the director/editor is also careful not to disturb that feeling. Because if the other characters also appeared in intense close up, it would devalue the lovers’ close-ups and interrupt our feeling of intimacy between them.

Choker

The choker shot is a variant of the close-up. The shot is even closer, framing the subject from below the mouth to just above the eyes. This is mainly used to reveal an actor’s expression even more intimately.

In human terms, we have moved beyond even close friendship intimacy level to add an extra level of intensity. The choker shot would be used rarely in a film (if ever). If you think of each level of close up as raising the stakes, then being so unnaturally close to an actor for too long leaves you with nothing to build to.

Therefore, the choker shot is reserved for moments of extreme dramatic tension. Often a director/editor switch to a choker shot during a pause in the action to reveal the strength of feeling.

For example, that moment in a sword fight when the opponent’s weapons are locked together and they’re stuck for a second. The opponents pause, eyeball to eyeball, as they look into each others eyes and get the measure of each other. This shot often reveals how personal a fight really is between the 2 combatants.

Extreme Close-Up

The extreme close-up frames a small area or detail of the subject, such as the eye(s) or mouth. Last week I talked about how Sergio Leone used extreme close shots of characters’ eyes in some of his famous Spaghetti Western gunfights. The extreme close-up is sometimes even called an “Italian Shot” after Leone’s shot style.

Here’s the final duel from Leone’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966). Check out this sequence and observe the use of close-up, extreme close up and choker shot. They’re all in there, but how are they used? How does each shot increase the drama and tension of the moment? But also observe when they’re not used.

If close-ups create drama and tension, why isn’t the whole scene just shot in a variety of close-ups? It’s very important know when to move close and when to stay back to allow some “air to breathe”. Close-ups tend to become claustrophobic if overused. Being so near to someone is simply unnatural for humans (most of the time).

Note, this sequence above is a great one to learn from as it includes every shot we have looked at so far in the last 3 weeks. Note also, the entire sequence is made up from shot take from a fixed position (ie. on a tripod). There are none of the dolly shots, tracking shots or following shots we’re used to in modern cinema.

Does this make the sequence dated? Or does it stand the test of time?

This Week’s FREE film School Exercise

This week I suggest you repeat last week’s exercise, except include all the shots styles from the last 3 weeks. If you are unable to get out and actually shoot, you can always sketch a storyboard using the shots. Just pick a story, either your own or one of the millions already been created.

If taking a ready made story, it might be worth starting from a non-movie source. A book or a play, for example, because then you will need to create the images from scratch. If you work from an existing movie, you’ll be tempted to either copy the original or be deliberately different. It’s far better if the story alone informs your choices.

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