Research Into Shot Types

Shot types play a vital role in the appearance of a magazine cover as it relates to genre and the audiences representation. Learning the basic shot types and how they can relate to my target audience will benefit and make my front cover look professional. Looking at this image on the left you can see the basic camera shots. There is an ECU (also known as XCU), this get right in and shows an extreme amount of detail. You would normally need a specific reason to get this close. It is too close to show general reactions or emotion except in very dramatic scenes. Because of this you would never normally see this camera shot used on any professional magazines as this shot is more considered in film rather than print. 
The CU (Close Up) is a close up shot of a specific feature or figure. A close up of a person is usually there face. A close up again shows a lot of detail and usually puts emphasise on emotion from the person. It is rarely used in a regional magazine again , so this shot doesn't relate to my audience.








The MCU (Medium Close Up) is between a CU and a MS. This shot shows the persons face more clearly without getting too close the person. This shot is can be seen on some magazines that include a person on the front cover who is the main focus. Furthermore a MS (Mid Shot) shows the subject in more detail while still showing showing enough to the audience to make them feel they were looking at the whole subject. As well as being a comfortable, emotionally neutral shot, the mid shot allows room for hand gestures and movement. This shot is commonly seen on music magazine which a Mid Shot of an popular artist.




There is three different variation of the wide shot which include: EWS (Extreme Wide Shot), VWS (Very Wide Shot) and of course the wide shot. The wide shot is also known as a long subject and would feature the whole of the subjects body. The VWS still has the subject in frame but further away and is placing him in an environment. This shot is more commonly seen on regional magazines such as ones that I'm creating. EWS main focus is the environment as this is also featured on lifestyle magazines. These two shots are ones that I will have to take into consideration when taking my own photos so they look professional and appeal to my target audience.