Shot Design Guide

The filmmaker's guide to shot grammar

Every shot type, camera movement, and framing principle — and how StoryboardCanvas's AI applies them to your storyboard.

Shot Types

WS
Wide Shot
aka Establishing Shot

Shows the entire scene geography. Used to establish location, spatial relationships, and context. Often the first shot in a scene.

Use when: Opening scenes, location changes, showing scale, ensemble staging
Lens: 14–35mm
MS
Medium Shot
aka Mid Shot

Frames from approximately waist up. Balances character presence with environmental context. The workhorse shot of dialogue scenes.

Use when: Dialogue, character interaction, body language, walking and talking
Lens: 35–50mm
CU
Close-Up
aka Tight Shot

Fills the frame with a character's face or a key object. Maximizes emotional impact and directs attention to reaction and detail.

Use when: Emotional beats, reactions, reveals, critical dialogue, key props
Lens: 50–100mm
MCU
Medium Close-Up
aka Bust Shot

From chest up. More intimate than MS, less intense than CU. Ideal for sustained dialogue while preserving some gesture.

Use when: Interviews, intimate dialogue, confessionals, two-person scenes
Lens: 50–85mm
OTS
Over-the-Shoulder
aka OTS

Camera positioned behind one character's shoulder, framing the other. Establishes spatial relationship and conversational point-of-view.

Use when: Dialogue between two characters, confrontations, reveals
Lens: 50–85mm
ECU
Extreme Close-Up
aka Detail Shot

Isolates a tiny detail: an eye, a finger on a trigger, a ticking clock. Creates maximum intensity and narrative focus.

Use when: Tension, suspense, emotional peaks, insert shots, symbolic details
Lens: 85–200mm
EWS
Extreme Wide Shot
aka Vista Shot

Subject is tiny within the frame. Emphasizes environment over character. Creates isolation, scale, or epic scope.

Use when: Landscape establishing, isolation, journey sequences, epic scope
Lens: 8–24mm
POV
Point of View
aka Subjective Shot

Camera shows exactly what a character sees. Immerses the audience in a character's perspective and experience.

Use when: Subjective experience, horror reveals, discovery, empathy building
Lens: Varies

Camera Movements

Pan

Camera rotates horizontally on a fixed axis. Follows action or reveals environment laterally.

Common uses: Following movement, surveying a space, reaction shots

Tilt

Camera rotates vertically on a fixed axis. Reveals height, scale, or shifts attention up/down.

Common uses: Revealing tall structures, character entrances, dramatic reveals

Dolly

Camera physically moves toward or away from the subject on a track or slider.

Common uses: Building intimacy (dolly in), creating distance (dolly out), the 'Vertigo effect'

Truck

Camera moves laterally, parallel to the subject. Also called a tracking shot.

Common uses: Walking-and-talking, following along corridors, revealing environments

Crane

Camera moves vertically through space — rising or descending through a scene.

Common uses: Establishing shots, transitions, emotional lifts, bird's-eye reveals

Zoom

Focal length changes while camera stays fixed. Compresses or expands depth of field.

Common uses: Dramatic emphasis, horror reveals, documentary-style urgency

Handheld

Camera held by operator without stabilization. Creates organic, raw, visceral energy.

Common uses: Action sequences, found footage, documentary feel, emotional chaos

Steadicam

Camera stabilized on an operator-worn rig. Smooth movement through complex spaces.

Common uses: Long takes, following characters, spatial exploration, hotel corridors

StoryboardCanvas understands all of this.

Our AI storyboard generator doesn't just produce images — it understands shot grammar, the 180° rule, screen direction, and narrative pacing. Every generated frame is informed by cinematic intelligence.