[4/7] Video framing : How about a shot in America?

Welcome back on our frame series presented by Théophile our wonderful customer success manager. If you wonder why he is now expressing himself in a foreign language, I'll give you a clue: it does have a link with the use of these wonderful dialects used by our friend the Americans.

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Enough joking and back to the beautiful language of French. If you hadn't figured it out, it's the American plan we're talking about today. It's a very commonly used plan, and its creation is rather bizarre! Together, we're going to discover the American plan.

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The origin of this shot's name couldn't be more atypical! In fact, it got its name because it was created by American filmmakers. They needed a shot specific to the Western, capable of showing a cowboy from his head to his gun. Since this type of film was created in the 1890s and spread rapidly across North America, the American shot was the logical result.

Apart from showcasing the caliber of a cowboy in the wild west, this shot was later democratized in our more Western Europe. So it's highly likely that you've recently seen this shot in your favorite films, such as Inglorious Basterds or even Top Gun. It allows you to frame one or more speakers at mid-thigh level, so you can easily discern their actions, leaving plenty of room for the speakers' movements. In your videos, this shot can be useful for tutorials or interviews. Frames featuring one or more people can also be used as a base shot to vary your editing with other, tighter shots.

How do I go about it?

To avoid highlighting the crotch or forehead of your speaker(s), prefer to film this shot from eye level, i.e. straight on. Frame your speaker from head to thigh height, and don't forget to leave some air in your shot so that all movements are well captured. We also advise you to place your camera on a tripod for total stability.

If you decide to frame several people in this shot, make sure you frame the tallest of them so as not to cut off part of their head. A word of advice: when framing, ask the person to stand up straight so that he or she reaches his or her full height. This will reduce the chances of the frame looking too capacious if you're dealing with a somewhat hectic interviewer. With this shot, you can film your speakers close enough to be discernible in their gestures and facial expressions.

As is the case at the end of every article, we end by announcing that the next plan won't be discovered for another two weeks. But between you and me, I can tell you that we're getting as close to the end of these tutorials as we are to your speaker's face!

Discover our other tutorials :

[5/8] Video framing: the close-up shot

Lighting tutorial #1: lighting your speaker indoors

Transition tutorial #1: Video transitions