American shot

Main article: Cinematic techniques

"American shot" is a translation of a phrase from French film criticism, "plan américain" and refers to a medium-long ("knee") film shot of a group of characters, who are arranged so that all are visible to the camera. The usual arrangement is for the actors to stand in an irregular line from one side of the screen to the other, with the actors at the end coming forward a little and standing more in profile than the others. The purpose of the composition is to allow complex dialogue scenes to be played out without changes in camera position. In some literature, this is simply referred to as a 3/4 shot.^[1]

One of the other main reasons why French critics called it 'American Shot' was its frequent use in westerns. This was because a shot that started at knee level would reveal the weapon of a cowboy, usually holstered at his waist. It's actually the closest you can get to an actor while keeping both his face and his holstered gun in frame.

The French critics thought it was characteristic of American films of the 1930s or 1940s; however, it was mostly characteristic of cheaper American movies, such as Charlie Chan mysteries where people collected in front of a fireplace or at the foot of the stairs in order to explain what happened a few minutes ago.

Howard Hawks legitimized this style in his films, allowing characters to act, even when not talking, when most of the audience would not be paying attention. It became his trademark style.

References

↑ "Elements of Cinematography: Camera". www.utdallas.edu. University of Texas at Dallas. Retrieved 1 December 2015.

Field size

Camera placement

Perspective Over-the-shoulder Point-of-view (POV) Reverse Trunk Single / multiple-camera setup

Camera angle	Tilt Aerial High-angle Bird's-eye Crane shot Jib / boom shot Low-angle Worm's-eye view Dutch angle

Camera movement

Lens effects

Focus
- Racking
- Depth of field
- Shallow
- Deep
Zooming

Other techniques

Special effects

Practical	Physical effects Prosthetic makeup Animatronics Puppetry Suitmation Miniature effect (hanging) Pyrotechnics Aerial rigging (Wire-flying) Squib Matte painting Sugar glass Theatrical blood

In-camera	Tilted plane focus Forced perspective Schüfftan process Dolly zoom Lens flares Lighting effects Filtration Shutter effects Time-lapse Slow motion Fast motion Speed ramping Bipacks Slit-scan Reverse motion Front projection Rear projection Multiple exposure Infrared photography Bullet time

Visual	Computer-generated imagery Split screen Stop motion Go motion Chroma key Compositing (digital) Optical printing Introvision Smallgantics Match moving

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