Shot Reverse Shot Technique

Hello!

A new day, a new lesson! Today's lesson was about a technique regularly used in filming; Shot Reverse Shot! I had heard of this shot before this lesson from studying Media at GCSE Level last year. However, we only touched on the technique at that level, so I was glad to take this understanding further today!

Shot reverse shot is a shot that views the action from the opposite side of the pervious shot, and then back again. There are three steps: 1. a shot of something (usually a person) 2. a shot of something else (usually another person that the first was speaking to) 3. back to the first shot! It is mostly used during a conversation between actors, giving the effect of looking from one actor to the other. It is a feature of the "classical" hollywood style of continuity editing.

Another thing we looked at was over the shoulder shots, which are often used along side shot reverse shot. Again, I had heard of this shot as I touched upon it at GCSE level, I know the technique but was not sure on the effect or purpose!

Over the shoulder shots are used in conversations, the camera will be angled over one character's shoulder, looking at the person being spoken to or speaking to the character who's shoulder is slightly in shot. This gives the effect of seeing a conversation clearly and also allowing the viewers to see the reaction of the character as the character (who owns the shoulder) says something to the other character.

This is a picture from a TV programme that helped me understand the two techniques!

We then went away and created a short clip that involved shot reverse shot to get some practice on it! Here is my groups video! 

See you soon!