Start by explaining to students that when people are making visual media, like movies, TV shows, videos or comics, one of the most important decisions they make is how far the camera is to what we’re seeing.

Display the Course Presentation in the student chapter Introduction to Camera Angles, or have students access it.

Display the first slide and ask: This is a close-up – why do you think it’s called that?

• Because the camera seems to be close to what we’re seeing.

Now ask: When do you think media makers choose to use close-ups?

• Close-ups let us see something very clearly, They also don’t show us anything except the thing we’re looking at, so we know what to pay attention to.

Explain that when we’re filming people, a close-up lets us see exactly how they’re feeling. That helps us care about the person we’re watching.

Now ask: Do you know why Charlie Brown is nervous in this shot?

• Let students speculate, but make sure they understand there’s no way to tell for sure in this shot.

Go to the second slide. Point out that this is called a medium shot. Why might it be called that?

• Because we are further away from what we’re looking at, but not that far away.

Ask: Can this shot tell us why Charlie Brown is nervous? What clues are in this shot that weren’t in the close-up?

• Point out that we can now see he is holding a pencil and paper. He might be nervous about writing a quiz, or writing a letter, or something similar – we still don’t know exactly what he’s nervous about, but we know a lot more than we did before.

Explain that a medium shot is usually about a person and one other thing (in this case, the paper and pencil are really one thing). It shows emotion like a close-up but also helps you see why someone feels that way.

Now go to the third slide. Point out that this is called a wide shot. Why might it be called that? What is the difference between a medium shot and a wide shot?

• A wide shot gives you a wide view of the world. It shows you a whole person, from head to feet, and the whole place where they are.

Point out that unlike a close-up or medium shot, in a wide shot it’s not always easy to tell what we should pay attention to.

Ask: What in this shot tells us that we should be looking at Charlie Brown, and not all the other details in the shot?

• Colour: His jacket is a bright colour against the less colourful background
• Place: He is right in the middle of the shot
• Eyeline: Snoopy is looking at him, so we do too.

Now show the remaining slides and ask students to identfy what kind of shot each one is.

Slide 4: Medium shot

Slide 5: Close-up

Slide 6: Wide shot