American shot - Misplaced Pages

Cinematic technique

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"American shot" or "cowboy 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.

One of the other main reasons why French critics called it "American shot" was its frequent use in the western genre. This was because a shot that started at knee level would reveal the weapon of a cowboy, usually holstered at their waist. It is actually the closest the camera can get to an actor while keeping both their face and their 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". utdallas.edu. University of Texas at Dallas. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
Hurtrez, Lionel (2013). Film analysis in English. Editions OPHRYS. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-2-7080-1391-9. Retrieved 5 March 2020 – via Google Books.

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 shot Low-angle Worm's-eye view Dutch angle

Camera movement

Lens effects

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

Other techniques

v t e Special effects
Practical	Aerial rigging (wire-flying) Air bladder effect Animatronics Bullet hit squib Costumed character Creature suit Dead-character costume Kitbashing Miniature effect (hanging) Prosthetic makeup Puppetry Pyrotechnics Rubber mask Matte painting Sugar glass Theatrical blood
In-camera	Bipacks Bullet time Dolly zoom Forced perspective Front projection Infrared photography Lens flares Lighting effects Multiple exposure Filtration Rear projection Reverse motion Schüfftan process Shutter effects Slit-scan Tilted plane focus Time-lapse Fast motion Slow motion Speed ramping Stop motion
Visual	Bullet time Chroma key Compositing (digital) Computer-generated imagery Go motion Introvision Match moving Optical printing Smallgantics Split screen Stop motion

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