Shot sizes and camera moves,
without the fog.
The vocabulary is small. The hard part is deciding which word is true. Here is the glossary, plus the honest line between what pixels can prove and what needs eyes.
Shot sizes
Shot size is a relationship between the frame and the subject, not a fixed distance. A close-up of a ring and a close-up of a face are both close-ups, but they tell the camera different things.
| Size | What it shows | Typical job |
|---|---|---|
| Extreme wide | A landscape or a space; the subject is small or absent. | Establish scale, isolation, location. |
| Wide | The subject and its surroundings. | Blocking, geography, context. |
| Medium wide | The subject from about the knees or waist up, with space around. | Action with context. |
| Medium | The subject from about the waist up. | Dialogue, product in use, gestures. |
| Medium close-up | Chest up. | Emotion with some body language. |
| Close-up | Face, hands or a product filling the frame. | Detail, reaction, texture. |
| Extreme close-up | Eyes, a logo, a single edge. | Tension, a reveal, a tactile detail. |
| Macro | Texture beyond the naked-eye scale. | Material, surface, product craft. |
The browser does not know where the subject is, so it cannot choose the size for you. The workbench leaves it as a field in the brief. Pick the size that matches the job, not the size that sounds most cinematic.
Camera moves
| Move | What happens | Prompt phrase |
|---|---|---|
| Locked off | The camera does not move; the subject does. | “Locked-off camera” |
| Pan | The camera rotates horizontally from a fixed point. | “Slow pan right / left, steady” |
| Tilt | The camera rotates vertically from a fixed point. | “Slow tilt up / down” |
| Push-in | The camera moves toward the subject; the frame tightens. | “Slow push-in” |
| Pull-out | The camera moves away; the frame widens. | “Slow pull-out” |
| Handheld | The camera drifts with the operator’s body. | “Handheld camera with subtle drift” |
| Orbit | The camera circles the subject. | “Slow orbit around the subject” |
| Tracking | The camera moves through space with the subject. | “Tracking shot, subject centered” |
A pan and a lateral tracking shot can produce similar pixel motion. A push-in and a crop can produce a similar frame change. The vocabulary is exact; the inference is not.
What the browser measures
The workbench compares consecutive samples using column and row projection profiles. It can estimate horizontal and vertical shift, and it can search for a scale change. That is enough to separate static, pan, tilt, push-in, pull-out and handheld in many shots. It is not a camera report.
- Reliable: static vs moving; a clear lateral pan; a strong push or pull.
- Approximate: the direction of a slow pan; the difference between a pan and a tracking shot.
- Not measured: lens focal length, sensor size, camera height, the rig, the operator’s intent.
- Not measured: shot size, because the browser does not know the subject.
The report says “estimated” where it means estimated. If the estimate is wrong, override the camera in the brief; the prompt will use your choice.
Using it in a prompt
One shot size, one camera move, one light direction and one duration. If you want a push-in and a pan in the same shot, say so, but expect the model to choose one as the dominant move. A prompt is not a shot list for the whole sequence; it is one shot.
For a sequence, write one prompt per cut, generate each shot separately, and assemble them on the original rhythm. The shot list generator gives you the timecodes; the workbench gives you the camera grammar.
Questions
Can the browser tell a close-up from a wide shot?
No. Shot size depends on the subject and the frame, and the browser does not know what the subject is. The workbench measures motion, light, palette and duration; choose the shot size in the brief or in the prompt.
What is the difference between a pan and a tracking shot?
A pan rotates the camera from a fixed position; a tracking shot moves the camera through space. From pixel motion alone, a pan and a lateral tracking shot can look similar. The workbench reports “pan left/right” as an estimate, not a production credit.
Does the workbench detect a zoom?
It estimates a push-in or pull-out from a scale search on the image profiles. A slow zoom on a flat, low-texture scene can be missed. When the estimate matters, override the camera in the brief.
What is a “slow push-in” in prompt terms?
A slow push-in moves the camera toward the subject, so the subject grows in the frame and the background compresses slightly. Say “slow push-in” and give the shot duration; do not describe it as a zoom if you want the model to move the camera rather than crop.
Name the shot on a clip.
The workbench measures the motion; you choose the shot size.