Close-up

2025-08-05T23:20:28Z

2600:4808:4A97:4900:5071:D051:3EDE:4BEC: /* History */

{{short description|Photography and film term referring to framing a shot}}
{{other uses|Close up (disambiguation)}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2016}}
[[File:Dolores_del_Río_publicity_photo_(1961)_(cropped).jpg|thumb|right|upright|Mexican actress [[Dolores del Río]] in a closeup publicity photograph of 1961]]
[[File:Why are you folded? dear petal! (3505140249).jpg|thumb|upright|A close-up of ''[[Cornus florida]]'']]

A '''close-up''' or '''closeup''' in [[filmmaking]], [[television production]], [[photography|still photography]], and the [[comic strip]] medium is a type of [[shot (filmmaking)|shot]] that tightly [[film frame|frames]] a person or object.<ref name="Brown_Page_21">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Blain |title=Cinematography: Theory and Practice, Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors |date=2012 |publisher=Focal Press |location=Burlington, Massachusetts |isbn=9781136047381 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uyMYMbjheqgC&pg=PA21 |access-date=August 11, 2023}}</ref> Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium and [[long shot]]s ([[cinematic techniques]]). Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving toward or away from a close-up is a common type of [[zooming (filmmaking)|zooming]]. A close up is taken from head to neck, giving the viewer a detailed view of the subject's face.

==History==
Most early filmmakers, such as [[Thomas Edison]], [[Auguste and Louis Lumière]] and [[Georges Méliès]], tended not to use close-ups and preferred to frame their subjects in long shots, similar to the stage. Film historians disagree as to the filmmaker who first used a close-up. One of the best claims is for [[George Albert Smith (film pioneer)|George Albert Smith]] in [[Hove]], who used medium close-ups in films as early as 1898 and by 1900 was incorporating extreme close-ups in films such as ''[[As Seen Through a Telescope]]'' and ''[[Grandma's Reading Glass]]''. In 1901, [[James Williamson (film pioneer)|James Williamson]], also working in Hove, made perhaps the most extreme close-up of all in ''[[The Big Swallow]]'' in which his character approaches the camera and appears to swallow it. The film ''[[Hamlet (1913 film)|Hamlet]]'' (1913) also makes use of early close ups. One of [[D. W. Griffith]]'s short films, ''[[The Lonedale Operator]]'' (1911), makes significant use of a close-up of a wrench that a character pretends is a gun. [[Lillian Gish]] remarked on Griffith's use of the close-up:

<blockquote>The people in the front office got very upset. They came down and said: "The public doesn't pay for the head or the arms or the shoulders of the actor. They want the whole body. Let's give them their money's worth." Griffith stood very close to them and said: "Can you see my feet?" When they said no, he replied: "That's what I'm doing. I am using what the eyes can see."<ref name="Lekich">{{Cite news |last=Lekich |first=John |date=October 24, 1986 |title=First Lady of the Silent Screen |work=The Globe and Mail |url=http://blog.alexwaterhousehayward.com/2010/03/lillian-gish-first-lady-of-silent.html |access-date=}}</ref></blockquote>

==Practical application==
Close-ups are used in many ways and for many reasons. They are often employed as [[Cutaway (filmmaking)|cutaway]]s from a more distant shot to show detail, such as characters' [[emotion|emotions]] or some intricate activity with their hands. Close cuts to characters' faces are used far more often in [[television]] than in [[film|movie]]s{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}} and are especially common in [[soap opera]]s{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}}. For a director, deliberately avoiding close-ups may create in the audience an emotional distance from the subject matter{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}}.

Close-ups are used for distinguishing main characters. Major characters are often given a close-up when they are introduced as a way of indicating their importance. Leading characters will have multiple close-ups. At the close of ''[[Sunset Boulevard (1950 film)|Sunset Boulevard]]'' (1950), the main character, a faded star under the delusion that she is making a triumphant return to acting, declaims melodramatically, "All right, Mr. [[Cecil B. DeMille|DeMille]], I'm ready for my close-up."

Close-up shots do not show the subject in the broad context of its surroundings. [[Low-budget film]]s may use close-ups to avoid the expense of [[set construction]]. If overused, close-ups may leave viewers uncertain as to what they are seeing. Close-ups are rarely done with [[wide-angle lens]]es because perspective causes objects closer to the lens to be unnaturally enlarged. That may convey a sense of confusion, intoxication, or another unusual mental state.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

==Close-up types==
[[File:The Big Swallow.jpg|thumb|An extreme close-up from the 1901 short film ''[[The Big Swallow]]'']]
There are various degrees of close-up depending on how tight (zoomed in) the shot is. The terminology varies between countries and even different companies, but in general, these are:
* Medium Close Up ("MCU" on camera scripts): Halfway between a [[mid shot]] and a close-up. Usually covers the subject's head and shoulders.
* Close Up ("CU"): A certain feature, such as someone's head, takes up the whole frame.
* Extreme Close Up ("ECU" or "XCU"): The shot is so tight that only a detail of the subject, such as someone's eyes, can be seen.<ref>[http://www.askthecameraman.net/Camerawork/shot_sizes_the_extreme_close_up/ Ask The Cameraman: Shot Sizes: The Extreme Close-Up] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610002654/http://www.askthecameraman.net/Camerawork/shot_sizes_the_extreme_close_up/ |date=June 10, 2011 }}</ref>
* Lean-In: when the juxtaposition of shots in a sequence, usually in a scene of dialogue, starts with medium or long shots, for example, and ends with close-ups.
* Lean-Out: the opposite of a ''lean-in'', moving from close-ups out to longer shots.
* Lean: when a ''lean-in'' is followed by a ''lean-out''.
When the close-up is used in the shooting, the subject should not be put in exactly the middle of the frame. Instead, it should be located in the frame according to the [[golden ratio|law of the golden section]].

==See also==
*[[Macro photography]]
*[[Micrograph]]
*[[Shot (filmmaking)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |author1=Bordwell, David |author2=Thompson, Kristin |title=Film Art: An Introduction |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |year=2006 |isbn=0-07-331027-1}}

==External links==
{{commonscat-inline|Close-up shots}}

{{Cinematic techniques}}

[[Category:Cinematic techniques]]
[[Category:Television terminology]]
[[Category:Photography by genre]]

[[de:Einstellungsgröße#Nahe Einstellungen (close-ups)]]

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Close-up