Chapter 7 — Exercises

Shot grammar is a doing skill above all. You can memorize the ladder of sizes and still shoot a scene that will not cut — because the real learning happens the first time you cover a scene, drag the pieces into a timeline, and discover which ones you forgot. These exercises put you through that discovery on purpose. Do them with whatever you have; a single phone shoots every one of them, one pass at a time.

Exercises are graded by effort and depth:

• ⭐ Warm-up — a few minutes; locks in a concept.
• ⭐⭐ Core — the real practice; do as many of these as you can.
• ⭐⭐⭐ Stretch — deeper or more ambitious; where the biggest gains are.

Model solutions and critiques for the starred and odd-numbered exercises are collected in Answers to Selected Exercises at the back of the book. Try each one before you read its answer — a scene you shot that would not cut teaches more than any answer you only read.

A. Seeing the grammar (Eye & Ear Training)

No camera — just your attention. These train the eye the rest of the chapter depends on, and they are your Frame Log entries for the week.

1. ⭐ Count the sizes. Watch any two-minute dialogue scene. Every time the shot changes, whisper its size: "wide… medium… close-up… close-up… wide." Count how many distinct sizes the scene used. Write the number in your Frame Log. (Answer discusses what's typical.)

2. ⭐ Find the establishing shot. In three different videos or shows, find the shot that establishes each new location. Note its size (almost always wide) and how long it holds before the scene goes closer. Ask: what did the wide tell you before anyone spoke?

3. ⭐⭐ Where's the line? Watch a conversation scene and try to locate the axis of action. Which side of the line is the camera on? Does one person stay on the left and the other on the right the whole time? Note one scene where you could clearly feel the consistency. (Answer provided.)

4. ⭐⭐ The saved close-up. Watch a scene and find the single most important close-up — the one saved for the beat that matters most. Note what came right before it (usually a wider shot), so you can feel how the size change created the emphasis. (Answer discusses the mechanism.)

5. ⭐⭐⭐ Read the height. For one viewing session, whenever the camera is clearly not at eye-level, pause and ask: is this high or low, and why — what is the story doing to this character with that height? Find one motivated angle and one you suspect is unmotivated. (Model answer provided.)

B. Reading Described Shots and Sequences (Read the Sequence)

6. ⭐ Name the fields. Re-read FIGURE 7.2 ("The message lands"). Without looking, list the seven fields of a Described Shot in order. Then say, in one sentence each, what THE FRAME and THE CUT told you.

7. ⭐⭐ Critique the coverage. Read FIGURE 7.6 (the Café order exchange). Name the size of each of the six shots, identify the shot-reverse-shot pair, and point to the one shot that exists purely to let the editor hide a trim. (Answer provided.)

8. ⭐⭐ Spot the missing piece. Look again at FIGURE 7.6. Suppose you got to set and forgot shot 1 (the master wide). What specifically would the editor be unable to do? Now suppose you forgot shot 5 (the insert). What would they lose? (Answer provided.)

9. ⭐⭐⭐ Write your own Described Sequence. Watch a 30–60 second dialogue scene and write it up as a Described Sequence table (# / shot size + subject / duration / audio / cut to next), 5–8 rows, then a one-paragraph walkthrough of how the sizes create the scene's rhythm. This is the exact skill Chapter 26 will ask of you; start now. (Model answer provided.)

C. Shot sizes and angles (Five Ways & Shoot This)

10. ⭐⭐ Five Ways: one subject, five sizes. Pick one subject (a person, a plant, a mug). Shoot it five times — EWS, WS, MS, CU, ECU — changing only your distance and framing. Watch them back-to-back. Which size best tells the subject's "story," and which one surprised you? (Answer discusses the trade-offs.)

11. ⭐⭐ Five Ways: one subject, five heights/angles. Take one person and shoot a matched medium of them five ways: eye-level, high angle, low angle, hard frontal, and profile. Watch back and write one word of feeling for each. Which would you use for a confident testimonial, and which for a moment of doubt? (Answer provided.)

12. ⭐⭐ Feet vs zoom. Shoot the same close-up of a face two ways: once by standing far back and zooming/using a tele lens, once by walking in close with a wide lens. Compare the background and the face. Describe the difference in look, and name a story that wants each one. (Answer provided.)

13. ⭐⭐⭐ The three-size single subject. Film one person delivering the same 15-second line three times — wide, medium, close-up — running the full line each pass so the takes overlap. Do not edit yet. Confirm you could cut between all three sizes on any word. You just shot coverage of a talking-head, which is exactly your Production Checkpoint. (Critique rubric provided.)

D. The line and the eyeline (Shoot This)

14. ⭐⭐ Stay on the side. Stage a two-person exchange (or a person and a stand-in). Draw the line in your head, pick a side, and shoot a medium favoring each person plus a wide — all from one side. Cut them together. Do the two people look at each other? (Model critique provided.)

15. ⭐⭐⭐ Break it on purpose. Shoot the same exchange as Exercise 14, but deliberately cross the line for the reverse (walk around to the other side). Cut it against the correct version. Describe exactly what goes wrong — where do the people suddenly seem to be looking? Keep both; this is the most persuasive argument for the line you will ever have. (Answer provided; full continuity treatment is Chapter 9.)

16. ⭐⭐ Match the eyeline. Shoot two clean singles of two people (or one person playing both parts). For each, mark where the other person sits relative to the line and have the subject look right at that spot. Cut them together. Did the looks connect? What would you fix? (Answer provided.)

17. ⭐⭐⭐ Over-the-shoulder pair. Shoot a matched over-the-shoulder pair: OTS favoring A, then the reverse OTS favoring B, both from one side of the line. Confirm the near shoulder anchors the correct side of each frame and the eyelines are opposite. (Critique rubric provided.)

E. Coverage and the shot list (Shoot This & Cut This)

18. ⭐⭐ Cover a moment. Choose a 15-second real moment (someone making tea, unlocking a door, feeding a pet). Shoot full coverage: a master wide, a medium, a close-up, and one insert — minimum four setups, action overlapping. Do not edit yet; just confirm you captured pieces that could be cut together. (Rubric provided.)

19. ⭐⭐ Cut This: assemble your coverage. Take the coverage from Exercise 18, drag it into any editor, and cut it into a 10–15 second sequence: establish wide, play it in the medium, punctuate with the close-up, and use the insert to hide one trim. (Guidance provided.)

20. ⭐⭐⭐ Cut This: two ways. Using the same coverage from Exercise 18, make two different cuts that feel different — one that opens on the wide and lingers, one that opens on the close-up and moves fast. Change only the order, sizes, and pacing. This is the freedom coverage buys, made real. (Answer discusses what to notice.)

21. ⭐⭐ Cover the Café counter. Stage the Café order-counter exchange from §7.5 (any counter, any two people). Follow FIGURE 7.7's shot list. Leave the location only when every row is captured. Then cut it and compare to FIGURE 7.6. (Rubric provided.)

22. ⭐⭐⭐ The one-camera master class. With a single phone, shoot a full two-person scene as if you had a crew: master, two mediums, two close-ups, two inserts — running the whole scene on every pass. Time yourself. Then cut it. Note where overlapping action saved you and where a missed overlap forced a compromise. (Answer provided.)

F. Planning and diagnosis (Shot-List Drill & Fix the Shot)

23. ⭐ Write the shot list. For a simple scene — a person receiving a package at their door — write a shot list of 5–7 rows (size, angle, subject/action, audio, notes) that would give an editor full coverage on one side of the line. (Model answer provided.)

24. ⭐⭐ Shot-List Drill: three scenarios. Write the coverage plan (which sizes and angles, and the side of the line) for each: (a) a testimonial of one person at a desk; (b) two people arguing across a kitchen island; (c) a person walking into a shop and buying one item. You'll refine these later — this is your first instinct. (Model answers provided.)

25. ⭐⭐ Fix the shot: the flat scene. A described clip: a two-person conversation shot entirely in one locked-off wide from across the room, never cutting closer. Name three things wrong and the specific coverage that fixes each. (Answer provided.)

26. ⭐⭐ Fix the shot: the broken conversation. A described edit: two singles cut together, but both people are looking camera-left, and they don't seem to be talking to each other. Diagnose the cause and prescribe the fix, sorted by what happened on set vs what a re-shoot needs. (Answer provided.)

27. ⭐⭐⭐ Fix the shot: the wrong size. A described scene: the emotional climax — a character hearing devastating news — is played in a wide shot, so we can barely read the face; meanwhile an earlier throwaway line is in extreme close-up. Explain, using the Hitchcock principle, why this fails, and re-assign the sizes. (Answer provided.)

G. Recreate It

28. ⭐⭐⭐ Recreate a shot-reverse-shot. Pick a short dialogue exchange from a film or show you admire (10–20 seconds). Identify its sizes and its side of the line, then re-create the structure — not the content — with your own two people and your own words. Match the pattern of sizes and the eyelines. (Guidance provided.)

29. ⭐⭐⭐ Recreate the "size = importance" move. Find a scene where a cut to a close-up creates a jolt of emphasis. Re-create that single move: shoot a wider shot, then a close-up on the beat that matters, and cut them so the size change does the work. (Answer discusses what makes it land.)

H. Interleaved (mixing prior chapters)

30. ⭐⭐ Sizes meet composition (Ch. 6). Shoot a close-up that also obeys the rule of thirds and correct lead room: subject's eyes on the upper third, looking across the frame with room in front of the look. Confirm the size and the composition are both deliberate. (Answer provided.)

31. ⭐⭐ Coverage meets exposure (Ch. 5). Shoot a master and a close-up of the same subject and keep the exposure matched between them (same ISO, aperture, shutter, white balance) so they will cut together without a brightness jump. Why does mismatched exposure across your coverage hurt the edit? (Answer provided.)

32. ⭐⭐⭐ Sizes meet the lens (Ch. 4). Shoot a close-up on a long lens (or tele) and a close-up on a wide lens of the same subject. Relate what you see to depth of field and focal length from Chapter 4, and say which you'd choose for an intimate interview and which for an aggressive, in-your-face moment. (Answer provided.)

33. ⭐⭐⭐ The full pre-to-edit loop. Plan (shot list), shoot (full coverage, one side of the line), and cut (assemble the pieces) a 20-second two-person scene. Then write three sentences: one thing your plan got right, one piece you were glad you shot, and one piece you wish you'd shot. This loop — plan, shoot for the edit, cut — is the whole working method of this book in miniature. (Model reflection provided.)

I. Synthesis

34. ⭐⭐⭐ Teach it back. In about 200 words, explain to an absolute beginner why "you don't shoot a scene, you shoot its pieces." Use the master-and-coverage method, the line, and one concrete example (the Café counter is fine). Teaching a concept is the strongest test that you own it. (Model answer provided.)

When you have covered even one scene properly and watched it cut together, you have crossed the line this chapter is really about — from filming what is in front of you to building something in the edit. Next, in Chapter 8, the camera moves.