Shot types - Long shot

Long Shot

A long shot is when the scale of what is being seen is small. In this sequence from Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker (2008), Sergeant Thompson (Guy Pearce) takes up most of the screen when upright, and then less when he is knocked down due to the explosion. The entire background is dust and debris from the bomb that detonated, and the scale of the long shot gives the viewer the image that Thompson was very close to the point of detonation. This is important to see because the explosion ends up killing him.
Clip after the cut