Shot Breakdown Assignment
CINE 121
Due: Thursday, October 16th by 11:59pm [this will allow you to bring up any last-minute questions during our lecture period]
Format: .doc or .docx [follow example provided below for formatting the shot breakdown]
Submission: Upload document to Brightspace [go to the “Assignments” tab and then click on “Shot Breakdown”]
Assignment Overview:
A shot breakdown or shot list involves annotating the technical and formal qualities of each shot in a film sequence. It is the first step for conducting a film analysis; your own shot breakdowns will be the basis for your subsequent film analysis papers due in November. We will base our shot breakdowns and film analyses on a scene from Sinners (Ryan Coogler, 2025) which I will provide on Brightspace.
Process:
● First, study each shot closely, pausing and rewinding as needed to identify the technical and formal qualities of the shot.
● Then, complete your shot breakdown: working shot-by-shot, indicate which elements of editing, cinematography, and mise-en-scène are used
● For each shot, also include a preliminary interpretation of the ideas or narrative developments communicated by these formal qualities
● Organize your annotations in a grid, with an “Image,” “Shot Description,” and “Analysis” column, as used in the example provided (you should screen-shot an image from each shot for the grid—just keep them small when you embed them in the doc)
● Under the “Shot Description” column, please number the shots (Shots #1, Shot #2, etc. in order), and categorize your observations according to editing, cinematography, and mise-en-scène
Your shot breakdowns should account for the following formal/technical qualities:
Editing:
1. Indicate what kind of transition or cut was used from the previous shot: cut, dissolve, fade, wipe, iris?
2. Note if there is any match from the previous shot: eye-line match, match-on-action, graphic match
3. Observe the use of: continuity editing, parallel editing or cross-cutting, analytical editing, and any other editing techniques used
(If not match or special editing techniques were used, you do not need to make note of these)
Cinematography:
1. Distance of framing: ECU, CU, MCU, MS, MLS, LS, or ELS
2. Shot angle: low angle, high angle
3. Camera movement or zoom: tilt up, tilt down, pan left, pan right, track forward, track back, track left, track right, track diagonal, crane up, crane down, reframing, zoom in, zoom out, no movement
4. Depth of field and focus
5. Color
Mise-en-scène:*
1. Decor
2. Costume
3. Space
4. Lighting
(If the elements of mise-en-scène do not change from one shot to the next, you don’t need to repeat yourself each shot; these can be kept relatively brief, as in the example below)