Medium shot

A camera shot from a medium distance. The dividing line between "long shot" and "medium shot" is blurry, as is the line between "medium shot" and "close shot". In some standard texts and professional references, a full-length view of a human subject is called a medium shot; in this terminology, a shot of the person from the knees up or the waist up is a close shot. In other texts, these partial views are called medium shots.

There is no evident reason for this variation. It is not a distinction, for example, between TV and film language or 1930s and 1980s language.