// WORKSHEET · LESSON 05 OF 07

Shot and Coverage Plan

Plan one moment by the feeling you want, not the coverage you owe.

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01THE MOMENT

Run this once per moment that matters. Not once per scene.

Which moment are you planning?

What feeling are you amplifying?

Not what information you are delivering. What emotion.

02DISTANCE AND MOVEMENT

Tight for intimacy. Wide for isolation. Medium for conversation. Extreme close-up for unbearable tension.

Camera distance, and why

Does the distance match the intimacy of the moment?

Camera movement, and what it conveys

Smooth is control. Erratic is chaos. Downward is dread. Upward is discovery. Static is observation.

03BREATH

Emotion leads at 51 percent. Everything else serves it.

Which image gets held longer than feels comfortable?

Where does a non-reaction carry more weight than a line?

Stillness. A pause. A lack of response. Strategic silence.

04COVERAGE MENU

Tick what you actually need for this moment. A solo shooter does not owe anyone a full nine.

Establishing — the wide reveal of the location

Wide — full body in the environment

Full — whole body, less background

Medium — waist up, the conversation workhorse

Medium close-up — shoulders up, entering the emotional zone

Close-up — the face, or a crucial object

Extreme close-up — eyes, fingertips, one detail

Over the shoulder — the dialogue workhorse

Point of view — what the character sees

05THE SPACE

If the location is doing narrative work, run the Location Development worksheet on it too.

What does the space itself say about the emotional question?

Built from the Playbook’s Visual Language Checklist, the coverage menu, and the Let Images Breathe section.

← Back to Lesson 05: Visual Language: How Camera Choices Amplify Emotion