Establishing shot - Often used at the beginning of a sequence to establish the location of which the scene is based. An example being the shot to the left telling us this scene is based in a large urban cityscape environment. This reflects alot in the genre action as for the stories are often based on the following of a character's life,
Long shot - In the example to the right long shots / wide shots can be used to show power of characters in comparison to its surroundings. In this example the character is found to be obtaining a large portion of the shot, reflecting strength, power and influence.
Often this is used in the action genre as action films are often based between characters who overall one another through strength and power and what better way than to resemble it through the use of on screen perspective.
Mid Shot - A shot often used to make audiences move concentration over to the that specific character. This is due to a mid shot representing how a real life conversation / meeting would apply, removing any non essential material.
Low angle shot - This is not a specific type of shot, but a method that can be implemented into many shots to represent power, which for the action genre is perfect. Low angle shots create a 'idol' idea representing characters as strong and powerful over others. With the addition of more screen presence, the characters used with these shots often obtain larger amounts of power.
Over the shoulder shot - This shot is most often used when two or more characters engage in a conversation between one another. When in post production the camera shots will be consistently changed both between one characters shoulder to the others.
Although this shot can be very effective for showing emotion and engagement during conversations, directors should be careful not to break things such as the 180 degree rule.
Close up - Often used as either a reaction shot or to allow audiences to concetrate on a specific facial expression or emotion the character is experiencing. For example a character experiencing anger will often recieve a close up as his anger builds in his facial expressions, to then relate to later incidents.
High angle shot - this does the complete opposite of a low angle shot. This shot is designed to create a smaller appereance to the characters in the shot, expressing vulnerability and uses size to express weakness.
Extreme Close up - Often used as either a reaction shot or to allow audiences to concetrate on a specific facial expression or emotion the character is experiencing. For example a character experiencing anger will often recieve a close up as his anger builds in his facial expressions, to then relate to later incidents.