{
 "slug": "medium-shot",
 "name": "Medium shot",
 "category": "shot",
 "group": "Distance",
 "media": [
  "image",
  "video"
 ],
 "checked": "2026-10-13",
 "effect": "Conversational distance: the viewer sees the face and the hands, as if talking across a table.",
 "use_when": "Interviews, talking-head ads, explainers in a creator style.",
 "phrase": "medium shot, framed from the waist up, the person off-centre with a little space above the head",
 "pitfalls": [
  {
   "text": "For a candid creator look, keep the person at 50 to 65 percent of the frame, not 85 to 95, and avoid eye contact unless they talk to camera.",
   "evidence": "measured",
   "source": "Director Chair field notes on image prompting (ad work)"
  }
 ],
 "per_model": [
  {
   "model": "nano-banana-pro",
   "phrase": "Frame the subject in a medium shot from the waist up, balancing their expression with a glimpse of the background.",
   "evidence": "unverified",
   "checked": "2025-12-08"
  }
 ],
 "external_refs": [
  {
   "site": "aicameracontrol",
   "url": "https://aicameracontrol.com/",
   "what": "a free 3D stage to place the person and set the lens before you generate"
  },
  {
   "site": "shotdeck",
   "url": "https://shotdeck.com/",
   "what": "real film examples of this frame size (paid, link only)"
  },
  {
   "site": "flim",
   "url": "https://flim.ai/",
   "what": "film, ad and music-video stills of this frame size (free tier, link only)"
  }
 ],
 "licensed": [],
 "site_names": [],
 "related": [
  "medium-close-up",
  "medium-wide-shot",
  "two-shot"
 ],
 "rights": "own-work",
 "evidence": "film-craft",
 "source": {
  "url": null,
  "note": "Own words, from the first Director Chair spec and Director Chair field notes on video prompting; pitfalls from the sources named per pitfall"
 },
 "body": "",
 "shown_with": null,
 "url": "https://directorchair.ai/shot/medium-shot",
 "markdown": "https://directorchair.ai/shot/medium-shot.md",
 "prompts": {
  "nano-banana-pro": "[your subject] in [your setting]. Frame the subject in a medium shot from the waist up, balancing their expression with a glimpse of the background.",
  "nano-banana-2": "[your subject] in [your setting]. Frame the subject in a medium shot from the waist up, balancing their expression with a glimpse of the background.",
  "gpt-image": "A photograph of [your subject] in [your setting].\nPeople and framing: medium shot, framed from the waist up, the person off-centre with a little space above the head\nExclusions: no extra text, no watermark, no logo.",
  "seedream-5": "[your subject] in [your setting]. Medium shot, framed from the waist up, the person off-centre with a little space above the head.",
  "seedance-2.5": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nFirst frame: medium shot, framed from the waist up, the person off-centre with a little space above the head\nShot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot",
  "seedance-2.0": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nFirst frame: medium shot, framed from the waist up, the person off-centre with a little space above the head\nShot 1: one continuous shot",
  "kling-3": "[your subject]. The scene is [your setting]. Medium shot, framed from the waist up, the person off-centre with a little space above the head.",
  "veo-3.1": "Medium shot, framed from the waist up, the person off-centre with a little space above the head. [your subject] in [your setting]. Framing and subject stay as in the start image."
 },
 "licence": {
  "code": "MIT",
  "text": "CC BY 4.0",
  "third_party": "Clips and card texts inside a \"licensed\" block belong to their makers and are shown with permission and credit."
 }
}