Here is a pretty good explanations of the most basic shots. This is the same terminology everywhere.
There are some, for example, as I said before there are multiple types of the same shot. Close up (always called CU), Mid shots (medium like from the waste up or down), wide (whole body in frame assuming the person is the principle, HOWEVER if the HOUSE is the principle than a wide shot of the house would be a lot wider). Same thing for a CU.
Let's do a real life example. This is the only thing that tricks people up when using this simple terminology. ALL OF the terms are based on the SUBJECT, sometimes called the principle.
So we have a person standing in front of a house. What are we shooting for? Who is the focus of this shot. Aside from establishing shots which are usually wides of whatever venue you are supposed to be in. But if it was a regular shot and say it was a talking house and we wanted to have a WIDE cut to a MID of the house talking, the person standing there is only a factor as you want him to be in or out of the frame but the focus is the house.
Same situation but the focus is the PERSON and NOT THE house then even a pretty wide shot of the person would be a SUPER CU of the house (not literally) but you understand that we would be zoomed in all the way so that the focal distance of the house to the camera would be that it would be an ECU (or EXTREME close up). E always denoted extreme when talking about shots. An ECU is closer than a CU. If your ECU wasn't close enough, your producer/director/boss/wife whoever would say, "go closer on that ECU". Then there could be an EWS (Extreme wide shot). Not used as often but for example a lot of films end with a pull back which is basically a CU, MID, or WIDE and pulling back to a EWS.
Then there is something like the "cowboy mid" which is a mid but it usually starts at like the calf and goes up so you can see the holster and gun but that shot has had it's day outside of just westerns but they are still called cowboy mids. Just giving you some examples so you can get an idea about what we are talking about when we say CU. As some of you know, I work on a show with a celebrity. An A-List celebrity and while he is super nice and a friend of mine, he can be a mofo when he thinks he is right and what he thinks is right to him. He wanted a ECU on a knife that he was holding and from a couple classes he took before directing a very bad movie a few years earlier, he thinks he knows a lot and he knows just a little but enough to get in trouble. I had to argue with him that a CU of the knife would be ridiculous and would be kicked back by the network because it would be pixelated and way too close and the reason of the breakdown in communication is because he didn't want a ECU of the knife and by the time the shot was done, what he wanted was a MID of himself on the knife which you now know is wholly different than a ECU on the knife. ON means that's the focus of the shot.
Learning the different shots themselves are simple, it's that kind of stuff that can get you in trouble if yo don't understand. If it wasn't him, he would be ignored, and if he continued to argue, probably eventually thrown off the set for being wrong and arguing. A tv or film set is necessarily militant in rank or else it doesn't work but thats another story. Just know that in TV and film there are 100s of people that all have to work together and one bad link can screw it up which is why you see crews staying together for years and from show to show.
So still 2 shots, cut ins, POVs, and many more to discuss but you can learn that with this link. Hope you learned a little about the terminology here. Baby steps. Once we start talking about grip gear like c-stands, flags and other effectors, it can really get crazy but you only need to know that stuff if you want to be a grip which is a path to be a gaffer but gaffers are usually like sons of electricians. The grips and gaffers are almost separate from the crew. They are a certain type of person Ive found. Anyhow, the KEY GRIP is the one who really needs to know the terminology. The DP says how he wants it lit and controlled (those are control devices; the silks, flags, etc) and the key grip needs to know the terminology to order the right stuff.
Ok, I've blabbed enough. Anyway, all we are shooting with our P4s are usually EEEEEEEEEEEWSs. Vistas so, unless you are shooting real close focal distance or have a different camera like an Osmo or a Epic Red Dragon, you probably aren't using these shots.
Habe a read. I glanced at this one and it seemed right at a glance. I looked at others that were not so right so be careful.
Shot types