Close-Up (CU)
CU
A close-up, or close up shot, frames a face tightly enough to privilege detail over surroundings, usually head and upper shoulders. The room becomes secondary; the person still reads as a head, not a fragment.
Narrative function
A close-up is a new fact on a face. It is the default for important dialogue because micro-expression, a lie, or a decision can be read without losing the idea of a person.
The shoulders keep a little body in the sentence so a swallow or a turned collar still exists. It is the wrong tool when the beat is a hand, a holster, or the door across the room.
It is also the wrong tool as a beauty setting on every line: if you live here, coverage becomes a slideshow of heads. Change size when the new scale reveals a fact this crop cannot prove.
How it works
Bottom frame at the upper chest or clavicle; top just above the hair, with modest Headroom. A 65mm to 85mm at conversation distance is common; the catalog 75mm Cooke is a portrait working length, not a requirement.
Shallow Focus will drop the room, but the size is the crop, not the bokeh. Match reverse size if this is dialogue.
Prompt: Tight close-up of [Subject], head and upper shoulders.
When to use it
Use it to read micro-expression on an important line: the moment a person decides not to answer. Do not use it as wallpaper on every sentence, and do not use it when the information is below the chest.
Compared with similar shots
A Choker Shot cuts off the shoulders and sits on hairline and chin. A Medium Close-Up starts at the chest and still shows dialogue-distance body language.
An Extreme Close-Up is a fragment inside the face. Close-up is the portrait size: head plus upper shoulders, not MCU, not choker, not ECU.
In film
The Passion of Joan of Arc builds trial pressure from faces that still read as heads, not only fragments. The Silence of the Lambs uses close-ups in the interviews so thought is visible while a little of the body remains.
Grammar: the face as the location, with enough shoulder to stay a person.
Prompt it
Name the anatomy. Example: Tight close-up of [Subject], head and upper shoulders, 75mm, shallow depth of field.
Do not write choker, chest up, or a single eye. Keep a sliver of collar or shoulder so the model does not crop inside the face.
For video, hold the head; a pull that reveals waist has become a different size.
What usually goes wrong
The usual wrong cousin is a Medium Close-Up (too much chest and room) or a Choker Shot (no shoulders). The tell is either a talking-head with a lot of torso, or a face with no neck.
Fix: head and upper shoulders only. Another tell is calling any tight face a close-up when you meant ECU.
Questions
What is Close-Up in film?
A close-up is a shot that frames a face or object tightly enough that detail outranks the surroundings, typically head and upper shoulders. It is a size, not a mood, and it still shows a person rather than one isolated feature.
Close-Up vs Medium Close-Up
A medium close-up starts at the chest and keeps shoulders and some hand language readable at dialogue distance. A close-up is tighter: head and upper shoulders, with the room mostly gone. If you can still see mid-chest and a slice of set, you are in MCU.
When should I use Close-Up?
Use it when an important line or thought must be read on the face. Do not park every line here, and do not use it when the beat is a hand, a door, or a whole-face prison crop.
How do I prompt Close-Up for AI image or video?
Write Tight close-up of [Subject], head and upper shoulders. Add a 75mm if you want portrait proportion. For video, hold that crop; do not say close-up if you mean chest-up or hairline-to-chin.
Melies can generate this Close-Up
Melies is the AI filmmaking workspace. This Close-Up opens with the still prompt loaded, so you generate the coverage at the right camera distance.