Medium shot

This is the workhorse framing for talking to camera, for interviews and for two-handers. It sits between a wide shot that shows a whole environment and a close-up that fills the frame with a face, it survives being watched on a phone, and it leaves space beside the subject for graphics or inserts.

Cutting between a medium and something tighter is the simplest way to add variety to a single-camera talking-head video. That is why so many creators run a second body on a closer frame. Watch your headroom: a foot of empty ceiling above someone drops their eyes into the bottom of the frame and makes the shot look accidental.