I'm new to this, just bought some hedge shears and realized that I'm not going to use them because if I were to cut away things to a reasonable height, there would be nothing to shape! lol! So, I understand that this may be a long recovery process, and I may not even be living here when the plants become bushy again, but I'd like to put things on the right path for whomever moves in next. I do have a pruning/cutter tool (the long wooden handles and the short, heavy-duty cutting part at the other end).
I expect that the strategy will depend on the plants themselves, but I'm not sure what they are called. There are two main plants that need the most attention. Then there is a palm (I know to just remove the dead fronds) and an evergreen (which I think I just need to shape, and maybe cut a bit off the top.
Here are some pictures. These plants are in front of a bedroom window between the garage and the front porch.
From the front, looking at the right part of the group:

From in front of the porch, looking at the left side of the group -- the Virtex at the far left is potted, though the roots have gone through the pot, so that will be dug up and moved to the back yard:

From the inside looking at the garage wall, near the inner corner seen in the first pic -- the two trees near the brick wall are the same kind, with the bigger leaves that were seen in the first pic (is it a tallow?), and the nearer tree/bush has the smaller leaves as the big bush seen in the second pic -- there are actually two of these bushes.. I didn't take a centered pic from the front as the sun was in the worst spot for it:

And from the inside looking right, at the second of the bushier plants with the small leaves:

What should I do? thank you for any suggestions.