Lights, camera, action… These are the three words that capture all the attention for an outsider. Well, we'll check for the middle one first. Camera… We'll go for types of camera angle and types of coverage shots in this post. And in part 2 we'll study how camera angles define or reflect the need of the scene. So let's not waste the time and start the thing of concern.
Physically camera angles can be of various types (that we'll see in part 2) but theoretically they are of three types. Objective, Subjective & Point of view.
Objective angle is the most common one that we see normally in any of the film. You watch the film as in you are just watching it. It is the "fly on the wall" viewpoint where the audience sees what is happening but feels safely removed from the events as though they were there, but invisible. The actors must never look directly at the camera lens for that will destroy the illusion of the objective angle and require a re-take.
Subjective angle is a kind that takes you in the film along with the character. When the camera rides the roller-coaster or a car, the audience will experience the subjective angle of view. The subjective angle is often used to briefly shock or disorient the audience. For an example a car is drifting along the streets and scene is taken from the top of a building, it's an objective shot but if the camera is mounted on the car itself and you're feeling the drift than that's a subjective angle.
The point-of-view angle puts the audience into the head of one of the actors so the audience sees what the character sees. This is often used to get the audience to sense the fear felt by the hero as s/he enters a dangerous situation. In a point-of-view angle the others actors may look directly into the camera to help create the audience's illusion that the audience is now living inside the character.
The coverage shots
The Establishing Shot - is a very wide angle shot that shows the locale of the scene. This familiarizes the audience with where the scene is taking place. Imagine a distant shot of a mountain castle during a lightning storm at the beginning of an old horror film. The establishing shot may not include any actors. Where possible the establishing shot should be from a high angle to give a "bird's eye" overview to help the audience understand where the subsequent action will take place.
The Master Shot - is wide enough to include all the actors. If you are shooting on film and have a very small budget this may be the only shot you can get.
Wide Shot - moves in closer but still includes most of the body of the actors. This may be a single grouping of a few of the actors in a larger crowd scene when you want to concentrate on a single conversation.
Two-Shot - shows two characters related to one another usually from the waist up. A Three Shot is three actors, a Four-Shot is four actors and so on.
Over-the-Shoulder - is a medium or close up shot including 2 actors taken over the shoulder of one actor and showing the face of the other actor.
The two-shot is probably the most common shot in movies. The usual technique is to cut back and forth between two over-the-shoulder shots of the actors like the image above. However, a conversation between two characters can quickly become boring if the there isn't a variety of angles used.
Medium Shot - is a shot showing an actor from the waist up.
Close-up - is a shot from the actors neck up. Sometime a close-up is a little looser and includes the actor's shoulders.
Any image involving a single actor, or any moving object, needs to have some visual space in front of it within the frame like the following, to give a sense of dynamics.
Putting the actor in the middle of the frame looks static and feels like a snapshot.
Having more space behind the actor than in front feels like the actor has left, or is leaving, the scene, and just feels uncomfortable.
Even when the actor is facing away from the camera, having more space in front still gives the feeling that the actor is in the frame.
More space behind the actor again feels like they are out of the scene.
Extreme Close-up - is so close that only part of the actor's face is visible. This angle can be used very powerfully at highly emotional moments. Save the extreme close-up for such emotional moments.
Insert - is a shot of something other than the actors that will be edited into the scene, for example: a ticking clock. Insert shots can save the editing of a scene if you later discover you don't have the right angle to transition between to shots. Put the insert in between and the transition looks smooth.
P.O.V. - means Point Of View. This shot is intended to show the audience what one of the characters is seeing, i.e. from the character's point of view.
Hope this has helped you. But it's not over yet. We'll see the other part of cinematography with some interesting camera angles (physically this time) in the next post. NB: The literature used here to illustrate the shots was downloaded from net and may be subjected to copyright. We've used it for learning purpose only. BTW likes and comments are fuel for next post. ;> Love - DJ.
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