SHOTS, ANGLES AND FRAMING PT 2
A normal or neutral camera angle is aimed at eye level and suggests the subject is on our level and equal
to us. Lots of neutral angle shots can tend to make a film boring.
A high shot is where the camera is aimed above the subject and can help make it look and feel small,
unimportant, afraid or vulnerable.
A low shot is where the camera is below the subject angled up and can help make it seem tall, powerful,
important or frightening.
Conversation shots...Where the shots alternate from one person to the other. Angles may be used to
suggest inferiority or superiority.
An over the shoulder shot is generally a medium shot where a person is filmed head-on from over the
shoulder of another person. The shot generally includes part of that character’s shoulder or the side of the
head in the shot.
A reverse shot is a shot taken from an angle 180° opposed to the previous shot. Reverse shots are often
used as alternating over the shoulder conversation shots.
We often see shots of a character that are alternated with shots of what he/she sees. The shot of what the
character is looking at is called the point of view (POV) shot. A POV shot uses a subjective camera angle
that becomes the perspective of a character. We look at the world through his or her eyes.
Cut away shots direct attention away from the main shot or scene to introduce other information, elements
or subjects that may be related in some way.
Perspective shots have interesting angles and fresh perspective, rather than being shoot from ‘front on’,
and from eye-level.
Anticipation shots help to get the audience ready for an important action by building tension.
Reaction shots are important because it helps an audience identify with characters. This could be in the
form of a quick shot that records a character’s or group’s response to another character or some onscreen action or event; often accompanied with a POV shot; reaction shots can be cutaways.
Headroom is the amount of space between the top of a person’s head and the top of the frame. Too
much headroom makes the person appear to be sinking. Too little headroom places visual emphasis
on the person’s chin and neck. When framing shots of people, pay attention to where the eyes appear.
Follow the rule of thirds and place the subject’s eyes on the upper third line.
Also when framing shots of people, avoid placing the edge of your frame at one of the body’s natural
cutoff lines: neck, elbows, wrists, waist, knees and ankles.
Look space or nose room or refers to space in front of a subject. Leave extra space in the direction
your subject is looking particularly in interviews.
Leave enough space in front of a moving person or object, like a walker, car, or animal when following
the action. If you don’t it will make it look like your subject is in danger of falling off the edge of the
frame!
page 6
FILM-MAKING RESOURCE
Created by Kym Nadebaum 2012