Film Directing 111: The Director's Camera Angle

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LEVEL 100 blogs are for film students and first-time directors taking on the directing role for a short film. The series is designed to help and guide new filmmakers through the director’s prep duties, pre-production activities, and principle photography dynamics.

Angles tell the story

Camera angles have conventions and implicit meanings that have been understood by viewers from the early days of moving pictures.

Directors need to know the impact of their decisions when they set up a shot. And they need to understand what their audience will understand from their camera angle choice.

It’s fairly straightforward, but let’s clarify the language:

  • Eye-level angle – same height as the characters, everyone with equal status.

  • High angle – looking down to show someone as insignificant, vulnerable, or powerless.

  • Extreme High angle – looking down as if from heaven, to show defeat or salvation.

  • Overhead/Bird’s Eye angle – looking straight down, disorienting because we're not used to viewing the world this way.

  • Low angle – looking up at someone menacing, important, or powerful.

  • Extreme Low angle – camera in the ground or on the floor looking up.

  • Dutch angle – an angled horizon, a tilted frame, the world is skewed.

The beginning director can be inspired by these conventions, and exaggerate them to an extreme, but the audience takeaway is critical.

Effective camera angle choices that translate the director’s narrative intention is key for the audience to understand and enjoy the story.

Turning these conventions on their head with total disregard for the everyday movie goer is more than risky. There is a strong chance that the storytelling will fail.

At best, the audience may be confused by your directorial choices; at worst, the audience will disengage from the story – and then you have lost them.

There are two general conventions to consider when choosing an angle for a shot:

  • The objective camera angle

  • The subjective camera angle

An objective camera is generally further away and more detached from the action. It's a camera that looks at the action, considers the situation, but does not intrude or get close to the characters.

An objective camera is an impartial viewpoint. Looking at the scene from a 45° to 90° angle comments on the nature of the objectivity. Like a fly on the wall.

The eye-line of the characters in an objective camera frame is usually at a significant angle, or even full profile.

Characters do not look directly at, or even close to, an objective camera. If they do, that changes the audience experience.

Looking directly at the camera suggests a ‘point of view’ shot (POV). As if the camera is a character, and the actors in the frame are looking at them. The POV is the most subjective camera angle of all.

The distance from the character’s eye-line to the camera lens affects the audience identification with the character. Conversely, the closer a character’s eye-line is to the camera lens, the more involved the audience feels: there’s more personal connection with the character.

A subjective camera angle lets the audience engage with the characters in the scene.

For example, a subjective angle can be an ‘over the shoulder’ shot (OTS) where the audience sees the character looking directly at the other actor who’s back is to us in the shot.

If we step inside the ‘OTS’ and get a clean close-up with the character looking close to the edge of the lens frame, the audience can feel an even greater connection. It lets them feel like they are in on the action.

Knowing your camera angle and the intention of your camera angle before you go to set is important for a director. If you're going to employ POV shots, your crew needs to know. If you’re planning extreme high or low angles, you’re going to need special gear.

Planning and communication helps everyone to properly prepare and understand the goal of your shot.

Examples will be provided.

Just keep going!