Portfolio Post 14 (Week 5): Camera Angles Research

 The Importance of Camera Angles

    Camera angles in film are an underrated source of communicating knowledge to your audience without directly telling them. For those that have not done research into these techniques, it would be reasonable to assume that when they indulge in film they do not have any concept of how ideas are being planted in their head without their knowledge. For example stationing a camera in a way that looks down upon the subject shows weakness, fragility, and vulnerability whereas an angle that looks up to a character shows dominance, superiority, and confidence. This approach serves as a reliable way to establish which characters in a film are the protagonist and the antagonist, or in a more vague sense who has the upper hand. Other shots such as close ups allow for a greater grasp on the emotions being portrayed. Likewise, establishing shots are used to allow the audience to recognize who is in a shot and where said shot is taking place.

    Unbeknownst to viewers, cinematographers balance purposeful shots with aesthetic. The duration of films usually average around 1.5 to 2.5 hours of screen time. Though that might seem like an abundance of time when compared to other forms of storytelling such as books this is a substantially shorter opportunity to tell an entire story. Especially when one takes into account films that take place over an entire lifetime or even longer periods; the art of sufficiently filling out the entire story is one that must take great experience and mastery. Furthermore this proves the importance of each camera shot because there is not any time to waste on simply abstract frames. Every clip must work towards moving the story forward even if it does so on a smaller scale than other shots. 

Citation

Polarpro. (n.d.). Filming 101: Types of camera shots and angles. Filming 101: Types of Camera Shots and Angles | Innovative Gear for Content Creators. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from https://www.polarpro.com/blogs/polarpro/filmmaking-101-types-of-camera-shots-and-angles