Sunday, 27 September 2015

Types of Camera Angles:


  1. Extreme Long Shot: can be as far as 1/4 of a mile away, its often described as a scene setting shot, its often shows the exterior of the setting or scene rather than inside an area or building, frequently used in thrilling actions scenes.
  2. Long Shot: this is a full shot and image of an object, its shows a person from head to toe, its ensures the audience is focused on the character as well as the mise en scene and background detail.
  3. Medium Long Shot: over the shoulder shots are often used at this length and they are also, the person is in shot from the waist/knees up. 
  4. Close Up: this shot included very little background, it concentrates on the person's face or the detail of an object, the background and mise en scene is often blurry, this shot often has the effect of making the audience feel especially comfortable or uncomfortable with a character. Variations of this shot are Medium Close Up (which is a shot of a person from the bust up), Further Close Up (which is a little closer to the main focus, its shows less background but still includes partial body language) and Big Close Up which shows more of the face and creates a very dramatic atmosphere and mood. 
  5. Extreme Close Up: this shot magnifies beyond the human eye so has low levels of verisimilitude and is not likely to be used in soap operas or TV Dramas. It shows no detail of the background or the character and usually focuses on the mouth or eyes alone. This shot is really good at creating mass amount of drama and tension and showing strong emotions or reactions. 
  6. Low Angle: this shot is great at creating a sense of confusion and powerlessness in a scene to the audience, the background that can be seen in this shot is usually just the sky or ceiling and is of little importance, this lack of background creates disorientation to the viewer. 
  7. Birds Eye View: shows a scene from directly overhead and is a very unnatural and strange angle, most of the objects seen from this angle look completely unrecogninable which is why it creates confusion to the audience. It puts the audience in a Godlike position and make the characters in the scene look insignificant. 
  8. Worms Eye View: this angle views the object or person from right down low, from the floor almost, whereas the low angle is slightly higher up. This is the opposite of a birds eye view because of the way it views things from below rather than from directly above, its often used to create a 3rd perspective and to make the object look strong, tall and, mighty. 
  9. High Angle: this is not as extreme as birds eye view as the camera is only elevated above the action not looking down on it completely. This creates a general overview of the scene and makes the object look smaller and less significant and is often used to show a weak character. 
  10. Eye Level: this is a fairly neutral shot as the camera is positioned to make the audience feel like they are the character observing the scene occurring at that time.
  11. Canted Angle: this is when the camera is tilted to suggest imbalance and instability (hence why it is often an angle used in the horror genre very regularly). It can sometimes be used in a POV shot, it disorientates the viewer and is often used when correlated with alcohol or drug use from a character.

1 comment:

  1. This would have been more effective if you have uploaded examples of these camera angles in the form of stills from television or film texts.

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