Camera Angels

Ive been researching different types of camera angels lately because i want to start experimenting with something different and I've come across some amazing sights on camera angels and what they mean to the shot, anyway i found this cool blog that had all these great little illustrations on them and wanted to share them here. These camera angels are not all new but I've learnt about some i had no idea existed.  The cinematographer's art often seems as much black magic as technique, taking a few actors milling around a set and turning it into something cinematic, evocative and occasionally iconic. Amidst all the voodoo and mystery, however, there is concrete science behind those money shots so we've identified thirty of the most important to help you distinguish your dolly zooms from your Dutch tilts. THE SHOT Aerial Shot An exterior shot filmed from — hey! — the air. Often used to establish a (usually exotic) location. All films in the '70s open with one — FACT. THE EXAMPLE The opening of The Sound Of Music (1965). Altogether now, “The hills are alive..." THE SHOT Arc Shot A shot in which the subject is circled by the camera. Beloved by Brian De Palma, Michael Bay. THE EXAMPLE The shot in De Palma's Carrie (1976) where Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) and Tommy Ross (William Katt) are dancing at the prom. The swirling camera move represents her giddy euphoria, see? THE SHOT Bridging Shot A shot that denotes a shift in time or place, like a line moving across an animated map. That line has more air miles than Richard Branson. THE EXAMPLE The journey from the US to Nepal in Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981). THE SHOT Close Up A shot that keeps only the face full in the frame. Perhaps the most important building block in cinematic storytelling. THE EXAMPLE Falconetti's face in The Passion Of Joan Of Arc (1928). THE SHOT Medium Shot The shot that utilizes the most common framing in movies, shows less than a long shot, more than a close-up. Obviously. THE EXAMPLE Any John Ford film (i.e. The Searchers), the master of the mid shot. THE SHOT Long Shot A shot that depicts an entire character or object from head to foot. Not as long as an establishing shot. Aka a wide shot. THE EXAMPLE Omar Sharif approaching the camera on camel in David Lean's Lawrence Of Arabia (1962). THE SHOT Cowboy Shot A shot framed from mid thigh up, so called because of its recurrent use in Westerns. When it comes, you know Clint Eastwood is about to shoot your ass. THE EXAMPLE The three-way standoff in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966). THE SHOT Deep Focus A shot that keeps the foreground, middle ground and background ALL in sharp focus. Beloved by Orson Welles (and cinematographer Gregg Toland). Production designers hate them. Means they have to put detail in the whole set. THE EXAMPLE Thatcher (George Couloris) and Kane's mother (Agnes Moorehead) discussing Charles (Buddy Swan)'s fate while the young boy plays in the background in Citizen Kane (1941). THE SHOT Dolly Zoom A shot that sees the camera track forward toward a subject while simultaneously zooming out creating a woozy, vertiginous effect. Initiated in Hitchcock's Vertigo (1959), it also appears in such scarefests as Michael Jackson's Thriller video (1983), Shaun Of The Dead (2004), The Evil Dead (1981) and The Goofy Movie (1995). It is the cinematic equivalent of the phrase "Uh-oh". THE EXAMPLE Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) sees the Kintner kid (Jeffrey Voorhees) get it in Jaws (1975). Not the first but the best. THE SHOT Dutch Tilt A shot where the camera is tilted on its side to create a kooky angle. Often used to suggest disorientation. Beloved by German Expressionism, Tim Burton, Sam Raimi and the designers of the villains hideouts in '60s TV Batman. THE EXAMPLE The beginning of the laboratory scene in Bride Of Frankenstein (1935).