Camerawork

In looking at camerawork, for both analysis and production, the following areas need to be considered:

• Angle• Movement• Position / framing• Composition• Depth of field

Camera Angles

• Eye-level• High angle • Low angle • Canted or Dutch angle

Eye-level shot

• This is where the camera is at eye level with the character in shot. It is the standard angle used so we usually only notice an angle if it isn’t eye-level.

Forest Gump (Zemeckis, 1994)

High angle

Fargo (Coen Bros, 1996)

The camera is positioned higher than the subject/object, looking down. Depending on context, it can make the subject seem vulnerable. In the image below, the high angle combined with the wide framing highlights the isolation of the character in the scene.

Low angleThe camera is positioned lower than the subject/object and is looking up to them. It can make the subject/object seem dominant, powerful or intimidating. Remember, this depends on context, consider the low camera angle used in the film Jaws, when the camera is underwater looking up at a swimmer in the water and we can hear the Jaws theme – this creates an entirely different meaning for the viewer!

Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)

Canted angle

Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-Wai, 1995)

A filmmaker may also use a canted angle (sometimes

called ‘dutch’) to create a skewed frame.

Often used to reinforce the idea of chaos or instability.

Camera Movement

Pan – horizontal movement of the camera from a static position.

Tracking – camera tracks the movement of a subject

Tilt – movement on the vertical (up or down)

Crab – a subtle movement on the horizontal (left or right)

Continued…

Crane – the camera is mounted on to a crane so that it can move dramatically up or down and from side to side. Sometimes cranes are put on tracks to create spectacular tracking and craning movement. Click here to see a tracking and craning shot from Touch of Evil (Welles,1958)

Handheld – a shaky movement the follows the movement of the camera operator. Click here to see the use of handheld camera in Cloverfield (Reeves, 2008). Often used to create realism, urgent and sudden figure movement or to create a point of view shot (we are seeing things through the eyes of a character).

Zoom lens – creates the illusion of movement by altering the lens length.

Camera Movement

Position & Framing

• The distance between the camera and the subject.

• The position and size of shot selected relates to the information the filmmaker is trying to communicate.

You need to know your shot types (sizes)

Position & Framing

•The following shots are from Fargo (Coen Bros, 1996)

•Think about the different information you get in each shot type…

extreme long shot

medium shot

close up

extreme close up

Position & Framing

• The camera is the viewer’s eyes in a scene so the camera position also dictates the viewers relationship with the action or characters in the scene.

• How do the following images make you feel?

Composition• The way a frame is composed can help to convey important information.

• A basic convention of composition: rule of thirds

•

The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features in the photograph.

Click here to find out more about this technique.

Proponents of this technique claim that aligning a photograph with these points in mind creates more tension, energy and interest in the image than simply centering the subject would.

Rule of thirds Dead Man (Jarmusch, 1995)

Depth of field

• A frame’s depth of field refers to the focal length.

• Where a frame shows everything sharp or in focus this is called deep focus.

• When a particular part of the frame is picked out and the rest of the frame is blurred or indistinct it is called selective focus.

• When the focal point changes within the frame this is called pull or ‘rack’ focus.

• To get an idea of how this works put your finger in front of your face and concentrate on it. The finger will appear in focus and the background blurred. Now concentrate on the background, the human eye ‘pulls’ focus from the foreground to the background.

Selective focus Elephant (Van Sant, 2002)

Deep focus Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)