Types of Camera Angles

Question 1

What are the 14 Types of Camera Angles?

Answer 1

• Eye Level Shot
• Low Angle Shot
• High Angle Shot
• Hip Level Shot
• Knee Level Shot
• Ground Level Shot
• Shoulder Level Shot
• Dutch Angle Shot
• Birds Eye View Shot
• Aerial Shot
• Cutaway Shot
• POV Shot
• Over the Shoulder Shot
• Over the Hip Shot

Question 2

Define Eye-Level Angle

Answer 2

subject is in a neutral perspective-mimics how we see people in real life with our eye line connecting with theirs

Question 3

Define Low Angle

Use When:

Answer 3

frames the subject from a low camera height looking up at them

Use When:

• emphasize power dynamics between characters
• you need to make the subject appear larger than life
• portray power, dominance, wonder & majesty
• (as long as the subject is smaller than what surrounds them in frame)

Question 4

Define High Angle

Answer 4

camera points down at your subject

Use When:

• you want to make your subject look inferior, weak, small or vulnerable

Question 5

Define Hip Level Angle

Answer 5

the camera is inline with the hip of the subject

Question 6

Define Knee Level Angle

Answer 6

camera height is about as low as your subject’s knees

• can emphasize a character’s superiority, if paired with a low angle

Question 7

Define Ground Level Angle

Answer 7

camera’s height is on ground level with your subject

Question 8

Define the Shoulder Level Shot

Use When:

Answer 8

the camera is roughly as high as your subject’s shoulders

Use When:

you want to maximize the feeling of superiority when paired with a low angle

Question 9

Define the Dutch Angle

Answer 9

camera is slanted to one side

How It Works:

• with the horizon lines tilted in this way, you can create a sense of disorientation

Use When:

• you need to convey an uneasy emotion (like something isn’t right)
• you want to tell the viewer that something is wrong

Question 10

Define the Birds Eye View/Overhead Angle

Use When:

Answer 10

from way up high, looking down on your subject with a good amount of the scenery surrounding him or her

Use When:

you want to create a great sense of scale and movement

Question 11

Define the Aerial Shot

Answer 11

drone shot from up in the sky

Use When:

• you want to establish a location
• you want to start or end a scene or sequence

Question 12

Define the Over The Shoulder Angle

Answer 12

• gives the viewer the perspective that THEY are talking to the other subject

make sure the filmer applies the 180 degree rule

Question 13

Define the POV Angle

Answer 13

• shows what a subject is looking at

Question 14

Define the Cutaway

Answer 14

an interruption of a continuously filmed scene

Use When:

• you want to insert a view of something completely different
• transition scenes
• show side stories occurring alongside the main

Question 15

Define Expository Shots

Answer 15

anything that provides the background (i.e. the who, what, where, when) about your subject.

• Exteriors of buildings
• Streetscapes
• Historical & other photographic images

Question 16

Define Narrative Shots

Answer 16

the imagery that tells your story—alongside interviews

• B-roll of any or all of your interviewees doing things that are relevant to your film’s subject and themes
• Full coverage of an event that’s important to your story