Camera Angles and Movement

High Angle

A high angle shot is a shot which is the audience is looking down upon the subject, with the camera positioned above them.

Example:

In the original 1954 Gojira, a high angle shot is used (from Godzilla's POV) while he is wrecking the city. This is used to illustrate to the audience how insignificant and tiny the city and buildings are to the sheer might and size of Godzilla.



Canted Angle/ Dutch Tilt

A Canted Angle shot is one in which the camera has been deliberately tilted for dramatic effect, for example, confusion, drunkenness, madness, uneasiness, dreaming etc.

Low Angle

A Low Angle Shot is a shot which shows the subject from below, making it seem bigger or more prominent on camera.

Example:

In the famous speech scene in Citizen Kane, Kane appears to literally grow bigger as his ego increases and increases until it reaches its peak. What is truly beautiful about this scene, however, is the high angle shot that immediately follows once he has left the podium. This conveys a sense that perhaps Charles Foster Kane is not as important as he once thought he was and that his fame and lifestyle would not last forever.

Panning Shot

+A pan is a horizontal camera movement in which the camera moves left and right, usually following a subject. John Carpenter is a huge fan of panning shots, as well as Paul Thomas Anderson and Akira Kurosawa who is largely deemed the "Master of Movement" due to his precise onscreen fluid and timed movement of his characters. 





Tilt

A Tilt is a technique in which the camera is placed on a stationery object and rotated in a vertical plane.

Tracking Shot

The Tracking Shot is used very often by Martin Scorcese. It is a shot that follows the subjects and the camera is mounted on wheels. It can be used for a multitude of effects, from creating a dreamlike tone with slow tracking movements or creating a wild, frantic tone with excessive, quick camera movements.

Example:



 Dolly

A dolly is a cart which travels along tracks. The camera is mounted on the dolly and records the shot as it moves. Dolly shots have a number of applications and can provide very dramatic footage and are very often used in war films. 

Crane Shot

A Crane Shot is a shot which is taken by a camera on a crane or jib. The most obvious uses are to view the actors from above or to move up and away from them, a common way of ending a movie. It adds a sense of completeness to the film and the characters. 

Steadicam Shot

Steadicam is a brand of image stabiliser used in the film industry, however it has become known over the years as a complete shot type. It is used very often by Kubrick and is very iconic in any of his films. However, Sukurov's Russian Ark is the only film to be filmed completely in one single Steadicam shot. (see below)


Handheld

A handheld shot is one taken from a handheld camera. Used often in horror, found footage films due to its cheapness and immersing nature. Has become overused as all hell, and I am fed up with found footage horror films *cough*BlumHouse*cough*

Example:

Below I have included the rare instance of a good, interesting, fresh found footage film. Creep (2015) really employed the found footage genre in an unnerving way that made an eerie amount of sense. Go see it if you haven't already.




Zoom

Zooming in film is used very rarely, e xcept in 70s films. Many filmmakers choose not to zoom in with the camera, instead preferring to go the more natural way of the dolly shot, simulating the viewer getting closer to the action, rather than "zooming" in with his eyes, which is unnatural and takes viewers out of the experience.

Example:

Limitless used the zoom technique in a fascinating and original way. Multiple locations were zoomed in on and edited together to make it look like  a "Limitless" zoom.


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