EXTREME FILMING ANGLES

“There are hundreds of ways of conveying ideas in movies; dialog is but one” – Jennifer van Sijll, Cinematic Storytelling

Every movie director today has at their disposal very powerful film conventions that can drive the cinematic experience of their movies to a whole new level. It’s about taking advantage of the extraordinary storytelling potential of the film medium and enhancing it with the subtleties of camera placement, composition, lighting, motion, and editing. Operating even at the slightest level of our subconscious, these techniques go a long way in manipulating our emotions and driving plot and character development… engaging the audience to a higher degree¹.

One of the more obvious cinematic techniques that I wish to focus on, with respect to the films we have analyzed in Arch 443: Architecture and Film, is camera placement… and more specifically, the use and impact of extreme filming angles. The definition I will hereby associate with the word ‘extreme’ as it relates to the point of view of the camera is: an unconventional – or unfamiliar – way of seeing the world. This includes, but is not limited to, the extreme close-up, high-angle, low-angle, aerial or any obscure viewpoints in general. I will take you on an in-depth analysis of the proper use of these camera angles and how to achieve the most impact out of them. Feel free to navigate through the site using the menu bars at the bottom of the page.

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¹ Sijll, Jennifer. Cinematic Storytelling. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions, 2005.