Camera angles:

Camera angles are a great way to tell your story, build suspense, bring the scene to life and keep your audience gripped.

You can create an intense atmosphere by using camera angles to add depth to your shot and show the protagonist in an intriguing light.

Camera angles are an essential part of filmmaking, but many camera angles are overlooked and sometimes forgotten.

Most of the time, you’ll see super-wide shots when showing the audience where the character is, and it tells the audience about the protagonist’s world. Extreme close-ups show raw emotion and connect the audience to the character’s emotion.

However, there are a couple of camera angles that get forgotten. That is why in this article, we are going to dig into some of the less common camera angles and how to implement them.

Let’s check them out.

Unusual angles you MUST use in your next film.

Here is our breakdown of some of the more uncommon camera angles filmmakers need to use more often.

High Angles

High angles are incredibly powerful; it’s a strong shot that can add depth to your film and bring the audience closer to your character. The elevated perspective allows you to convey narrative information to the audience and keep them engaged with the character.

It allows the audience to feel as if they’re part of the scene and connecting with the character and their actions. It’s a great shot to pair with a close-up and elicit an emotional response from the viewers.

This perspective is one of my favourites, an unusual shot but one that can take your film to the next level - it’s perfect to pair with an integral scene, where something bad is going to happen to add to the suspense. You can also use it when there is an integral part of the story, and you want to highlight the importance of the action to the audience.

Static camera movement

Static camera movement, this is often forgotten, as filmmakers prefer to show important shots with some form of movement. However, the static shot allows the viewer to engage with the character’s movement within the static frame. This is perfect for conveying information. For example, if your character needs to do some background research or is looking for an essential piece of information, the static shot allows this to thrive.

The audience has time to study the character’s behaviour and demeanour as they search for the information. They can study the whole frame and take in the atmosphere and importance of the scene.

This shot is essential to studying the movement within the frame rather than out of the frame.

Negative Space

Negative space in film is under-utilised. Put simply, negative space is the space left around the subject of the shot composition.

Using negative space is ideal for creating a feeling of isolation. If your main character has suffered heartbreak of some form, using negative space following the “heart break” scene will show loneliness, isolation and allow your audience to feel that.

It creates a strong atmosphere and provokes feelings from the audience; it allows them to connect with them.

I think this shot is under-used and can pull emotion into the scene using negative space and isolating the character. You can also use it to comedic effect as they have done in Films such as “Garden State” and convey visual tension.

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