Often in a film studies class, we explicitly tell students what different camera angles indicate. For example: a low angle shot establishes a sense of power or intimidation. There are three problems with this:
1. It suggests that there is only one right answer (something that we really should avoid in the English classroom)
2. It’s a bit counter-intuitive (low angle = power??)
3. It’s boring (something we really should avoid in the English classroom).
Instead, let’s explicitly show students how camera angles work.
Have students work together in pair. One is the cinematographer and one is the actor. The cinematographer should kneel on the floor and make a frame with their hands. Then students should swap roles. After taking turns, students can look at a vocabulary chart (like the one at the bottom of this post) and discuss what sort of effect being a low-angle camera had upon their perceptions of the actor.
Then students can try other camera angles. They can stand on a chair for a high camera angle (or ask their partner to kneel, if you’re feeling risk averse!). They can stand across the room for a long shot, or get right up in each others’ grills for a close up. Each time they should record their observations in the table below, using the vocabulary chart to help them.
| Camera angle | How to get it | Effect (use vocab chart to help you) |
| Low angle | Kneel on the floor and look up at your partner | |
| High angle | Stand on a chair and look down on your partner | |
| Long shot (or establishing shot) | Stand across the room and look at your partner and the scene they are in | |
| Close up | Get right up in your partner’s grill | |
| Over the shoulder or Point of View | Um, look over your partner’s shoulder to see what they are seeing | |
| Dutch angle/Tilt | Hold your framing hands at an arty angle to look at your partner or another object | |
| Panning shot | Stand at one side of the room and gradually pan your hand frame across the whole room until you have looked at the entire classroom |
Now that students have practised “filming” for themselves, it’s time to put their knowledge into analytic practice. Show students stills from the film you are studying and get them to identify;
a) What camera angle is this shot?
b) What effect does it have on how you view the character/action of this scene?
| Verbs | Adjectives | Nouns |
| emphasises | powerful | power |
| reinforces | dominant | dominance |
| highlights | vulnerable | vulnerability |
| suggests | imposing | authority |
| conveys | intimidating | control |
| communicates | heroic | strength |
| positions | superior | superiority |
| frames | weak | weakness |
| diminishes | insignificant | insignificance |
| magnifies | commanding | status |
| elevates | authoritative | authority |
| undermines | subordinate | inferiority |
| destabilises | disorienting | instability |
| unsettles | uneasy | tension |
| distorts | chaotic | imbalance |
| disrupts | skewed | confusion |
| isolates | exposed | isolation |
| reduces | overwhelmed | vulnerability |
| objectifies | detached | detachment |
| humanises | relatable | connection |
| equalises | neutral | equality |
| normalises | balanced | realism |
| grounds | authentic | perspective |
| presents | natural | identification |
