From the course: Cinematic Composition for Video Productions

Objective vs. subjective angles

- Film, like many other visual arts is a two-dimensional medium that attempts to trick the viewer into perceiving three-dimensional space. Deciding on the camera's position, distance to the subject, lenses, and aperture will have a significant effect on how the viewer perceives the character's behavior. Moving a character away from the center of the frame could signify isolation, sadness, or having a hard time. Tilting the camera to the right or left causes the objects in the shot to appear unbalanced or create an impression of chaos or fear. This technique is called counted framing. And it is often found in music videos and action sequences. Generally speaking, a subjective shot either places the camera where a character would be watching from or it places the viewer inside the action. A low-angle shot from a runner would be considered subjective. Because it gives the viewer the sense of participating inside the scene rather than watching it from an external or more objective angle. Subjective shots are great resources to tell a story through the character's emotions or perspective. But should be used sparingly. As they can be disorienting or alienating to the audience. Especially if a character looks at or speaks directly to the camaera like I'm doing right now. The opposite approach would be an objective shot. Where the viewer has a perspective different from the character, or we see things that the character can't. Going back to the runner example. An objective shot would be a low-angle view on the road of the runner approaching the camera. In the next movie, we'll discuss one of the most popular camera angles. Point-of-view or POV, which falls right between the objective and subjective categories.

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