Camera Work: Shots and Scenes

Cutting between shots is as old as filmmaking, and for good reason. The stories that the first directors wished to record might run near half an hour, but their cameras could hold only a few minutes worth of film.

To solve the problem, they shot scenes in short sections, spliced the separate film strips together, and so invented the cut from one shot to the next.

But the camera "angle" did not come around at the same time. Trying to reproduce the experience of watching a play from a theater seat, the earliest filmmakers placed the camera well back from the action and recorded almost every shot from about the same position. The result resembled figure 1a. Booorring!

Movies evolved quickly, however. Within about ten years, directors had learned to vary the camera position to achieve variety, show details, intensify drama or simply conceal the fact that a cut had happened. In short, they had discovered camera angles.

All this might fascinate film historians, but why should you care? Because, to this day, most beginners make videos that resemble figure 1a. They doggedly record one piece of action after another, from pretty much the same position. If they understood the craft of shots and camera angles, they could instantly improve their programs by maybe 1,000 percent.

If this claim seems a tad inflated, compare figure 1a with 1b, in which the camera angles change significantly. Even in this simple diagram, the improvement should be evident.

To explore the craft of camera angles, we're going to look at why you should vary them, how to vary them effectively, and how to select just the right shot "B" to follow each particular sho…