Research on Camera Angles & Camera Moves

CAMERA ANGLES

The term "camera angle" means different things to different people, but it always refers to the way a shot is composed. Some people use it to include all camera shot types, others use it to specifically mean the angle between the camera and the subject, It is the angle of the camera relative to the subject.

Eye-Level: This is the most common view, it shows subjects as we would expect to see them in real life, it is a fairly neutral shot.

High Angle: A high angle shows the subject from above, this has the effect of diminishing the subject, making them appear less powerful, less significant or even submissive.

Low Angle: This shows the subject from below, giving them the impression of being more powerful or dominant.

Bird's Eye

This scene is shown directly above, it can be used for dramatic effect or for showing a different spacial perspective. In drama, it can be used to show the positions and motions of different characters and objects. The bird's eye view is also very useful in sports, documentaries, etc.

Slanted

Also known as a Dutch Tilt, this is where the camera is purposely tilted to one side so the horizon is on an angle. This creates an interesting and dramatic effect. Dutch Tilt is also popular in MTV-style video production, where unusual angles and lots of camera movement play a big part. 

SOME RULES OF FRAMING

- Look for horizontal and vertical lines in the frame.

- The Rule of thirds, this frame divides the frame into nice sections.

- Headroom, looking room, and leading room. These terms refer to the amount of room in the frame which is strategically left empty. Headroom is the amount of the space between the top of the subject and the top of the frame, a common mistake in amateur videos is to have far too much headroom which wasted frame space, there should be very little headroom.

- Everything in your frame is important, not just the subject, background? Lighting? Distraction? or disrupt the continuity of the video? Pay attention to the edges of your frame, avoid having half objects in frame, try not to cut people at the joints such as knees and elbows.

CAMERA MOVES

In the real world, many camera moves use a combination of these techniques simultaneously.

Arc

Arc shot is the camera moves around the subject, somewhat like a tracking shot. The camera moves in a semi-circle around the subject.

(I've personally watched a film involving Arc shot in the film, it is called Eyes Wide Shut, a 1999 drama film,

Film Eyes Wide Shut

This is one of the scenes in the film that has applied arc shot in it, the camera moves around this circle.

Crab

Also called as crabbing shot. The term "crabbing shot" is a less common version of tracking, trucking and/or dollying. These terms are more or less interchangeable.

Dolly

The camera is mounted on a cart which travels along tracks for a very smooth movement. Dolly shots have a number of applications and can provide very dramatic footage. Dolly shot is also known as a tracking shot or trucking shot. However some professionals prefer the rigid terminology which defines dolly as in-and-out movement (closer or further from the subject) and the others tend to mean side-to-side movement.

Dolly Zoom

A technique in which the camera moves closer or further from the subject, while simultaneously adjusting the zoom angle to keep the subject the same size in the frame. The effect is that the subject appears to be stationary while the background changes (this is called background distortion)

Other terminology that the dolly zoom is also known as 

-Hitchcock zoom

-Vertigo zoom or vertigo effect

-Jaws shot

-Trombone shot

-Zolly or Zido

-Telescoping

-Contra-zoom

-Reverse tracking

-Zoom in/dolly out (or vice versa)

This is a video that I found on Youtube, it's Dolly Zoom camera movement sample in some films.

And here is a video about his camera movement techniques, history and how it works, with lots of useful information to understand what a Dolly Zoom is. I had known from this video that the term "vertigo effect" has come from an old film called Vertigo 1958, the reason why dolly zoom has this name to be called; and the director, dr.Alfred Hitchcock got this shot idea when he fainted in a party, and Irmin Roberts the cinematographer who developed this shot with Hitchcock. 

Follow

The camera physically follows the subject at a more or less constant distance.

Pan

Horizontal movement, left or right.

Pedestal (ped)

A pedestal shot means moving the camera vertically with the respect to the subject.

 I've found a video that explains the difference between Pedestal and Tilt, and some very useful techniques how to shoot a pedestal shot with your tripod. 

Tilt

Vertical movement of the camera angle. A variation of the tilt is the pedestal shot, in which the whole camera moves up or down.

Track

Roughly synonymous with the dolly shot, but often defined more specifically as movement which stays a constant distance from the action, especially side-to-side movement.

Truck

Another term for tracking or dollying zoom. Technically this isn't a camera move, but a change in the lens focal length witch gives the illusion of moving the camera closer or further.

Dutch Tilt

A dutch tilt is a camera shot in which the camera angle is deliberately slanted to one side, This can be used for dramatic effect, and helps the portray unease, distraction, frantic or desperate action, intoxication, madness etc. Also known as dutch angle, camera angle, oblique angle, canted angle and even the Batman angle. Etymology: The dutch tilt was used a lot in German films in 1930's and 1940's. This is where the name German Angle came from, The Dutch term is said to have been a mistranslation the German Deutsch