Teach More With Clever Camera Angles

In this follow-up post on my DevLearn presentation in Las Vegas, I want to dig into how to use depth and volume to manipulate point of view (POV) and angles to convey new information about characters.

I’m going to use two narrated clips from this original in-depth video essay on the movie The Imposter to demonstrate this technique.

The first shows you how the filmmaker uses a different POV for all characters except the ‘bad guy’.

Why do you think this is so?

This is a subtle way to influence how you feel about a character. Without using dialogue, you can tell a lot about your character by their placement on screen and the way they interact with the camera.

Check out the next clip to see what I mean.

Wow.

Notice how the background for the ‘bad guy’ is blurred? There’s some great symbolism right there with his history being such a mystery.

The fact that he looks you in the eye, while the other characters look off camera also has a profound effect on your relationship to the characters. If you’ve watched the movie, you will see how persuasive this guy is.

If you haven’t watched it yet, you’ll have to check it out to see if he’s telling the truth at the end there 

How do you think you can use POV to tell the story of your learning videos?

Before you go…

If you’ve identified a training need and could use help, you can always schedule a no-obligation discovery call with me. If we can’t help you become the hero, I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction!