June 20, 2025 • 19 mins
If you’ve ever wondered why your videos feel flat—even if your content is great—it might be the angles. The right camera angle does more than just capture a scene, it sets the tone, creates emotion, or tells a story without a word.
This week, we’re breaking down the essential camera angles every content creator should know—and how to use them to elevate everything from talking-head videos to creative B-roll and storytelling reels.
Want to know how to put the angles into practice in your own content? Join the studio where we are covering it this week in our live meetings which are all recorded for viewing later:
https://socialize-studio.mn.co
WIDE SHOT (A.K.A. THE ESTABLISHER)
What it does: Sets the scene.
Best for: Opening a video, transitions, or giving your viewer a sense of place or scale.
Try it when: You’re introducing a location or want to ground the viewer in your environment. It’s perfect for storytime intros or vlog-style openers.
.5 LENS / ULTRA-WIDE
What it does: Exaggerates space, adds a bit of distortion and energy.
Best for: POVs, comedic moments, or adding drama or dynamism to mundane actions.
Try it when: You want to make a shot feel dramatic, funny, or awkward. Great for character videos or TikToks that feel personal and chaotic in the best way.
CLOSE-UP
What it does: Brings emotion and detail into focus.
Best for: Conversations, reactions, or product features.
Try it when: You're making eye contact with the viewer or highlighting a specific detail (a tear, a smile, a button press).
POV (POINT OF VIEW)
What it does: Puts the viewer in the character's shoes.
Best for: Tutorials, storytelling, or immersive B-roll.
Try it when: You want your audience to feel like they’re the one doing the thing—opening a door, holding a phone, or reacting to something off-camera.
OVERHEAD SHOT (TOP-DOWN)
What it does: Provides clarity and control.
Best for: Flat lays, recipe content, step-by-step tutorials.
Try it when: You want to demonstrate a process or create clean, organized visuals that feel intentional.
TRACKING SHOT
What it does: Follows a subject through movement.
Best for: Vlogs, behind-the-scenes, transitions between spaces.
Try it when: You want to add motion and life to your content—walking through a space, showing a routine, or following a subject from behind.
DOLLY VS. ZOOM
Dolly: Physically moves the camera closer to or away from the subject.
Zoom: Changes the lens focal length without moving the camera.
Dolly = immersive, Zoom = observational
Try it when: You want to evoke different feelings—dolly in for tension or intimacy; zoom in for surveillance, detachment, or humor
LOW ANGLE
What it does: Makes your subject look larger, stronger, more powerful—or sometimes ominous.
Best for: Authority figures, characters with confidence, or when you want the viewer to feel small or impressed.
Try it when: You're filming a “boss move,” someone stepping into power, or even a dramatic moment in a skit.
HIGH ANGLE
What it does: Looks down on your subject, making them seem smaller or more vulnerable.
Best for: Capturing vulnerability, childlike energy, or uncertainty.
Try it when: You’re showing someone overwhelmed, alone, or creating a moment of empathy or comedy.
✨ Wanna know how to put these angles into your content?
Join the Studio! We’re breaking it down in content from creators like you—analyzing camera angles, testing different styles, and learning what actually works. Whether you’re filming a character reel, a product demo,
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Helen (00:00):
Welcome to the Socialize Strategy. Happy Friday. Another
week has zoomed by. Okay. Let'skick it off with the unsponsored
by segment because I have beenthinking about what items I like
to focus on for this thissegment and I like to think of
things that I do use often.
So every time, I'm gonna try andfocus on something that is in my
(00:21):
life every day that I connectwith every day. Because I think
those things are where we shouldbe investing. That's where we
should invest our finances,really, in the quality things
that we touch and use every day.And also, those are the things I
feel that I should share becauseif I'm using them every day, it
might be missing from your life.So the first one is beyond
(00:41):
basic.
I rest my head on my pillowevery single night on linen
sheets. I'm bringing the prop upinto the frame if you're
watching. So this is mypillowcase. For years, I have
been a believer in silky, like,sateen type sheets, and that's
what always what I bought, or100% cotton or whatever. That's
(01:02):
always what it's been.
And then Julie, once again, hadinfluenced me. That seems to be
a theme. But she told me aboutlinen sheets, and she said you
really gotta try them. Once youdo, it's like you can't go back.
And she's so right.
It has been game changing. I usethe brand Parachute. They now
have an actual shop a few blocksfrom my apartment, which is
(01:23):
exciting. So if I needpillowcases, can just run over
there and get them. But what Ireally will say, a couple of
things, especially to mymenopause ladies.
It's much more cooling to sleepon linen than any other fabric
in my opinion. And I think Ithink there's some fact behind
that as well. Because that's whylinen clothes are popular in the
summer. They breathe more. It'sthe same thing with linen
(01:43):
sheets.
And I've always been that personthat needs, like, silky for the
pillowcases so it doesn't messup my hair or whatever, like
smooth. And since using linen, Ialmost can't sleep on anything
else now. When I go to a hotel,I obviously they don't have
linen sheets, so I'm dealingwith it. But I always get so
happy when I get to come homeback into my own bed because of
(02:05):
my my linen. I love it.
And one might say it's scratchy.I don't feel it's scratchy. I
feel there's somethingcomforting about it and cooling
about it. And that is what Ihave to say. So if you have not
tried linen sheets, you mightwant to give it a go.
You might never go back like me.I can't go back. It's linen or
nothing. Parachute is my brand.And I think there's other ones
(02:27):
that do linen, but you can checkout Parachute because that's the
one I use as my go to.
Okay, it's worth it. You investin something that is something
you touch every day. That's whatI truly believe. That's my
thing. And I'm going to stick toit.
Alright, the other thing I'mgoing to talk about is, this is
funny because it's a food itemand I'm going to give it an
honest review and it's always onthe United Airlines flights as a
(02:51):
snack choice. And you eithergotta love it or hate it, but
it's the Stroop waffle. Holdingit up, here it is. So this is
the United Airlines, this iswhen I first tried them, was on
a United flight, and now I wantto talk about it. Why are Stroop
waffles always my pick?
A couple of things. They havethe crunch, they have the
sweetness, and they have thegooey, so it's all kind of all
(03:13):
three things in one. You canmake a cup of tea, unwrap this
thing and pop it on top and itwarms it and it makes it like a
hot waffle caramel sandwich orsomething. And it's just like,
it's not a lot of calorieseither. I mean I know it's
sugar, it's probably not goodfor you and all of that.
But it's 120 calories so it'snot even like, it's a nice treat
(03:33):
and it keeps for a long time. Sowhen I get these, I could stick
them in my bag if I don't wantto eat it in the moment, I have
a little treat for later. I'm aStroop Waffle fan. I find people
either love or hate StroopWaffles. So let me know what
camp what side of the campyou're on if you've never had
one.
You can actually buy these. Sohere's the brand. It's called
(03:54):
Dahl how do we say it? Dammens?Dammens?
Obviously, like a German brandof some sort. And, yeah, you
wanna try them, I think. If youhaven't had one, it's worth it's
worth a gander. Go go check itout, and let me know what you
think of Stroopwafels. Are you ahater?
And it brings me to the idea ofairplane snacks because is
(04:15):
crunchy better? Is gooey better?Is sweet better? Is salty
better? I think there's a lot ofschools of thought on what the
best airplane snack is, but Iknow that there's somewhere I
read that crunchy is always morepreferred on a plane because of
the sound of the flight, youknow the sound in the cabin
where it's that dull And there'ssomething about crunchy that is
more satisfying when you're on aflight.
(04:36):
So this does satisfy a bit ofthe crunch if you don't put it
on top of the tea and melt it.It does satisfy the crunchy, but
we can talk about anothercrunchy snack maybe next week.
I'll be on a theme because I'mgoing on a flight next week
again, and so I'll be thinkingabout my airplane snacks, and I
have another one that I'm gonnabring to you next week. Alright?
So hold on for that one.
Now let's get into the topic fortoday which is camera angles.
(05:00):
Why am I talking about it? Somany reasons. I have a while ago
did a video where, and it did goa little viral, about people who
do shoot their cat when they'renot looking at the camera or
they shoot with the camera toolow or the camera up high and
what that says about yourcontent to your audience. And I
I had a lot of interestingcomments on that I'll say.
(05:22):
It was like people were almostannoyed like I was calling them
out. I was just providing factslike this is what your camera
angle is doing because you mightnot even realize it. And being
in production, we think aboutthe camera angles to elicit that
emotion from the consumer inadvertising. So it's a known
thing that these angles do thesethings. So I was bringing my
(05:42):
production expertise to thetable, and I think some people
felt attacked on that video.
But so I wanted to dive a littledeeper and explain uses for
camera angles, what certaincamera angles are good for, and
when to make them up maximizethem. And it's also related
because next week I'm gonna beon a production shoot and what
I'm going to do for my studiomembers is I'm going we're doing
(06:03):
a meeting and I'm gonna do it onthe pre light day while I'm at
the location for the shoot. SoI'm gonna actually dive into
behind the scenes of my shoot.I'm going to share roles of
people on set. And I'm gonna Ihave a DP there.
I'm gonna see if he's gonna bewilling to talk for a few
minutes and say a few thingsabout what he does as the camera
guy. So I think it's gonna befun. That's gonna be a nice
(06:24):
little peek into production. Andsince production is heavily on
my mind, I've gone from shoot toshoot to shoot recently, which
is not always the norm. A lot oftimes there'll be a shoot and
then there's a hiatus, there's abreak, and then until another
project comes.
But this has been back to backto back. So I have production on
the brain, and I'm gonna reallywhile I'm in it, make use of the
the things that are on the topof my brain, and I'm gonna start
(06:46):
sharing. So we're going to talkabout all the camera angles and
what they do. Let it and I evenin the newsletter you have
reference photos. I'm going todescribe here because I can't
really show while I'mpodcasting.
I can't really show it as well.So if you wanna see the angles
and you're not getting it frommy description, you can go to
the newsletter. I don't thinkI'm gonna have time to edit in
the angles into this video. And,we'll see. I can't promise
(07:09):
anything.
I can maybe try. Alright. Thefirst one is the wide shot. We
call this the establishing shot.It's always been like this.
Even in the toy industry, wewould always have to shoot a
wide establishing shot of thekids playing with the toy or the
kids establishing where they arein their room or in their
playroom. Always a wide shot.And the reason for it is when
you're introducing and you wannamake sure you ground the viewer
(07:30):
in the place that you are. Soeven if you don't use it for the
first shot, a lot of times welike to tease the audience. So
we might start with close-up,close-up, close-up, then we show
the reveal of the wide shot.
Doesn't have to be the firstshot, but it is a helpful shot
if you ever want to providecontext for your audience. Okay?
(07:50):
The next is the point five lenswhich is your ultra wide shot.
And that's what you'll notice alot of influencers using now
where you see a lot of the armin the shot. Okay?
Their arm is in the foreground,you see a lot of it kind of like
this. I'm trying to demonstrateon the on the YouTube video
here. But so it's a lot of arm,but you get a much wider view of
what's happening around you. Andthis is a style, and it
(08:12):
exaggerates the space, and itadds like a little distortion.
It's cooler because it's beenvery used by influencers
recently.
And in the vlog trend that'skind of trending pretty hard
now, when people are lip syncingwith the wide lens and they're
doing like a spin around orthey're spinning the camera,
that is all done with the pointfive lens and that has to be
done with your back camera. Soyou've got to turn your camera
(08:34):
around, hold your arm out, andthen you can always crop it in a
little tighter if you want lessarm because I know sometimes
when I shoot I get so much arms,so I end up cropping in tightly
to get less like this. But youcan, it's really a good, it's a
good one to use for thosetrends. It's great for character
videos or or making things feela little bit more chaotic when
you're out and about. Next up wehave the close-up, and that is
(08:57):
really going to bring emotionand detail into focus.
So you can have a close-up andthen, I didn't list this in the
newsletter, but I'll talk aboutit now, an extreme close-up. So
where it's like you jump intothe eyeball. So it's somebody's
face and then they make a face,and it's like you get to go into
a close-up of their eyes or aclose-up of their mouth if they
make some kind of an expression.The extreme close-up could be
added for like super drama. Butin general, the close-up is
(09:20):
supposed to bring you emotion.
It helps you make eye contacteye contact better with your
viewer. It builds trust becauseyou're you're closer. And so
that is when you're trying toreally make the connection. And
it's great if you have aclose-up and you're talking and
talking and then you cut to broll shots over your talking, so
then you're establishing youryour using your establishing
(09:41):
shot. Maybe you're using othershots over the speaking part and
then going back to yourselfspeaking so that you're
constantly bringing the viewerback to you and the trust, but
you're entertaining them withother visuals on top of your
scenes.
So that's a really good way tothink about if you want to do an
interview and then you want tocut some b roll shots and put
some b roll shots on top of it.Some of the b roll can be the
(10:03):
ultra wide or the establishingor what I'm going to talk about
next, which is the POV shot. Doyou know that a lot of people
see on the videos POV I was atmy friend's wedding or POV, I
blah blah blah, and they didn'tknow what that POV stood for
point of view. I just thoughtthat was interesting. I think
(10:23):
that everybody knows thatbecause I've been in the
business for so long that I knowwhat a POV shot is.
It stands for point of view. Andthe cool thing about a point of
view shot is it can be done withand without something in the
foreground, featuring Fluffy. Sothis is Julie's Julie's stuffed
animal Fluffy. But you can holdI would be able to let's see.
How would I do this?
I would hold the camera behindFluffy, and then I would be
(10:47):
filming. And so Fluffy'sactually, this is such a funny
shot. I'm gonna shoot it rightnow, and I'm gonna cut it in. So
Fluffy's looking at the computerand watching me podcast right
now. Oh my goodness.
Is trying to pay it get myattention. Alright. So this is
where Fluffy is moving around,and I'm following Fluffy behind.
And then that shot can be as ifthe dog you're seeing everything
(11:11):
from the dog's point of view. Soyou can have the thing in the
foreground with the camera orjust the camera.
So if I had a shot of a wideshot of Fluffy going, and then I
cut to a a shot of the cameramoving, which might feel like
fluffy, the angle, it could havefluffy in the shot, in front of
(11:34):
the camera, or not because itwould still indicate that it was
from the point of view becauseof the movement of the camera.
So a POV can have your person inthe foreground or not. That's
the the thing about a POV.Alright? And the time to use
this is really when you wantyour audience to feel like
they're the one doing the thing.
So a lot of times people usethis in cooking videos where
(11:54):
they have a POV of their theirbowl and the stirring, you know,
they're holding the phone withone hand, they're stirring with
another hand, that's a POV shot.So there's lots of uses for POV
shots. All of these things thatI'm talking about now on the
podcast, I'm gonna cover ingreat depth in the studio this
week. So if you are a studiomember, we're gonna do a lot
more on this. And I'm gonnabring examples.
I'm gonna show you which shotswere used and why they were
(12:17):
used. And I'm gonna talk aboutyour content and how one of your
videos could have used this shotto make it more compelling. So
we're going be doing that in themeeting this week. So if you are
not a member of the studio andyou want to try it for a week,
now would be a good week to dothat if this topic interests
you. Okay.
Next. Oh my God, I'm losing myvoice today. An overhead shot.
(12:38):
And this is also used a lot incooking and a lot of the, all
the recipe people have companiesthat they use to actually make
the videos for them where it'slike an overhead camera and a
nice white counter and you seethe food and you see things
happening. It's a style, Iforget what it's called, it's
some specific style of shootingfor food.
But anything like this, this canbe used for anything, can be
(13:00):
used for artwork, people who aredoing, creating crafts, having
an overhead camera. There's onesthat attach to the desk and
shoot overhead. You can have Ithink the one the tripod I have
right here, you can pull up andthen tilt it over over your
counter. So lots of differenttripods do that. If you are
looking to do overhead shootinga lot, like if that's part of
(13:22):
your content, you really do wantto invest in a solid tripod that
does that well.
Because a lot of them you'll seethe tripod legs if you don't
position it exactly right. If Itake this tripod that I have and
I turn it like this to shootoverhead, I'm going see part of
my tripod legs in the shot. Sothis isn't ideal for overhead
shooting. I use this to shoottutorials, but I tilt it a
(13:43):
little so that when I'm pointingit at the camera, I'm not seeing
the tripod legs. So I workaround it.
But you know you can always workaround things. But it's nice if
you do that a lot to get theequipment that's correct for it.
Okay two more types of, oh acouple more types of shots to
talk about. The tracking shot.This is fun.
So if you have steady hands andyou are really good at a lot of
(14:05):
people get the rigs to steadythe cameras. I forgot what
they're called now. Those likehandheld rigs where the camera
doesn't jiggle as much. I havevery steady hands so I can walk
and be very smooth with mycamera. But a tracking shot
means you're following asubject.
So if I was walking behindsomeone, I see, I love following
the Savannah Bananas on TikTok.They are a baseball team that's
(14:27):
like a showmanship baseball teamand they make a lot of TikToks
and dance videos. And theircameraman has the rig, a really
big camera, not a phone, he'sgot the big camera and he's like
jumping off the bleachers withthem, running on the field with
them. That is a tracking shot.Okay?
I might try and put that in heretoo. Oh my God, they're amazing
by the way. Love to watch them,they're adorable. And they lip
(14:49):
sync and they perform and thenthey go right up to bat, so it's
like a very, think of, thinkHarlem Globetrotters for
baseball. They're showmen andthey do entertain while they
play baseball.
So that's a lot of fun. Trackingshots can be used for vlogs, for
behind the scenes, if you wantto transition between spaces,
you know sometimes you'll see atracking shot where someone
walks behind a pole and thenwhen they pass by the pole they
(15:12):
come out in a different outfit.That would be a tracking shot.
That's a good example of what atracking shot would be used for.
Another one would be if I hadnot fluffy by POV, but if I had
the dog in front of me and Iwanted to follow the whole dog,
I'd actually, I can't even do itright now because I can't get
far enough away.
But I would be back here andthen Fluffy, I'd be following
(15:34):
the dog and I'd be trackingalong with the dog. It's a
little harder to do that becausedogs move fast. But it's good
to, you know, it's justfollowing a subject is the idea.
Okay, let's go on to the nextone. The Dolly versus the Zoom.
A lot of people don't reallyknow that there's a difference
and wouldn't be able to tell thedifference by looking at the
film. But a zoom is when thecamera is still but the lens
(15:59):
zooms in. Okay? So think ofthat. Picture it in your head.
Camera is still and then thelens goes like this and zooms
into the thing. Alright? Sonothing moves in the scene
except the camera moves closer.The lens itself. So how can I
say this?
The lens moves closer. So itzooms in. But a dolly is when
(16:22):
the camera actually physicallymoves closer. So it's gonna
change the space around it in asense. You're going to get a
similar effect where you'regonna get closer to the subject,
but you get close to closer toit by the camera traveling
versus the lens just pushing.
So camera stays still, lenspushes in versus camera actually
(16:44):
moves. So it's very Dolly ismore immersive, so it's taking
you with, and the zoom is moreobservational. It's calling your
attention to the thing. So it'slike zooming into the dart board
to see where the dart landedversus traveling to the dart
board. So a dart thing, a zoomwould make more sense.
(17:05):
You'd zoom in. A, let's say ifyou wanted to, if you were on a
dock and you wanted to getcloser to a boat, you would
instead of zooming, you mightmove the camera closer to the
boat. Okay? So those are thedifferences if that helps clear
it up for you. Then we've gotour last two which is low angle
and high angle.
(17:26):
There's other camera angles I'msure that I'm not even thinking
of, but I'm giving you thebasics. But we've got the low
angle versus the high angle. Sothe low angle makes your subject
look larger, ominous, powerful,think superhero. Think about all
the superhero movies that you'veseen. They always have those
dramatic shots of the pose,usually low angle, very big
(17:48):
drama.
You're filming a boss move whenyou are filming at a low angle.
And it's really fun in thefashion world now where it makes
like the shoes look bigger andthe the it distorts the the
perspective on the person so itlooks a little hipper. So those
are really fun ones for fashion.The high angle is, I'm going to
(18:10):
say, it looks down on yoursubject, makes them look more
vulnerable and smaller. And Ihave said this in the beginning,
in fashion when you're shootingand you hold up your camera
high, it's like you're trying togo for a beauty vibe because
you're trying to hide somethings.
So there's two uses. One is whenyou're doing it in a close-up
and then one is when you'redoing it in a wide shot. In a
(18:30):
close-up it's trying to changewhat your face looks like, maybe
hide some things. And in thewider shot, it's making you
thinner. It will appear thatyou're thinner just because the
camera is going up, so it's thething that's closest to the
camera is wider and from thereit gets thinner.
So a lot of people like to shootshoot up high when they're doing
videos because it makes themlook trimmer. All the things.
(18:53):
But it does capture more of achildlike energy. It can create
a feeling of like loneliness ifyou were far away from a subject
and they were just looking up atthe lens. You'll notice it in
films like, I don't know why thefilm Stand By Me comes to my
head, but I picture like thelittle boy and you know, he's
invulnerable and in the momentand at the train tracks.
(19:15):
Don't know why I'm picturingthis. I don't even know if it's
shot. It's in my head though.But it's an, you know, that's a
higher angle shot looking downto make them seem like they're,
you know, in a big world orwhatever for example. Okay, that
is my rant for today.
I went on a tear. I don't, oh Ihave a meeting and I have to go.
Alright, signing off, See younext week. I can't believe I'm
(19:36):
late for my pre pro meeting. Ohmy goodness.
Okay. See you next week.
Welcome to the Socialize Strategy. Happy Friday. Another
week has zoomed by. Okay. Let'skick it off with the unsponsored
by segment because I have beenthinking about what items I like
to focus on for this thissegment and I like to think of
things that I do use often.
So every time, I'm gonna try andfocus on something that is in my
(00:21):
life every day that I connectwith every day. Because I think
those things are where we shouldbe investing. That's where we
should invest our finances,really, in the quality things
that we touch and use every day.And also, those are the things I
feel that I should share becauseif I'm using them every day, it
might be missing from your life.So the first one is beyond
(00:41):
basic.
I rest my head on my pillowevery single night on linen
sheets. I'm bringing the prop upinto the frame if you're
watching. So this is mypillowcase. For years, I have
been a believer in silky, like,sateen type sheets, and that's
what always what I bought, or100% cotton or whatever. That's
(01:02):
always what it's been.
And then Julie, once again, hadinfluenced me. That seems to be
a theme. But she told me aboutlinen sheets, and she said you
really gotta try them. Once youdo, it's like you can't go back.
And she's so right.
It has been game changing. I usethe brand Parachute. They now
have an actual shop a few blocksfrom my apartment, which is
(01:23):
exciting. So if I needpillowcases, can just run over
there and get them. But what Ireally will say, a couple of
things, especially to mymenopause ladies.
It's much more cooling to sleepon linen than any other fabric
in my opinion. And I think Ithink there's some fact behind
that as well. Because that's whylinen clothes are popular in the
summer. They breathe more. It'sthe same thing with linen
(01:43):
sheets.
And I've always been that personthat needs, like, silky for the
pillowcases so it doesn't messup my hair or whatever, like
smooth. And since using linen, Ialmost can't sleep on anything
else now. When I go to a hotel,I obviously they don't have
linen sheets, so I'm dealingwith it. But I always get so
happy when I get to come homeback into my own bed because of
(02:05):
my my linen. I love it.
And one might say it's scratchy.I don't feel it's scratchy. I
feel there's somethingcomforting about it and cooling
about it. And that is what Ihave to say. So if you have not
tried linen sheets, you mightwant to give it a go.
You might never go back like me.I can't go back. It's linen or
nothing. Parachute is my brand.And I think there's other ones
(02:27):
that do linen, but you can checkout Parachute because that's the
one I use as my go to.
Okay, it's worth it. You investin something that is something
you touch every day. That's whatI truly believe. That's my
thing. And I'm going to stick toit.
Alright, the other thing I'mgoing to talk about is, this is
funny because it's a food itemand I'm going to give it an
honest review and it's always onthe United Airlines flights as a
(02:51):
snack choice. And you eithergotta love it or hate it, but
it's the Stroop waffle. Holdingit up, here it is. So this is
the United Airlines, this iswhen I first tried them, was on
a United flight, and now I wantto talk about it. Why are Stroop
waffles always my pick?
A couple of things. They havethe crunch, they have the
sweetness, and they have thegooey, so it's all kind of all
(03:13):
three things in one. You canmake a cup of tea, unwrap this
thing and pop it on top and itwarms it and it makes it like a
hot waffle caramel sandwich orsomething. And it's just like,
it's not a lot of calorieseither. I mean I know it's
sugar, it's probably not goodfor you and all of that.
But it's 120 calories so it'snot even like, it's a nice treat
(03:33):
and it keeps for a long time. Sowhen I get these, I could stick
them in my bag if I don't wantto eat it in the moment, I have
a little treat for later. I'm aStroop Waffle fan. I find people
either love or hate StroopWaffles. So let me know what
camp what side of the campyou're on if you've never had
one.
You can actually buy these. Sohere's the brand. It's called
(03:54):
Dahl how do we say it? Dammens?Dammens?
Obviously, like a German brandof some sort. And, yeah, you
wanna try them, I think. If youhaven't had one, it's worth it's
worth a gander. Go go check itout, and let me know what you
think of Stroopwafels. Are you ahater?
And it brings me to the idea ofairplane snacks because is
(04:15):
crunchy better? Is gooey better?Is sweet better? Is salty
better? I think there's a lot ofschools of thought on what the
best airplane snack is, but Iknow that there's somewhere I
read that crunchy is always morepreferred on a plane because of
the sound of the flight, youknow the sound in the cabin
where it's that dull And there'ssomething about crunchy that is
more satisfying when you're on aflight.
(04:36):
So this does satisfy a bit ofthe crunch if you don't put it
on top of the tea and melt it.It does satisfy the crunchy, but
we can talk about anothercrunchy snack maybe next week.
I'll be on a theme because I'mgoing on a flight next week
again, and so I'll be thinkingabout my airplane snacks, and I
have another one that I'm gonnabring to you next week. Alright?
So hold on for that one.
Now let's get into the topic fortoday which is camera angles.
(05:00):
Why am I talking about it? Somany reasons. I have a while ago
did a video where, and it did goa little viral, about people who
do shoot their cat when they'renot looking at the camera or
they shoot with the camera toolow or the camera up high and
what that says about yourcontent to your audience. And I
I had a lot of interestingcomments on that I'll say.
(05:22):
It was like people were almostannoyed like I was calling them
out. I was just providing factslike this is what your camera
angle is doing because you mightnot even realize it. And being
in production, we think aboutthe camera angles to elicit that
emotion from the consumer inadvertising. So it's a known
thing that these angles do thesethings. So I was bringing my
(05:42):
production expertise to thetable, and I think some people
felt attacked on that video.
But so I wanted to dive a littledeeper and explain uses for
camera angles, what certaincamera angles are good for, and
when to make them up maximizethem. And it's also related
because next week I'm gonna beon a production shoot and what
I'm going to do for my studiomembers is I'm going we're doing
(06:03):
a meeting and I'm gonna do it onthe pre light day while I'm at
the location for the shoot. SoI'm gonna actually dive into
behind the scenes of my shoot.I'm going to share roles of
people on set. And I'm gonna Ihave a DP there.
I'm gonna see if he's gonna bewilling to talk for a few
minutes and say a few thingsabout what he does as the camera
guy. So I think it's gonna befun. That's gonna be a nice
(06:24):
little peek into production. Andsince production is heavily on
my mind, I've gone from shoot toshoot to shoot recently, which
is not always the norm. A lot oftimes there'll be a shoot and
then there's a hiatus, there's abreak, and then until another
project comes.
But this has been back to backto back. So I have production on
the brain, and I'm gonna reallywhile I'm in it, make use of the
the things that are on the topof my brain, and I'm gonna start
(06:46):
sharing. So we're going to talkabout all the camera angles and
what they do. Let it and I evenin the newsletter you have
reference photos. I'm going todescribe here because I can't
really show while I'mpodcasting.
I can't really show it as well.So if you wanna see the angles
and you're not getting it frommy description, you can go to
the newsletter. I don't thinkI'm gonna have time to edit in
the angles into this video. And,we'll see. I can't promise
(07:09):
anything.
I can maybe try. Alright. Thefirst one is the wide shot. We
call this the establishing shot.It's always been like this.
Even in the toy industry, wewould always have to shoot a
wide establishing shot of thekids playing with the toy or the
kids establishing where they arein their room or in their
playroom. Always a wide shot.And the reason for it is when
you're introducing and you wannamake sure you ground the viewer
(07:30):
in the place that you are. Soeven if you don't use it for the
first shot, a lot of times welike to tease the audience. So
we might start with close-up,close-up, close-up, then we show
the reveal of the wide shot.
Doesn't have to be the firstshot, but it is a helpful shot
if you ever want to providecontext for your audience. Okay?
(07:50):
The next is the point five lenswhich is your ultra wide shot.
And that's what you'll notice alot of influencers using now
where you see a lot of the armin the shot. Okay?
Their arm is in the foreground,you see a lot of it kind of like
this. I'm trying to demonstrateon the on the YouTube video
here. But so it's a lot of arm,but you get a much wider view of
what's happening around you. Andthis is a style, and it
(08:12):
exaggerates the space, and itadds like a little distortion.
It's cooler because it's beenvery used by influencers
recently.
And in the vlog trend that'skind of trending pretty hard
now, when people are lip syncingwith the wide lens and they're
doing like a spin around orthey're spinning the camera,
that is all done with the pointfive lens and that has to be
done with your back camera. Soyou've got to turn your camera
(08:34):
around, hold your arm out, andthen you can always crop it in a
little tighter if you want lessarm because I know sometimes
when I shoot I get so much arms,so I end up cropping in tightly
to get less like this. But youcan, it's really a good, it's a
good one to use for thosetrends. It's great for character
videos or or making things feela little bit more chaotic when
you're out and about. Next up wehave the close-up, and that is
(08:57):
really going to bring emotionand detail into focus.
So you can have a close-up andthen, I didn't list this in the
newsletter, but I'll talk aboutit now, an extreme close-up. So
where it's like you jump intothe eyeball. So it's somebody's
face and then they make a face,and it's like you get to go into
a close-up of their eyes or aclose-up of their mouth if they
make some kind of an expression.The extreme close-up could be
added for like super drama. Butin general, the close-up is
(09:20):
supposed to bring you emotion.
It helps you make eye contacteye contact better with your
viewer. It builds trust becauseyou're you're closer. And so
that is when you're trying toreally make the connection. And
it's great if you have aclose-up and you're talking and
talking and then you cut to broll shots over your talking, so
then you're establishing youryour using your establishing
(09:41):
shot. Maybe you're using othershots over the speaking part and
then going back to yourselfspeaking so that you're
constantly bringing the viewerback to you and the trust, but
you're entertaining them withother visuals on top of your
scenes.
So that's a really good way tothink about if you want to do an
interview and then you want tocut some b roll shots and put
some b roll shots on top of it.Some of the b roll can be the
(10:03):
ultra wide or the establishingor what I'm going to talk about
next, which is the POV shot. Doyou know that a lot of people
see on the videos POV I was atmy friend's wedding or POV, I
blah blah blah, and they didn'tknow what that POV stood for
point of view. I just thoughtthat was interesting. I think
(10:23):
that everybody knows thatbecause I've been in the
business for so long that I knowwhat a POV shot is.
It stands for point of view. Andthe cool thing about a point of
view shot is it can be done withand without something in the
foreground, featuring Fluffy. Sothis is Julie's Julie's stuffed
animal Fluffy. But you can holdI would be able to let's see.
How would I do this?
I would hold the camera behindFluffy, and then I would be
(10:47):
filming. And so Fluffy'sactually, this is such a funny
shot. I'm gonna shoot it rightnow, and I'm gonna cut it in. So
Fluffy's looking at the computerand watching me podcast right
now. Oh my goodness.
Is trying to pay it get myattention. Alright. So this is
where Fluffy is moving around,and I'm following Fluffy behind.
And then that shot can be as ifthe dog you're seeing everything
(11:11):
from the dog's point of view. Soyou can have the thing in the
foreground with the camera orjust the camera.
So if I had a shot of a wideshot of Fluffy going, and then I
cut to a a shot of the cameramoving, which might feel like
fluffy, the angle, it could havefluffy in the shot, in front of
(11:34):
the camera, or not because itwould still indicate that it was
from the point of view becauseof the movement of the camera.
So a POV can have your person inthe foreground or not. That's
the the thing about a POV.Alright? And the time to use
this is really when you wantyour audience to feel like
they're the one doing the thing.
So a lot of times people usethis in cooking videos where
(11:54):
they have a POV of their theirbowl and the stirring, you know,
they're holding the phone withone hand, they're stirring with
another hand, that's a POV shot.So there's lots of uses for POV
shots. All of these things thatI'm talking about now on the
podcast, I'm gonna cover ingreat depth in the studio this
week. So if you are a studiomember, we're gonna do a lot
more on this. And I'm gonnabring examples.
I'm gonna show you which shotswere used and why they were
(12:17):
used. And I'm gonna talk aboutyour content and how one of your
videos could have used this shotto make it more compelling. So
we're going be doing that in themeeting this week. So if you are
not a member of the studio andyou want to try it for a week,
now would be a good week to dothat if this topic interests
you. Okay.
Next. Oh my God, I'm losing myvoice today. An overhead shot.
(12:38):
And this is also used a lot incooking and a lot of the, all
the recipe people have companiesthat they use to actually make
the videos for them where it'slike an overhead camera and a
nice white counter and you seethe food and you see things
happening. It's a style, Iforget what it's called, it's
some specific style of shootingfor food.
But anything like this, this canbe used for anything, can be
(13:00):
used for artwork, people who aredoing, creating crafts, having
an overhead camera. There's onesthat attach to the desk and
shoot overhead. You can have Ithink the one the tripod I have
right here, you can pull up andthen tilt it over over your
counter. So lots of differenttripods do that. If you are
looking to do overhead shootinga lot, like if that's part of
(13:22):
your content, you really do wantto invest in a solid tripod that
does that well.
Because a lot of them you'll seethe tripod legs if you don't
position it exactly right. If Itake this tripod that I have and
I turn it like this to shootoverhead, I'm going see part of
my tripod legs in the shot. Sothis isn't ideal for overhead
shooting. I use this to shoottutorials, but I tilt it a
(13:43):
little so that when I'm pointingit at the camera, I'm not seeing
the tripod legs. So I workaround it.
But you know you can always workaround things. But it's nice if
you do that a lot to get theequipment that's correct for it.
Okay two more types of, oh acouple more types of shots to
talk about. The tracking shot.This is fun.
So if you have steady hands andyou are really good at a lot of
(14:05):
people get the rigs to steadythe cameras. I forgot what
they're called now. Those likehandheld rigs where the camera
doesn't jiggle as much. I havevery steady hands so I can walk
and be very smooth with mycamera. But a tracking shot
means you're following asubject.
So if I was walking behindsomeone, I see, I love following
the Savannah Bananas on TikTok.They are a baseball team that's
(14:27):
like a showmanship baseball teamand they make a lot of TikToks
and dance videos. And theircameraman has the rig, a really
big camera, not a phone, he'sgot the big camera and he's like
jumping off the bleachers withthem, running on the field with
them. That is a tracking shot.Okay?
I might try and put that in heretoo. Oh my God, they're amazing
by the way. Love to watch them,they're adorable. And they lip
(14:49):
sync and they perform and thenthey go right up to bat, so it's
like a very, think of, thinkHarlem Globetrotters for
baseball. They're showmen andthey do entertain while they
play baseball.
So that's a lot of fun. Trackingshots can be used for vlogs, for
behind the scenes, if you wantto transition between spaces,
you know sometimes you'll see atracking shot where someone
walks behind a pole and thenwhen they pass by the pole they
(15:12):
come out in a different outfit.That would be a tracking shot.
That's a good example of what atracking shot would be used for.
Another one would be if I hadnot fluffy by POV, but if I had
the dog in front of me and Iwanted to follow the whole dog,
I'd actually, I can't even do itright now because I can't get
far enough away.
But I would be back here andthen Fluffy, I'd be following
(15:34):
the dog and I'd be trackingalong with the dog. It's a
little harder to do that becausedogs move fast. But it's good
to, you know, it's justfollowing a subject is the idea.
Okay, let's go on to the nextone. The Dolly versus the Zoom.
A lot of people don't reallyknow that there's a difference
and wouldn't be able to tell thedifference by looking at the
film. But a zoom is when thecamera is still but the lens
(15:59):
zooms in. Okay? So think ofthat. Picture it in your head.
Camera is still and then thelens goes like this and zooms
into the thing. Alright? Sonothing moves in the scene
except the camera moves closer.The lens itself. So how can I
say this?
The lens moves closer. So itzooms in. But a dolly is when
(16:22):
the camera actually physicallymoves closer. So it's gonna
change the space around it in asense. You're going to get a
similar effect where you'regonna get closer to the subject,
but you get close to closer toit by the camera traveling
versus the lens just pushing.
So camera stays still, lenspushes in versus camera actually
(16:44):
moves. So it's very Dolly ismore immersive, so it's taking
you with, and the zoom is moreobservational. It's calling your
attention to the thing. So it'slike zooming into the dart board
to see where the dart landedversus traveling to the dart
board. So a dart thing, a zoomwould make more sense.
(17:05):
You'd zoom in. A, let's say ifyou wanted to, if you were on a
dock and you wanted to getcloser to a boat, you would
instead of zooming, you mightmove the camera closer to the
boat. Okay? So those are thedifferences if that helps clear
it up for you. Then we've gotour last two which is low angle
and high angle.
(17:26):
There's other camera angles I'msure that I'm not even thinking
of, but I'm giving you thebasics. But we've got the low
angle versus the high angle. Sothe low angle makes your subject
look larger, ominous, powerful,think superhero. Think about all
the superhero movies that you'veseen. They always have those
dramatic shots of the pose,usually low angle, very big
(17:48):
drama.
You're filming a boss move whenyou are filming at a low angle.
And it's really fun in thefashion world now where it makes
like the shoes look bigger andthe the it distorts the the
perspective on the person so itlooks a little hipper. So those
are really fun ones for fashion.The high angle is, I'm going to
(18:10):
say, it looks down on yoursubject, makes them look more
vulnerable and smaller. And Ihave said this in the beginning,
in fashion when you're shootingand you hold up your camera
high, it's like you're trying togo for a beauty vibe because
you're trying to hide somethings.
So there's two uses. One is whenyou're doing it in a close-up
and then one is when you'redoing it in a wide shot. In a
(18:30):
close-up it's trying to changewhat your face looks like, maybe
hide some things. And in thewider shot, it's making you
thinner. It will appear thatyou're thinner just because the
camera is going up, so it's thething that's closest to the
camera is wider and from thereit gets thinner.
So a lot of people like to shootshoot up high when they're doing
videos because it makes themlook trimmer. All the things.
(18:53):
But it does capture more of achildlike energy. It can create
a feeling of like loneliness ifyou were far away from a subject
and they were just looking up atthe lens. You'll notice it in
films like, I don't know why thefilm Stand By Me comes to my
head, but I picture like thelittle boy and you know, he's
invulnerable and in the momentand at the train tracks.
(19:15):
Don't know why I'm picturingthis. I don't even know if it's
shot. It's in my head though.But it's an, you know, that's a
higher angle shot looking downto make them seem like they're,
you know, in a big world orwhatever for example. Okay, that
is my rant for today.
I went on a tear. I don't, oh Ihave a meeting and I have to go.
Alright, signing off, See younext week. I can't believe I'm
(19:36):
late for my pre pro meeting. Ohmy goodness.
Okay. See you next week.
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