Cinematography: The Art of POV Shots

1. Welcome: Welcome to our class on the power of point of view shots in filmmaking. I'm przvotorovis, a director of films and theater plays, a screenwriter, and an academic teacher at Polish National Film School Wood. In this course, we'll delve deep into how POV shots can significantly enhance your storytelling. A POV shot allows the audience to see exactly what the character is seeing and creates this powerful connection between viewer and the character. We'll explore how to incorporate POV shots into your visual toolbox and discuss why they are so crucial. Pov shots are an excellent tool for making your camera follow your main characters perspective. This technique helps your audience emphasize with your hero, leading to a deeper emotional investment in your film. As always, I'm showing you example scenes and I'll explain how this particular POV shots have been effectively used. I'm looking forward to seeing you in a class. 2. POV Definition: Welcome to the first lesson and thank you for choosing my class. I hope you'll stay with me till the end, when I'll explain some of the most nuanced examples. Today we're going to delve deep into the concept of point of view shots. This is a technique in filmmaking where the audience gets to see exactly what the character in the film is seeing. It's like stepping into the character's shoes. Now here is a definition that I found most sensible. A POV shot point of view shot is a shot taken with a camera placed approximately where the character's eyes would be, showing what the character would see. This shot is usually cut in before or after the reaction shot of the character looking at something or someone. Let's consider a quick example. Here we see what the character is seeing through binoculars, followed by the reaction shot. By the way, this is scene from the film No Country for Old Men by Cohen Brothers. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's a great cinematic experience. This example represents the most natural use of POV shots in cinema. We encounter it so frequently that we often don't even notice it. While the concept is very simple, it opens up a world of creative possibilities. In our next lesson, we'll delve deeper into the study of an example of a scene where a few points of view were incorporated. See you there. 3. Enhanced Actors Performance (Class Project 1): Welcome back. In this lesson, we are exploring how you can use POV shots from different characters. You might even want to cover two or three points of view in a single scene. Let's take a look at the scene from Jaws. In this scene, Chief Martin Brody is on the beach. He's keeping an eye on the water. He's got a feeling that the killer shark might be around now. Don't worry if you're not into graphic content, I've blurred out all the intensive parts. But if you're up for a full experience, check out the link in the notes to this lesson now. But before we're going to watch the scene, here's a fun challenge. While watching the scene, try to spot how many character points of view the camera is covering. Ready? Let's roll the clip, Mike. I know you've got a lot of problems downtown, but I've got a couple of problems with the house. I wish you could take care of one. I've got some cats parking in front of the house. I can't get down to the office. And that garbage truck next to the office, there's a rig zone. It's a simple thing to take care of you. Would you come here in a minute, please? Are you okay? Fine. Yeah, fine. Fine. Listen, if the kids go on where do it? No, I think they can play out here on the beach. All right. Let them go. It's cold. We know all about chi you don't go into water at all, do you? It's some bad hat. Harry Chief Di you are up tight. Come on. This is, you know if V. Did you catch that? There were two types of POV shots. The first was when Chief Brody was washing the water. Now all the long lenses, The long lenses, a telescopic lens was Chief Brody's perspective. And then there is this interesting shot where we see the face of a man talking to Chief Bradley, but he's distracted by something happening in the water, right? The second perspective is the underwater shot of the shark, stark in prey. So in a single scene, we've captured two different perspective. Pretty cool right now. There's also one distinctive reaction shot that I wanted to highlight. It's a famous shot where we see Martin's reaction when he realizes that the child has been attacked. I'm sure you've noticed this amazing shot. The movement of the camera expresses Chief Brody's shock at what he just witnessed in this shot. Chief Martin is looking into the camera. Directly into the camera, but he isn't looking at it as if he were interacting with another character. He's looking into the distance at the site of a shark attack. That's why it's a reaction shot, not a POV shot. The function of the shot determines whether it's a POV or not. This shot is also kind of amazing because of what's going on in the background. The character seems stationary in the frame, but the perspective is changing. You might be wondering how they were able to film the effect of the space warping behind the actor. Well, they've put the camera on a dolly and moved it closer to the actor. While the camera was moving forward, the camera operator zoomed out to maintain the same shot size, which in this particular example is a medium close up. Now to get more technical about what just happened, the zoom level is expressed by how many millimeters is between the lens and the film in the camera. If it's a long lens telescopic lens, we have an image similar to what we see through binoculars. Let's say in this example, maybe 120 millimeters. We begin the shot with a long lens, let's say 120. We push the camera forward on a dolly and simultaneously very smoothly, we zoom out to let's say 35. But let's set aside this particular iconic shot. Focus on the key takeaway from this lesson, which is that in one scene, you can cover as many points of view as you think is necessary. Now Jaws is a thriller film and Stephen Spielberg's mission was to produce as much thrills as possible. He decided that Chief Brody's perspective is important because he's the main hero. But to build more tension, he also decided to show Shark's perspective as it closes in on the kid in the water. Now, slowly but surely, let's get to our first class project. We will be going back to the great film, No Country for Old Men. Please use the link in the description to see the clip on Youtube. We will be focusing especially on the scene in the hotel. There's also another scene there. But the first scene that you see in the clip is the scene that we're talking about. Now your task is to identify the POV shots in the C, how many POV shots that you can see. Feel free to list them, but you can also capture screenshots for reference. Please upload it to the project section. I'm always there to comment on your project. I'm giving feedback on every single project. So happy analyzing. And in the next lesson will cover a POV shot combined with a master shot where we see the entire scene from the main characters point of view. Looking forward to seeing you there. 4. Perspective Revelation: We've already gone over the basics of using POV shots in your storytelling. Now let's dive into some examples where you can use POV to guide the narration in the entire scene. I've got some favorite examples to share with you. First up, let's check out the scene from the classic lady in the lake. Why didn't you telephone? I didn't have a nickel, not bad in this light. What did you find at the lake Snow? I was being cute. Now you are. There'll be an item on your bill for bribes. I spent finding out Muriel Chess had another name. What? Yeah. Mildred Halon. Did you ever hear of her? Muriel Chess married your boss's caretaker after meeting him in a bar in San Bernardino, but her real name was Mildred Halon and she married chess because she wanted a place to hide. It seems that a tough cop was after. What's this got to do with Crystal Kings? I'm coming to that. She and Muriel, or shall I call her Mildred, had a fight over a man. What man? The guy I was slipping the $20 bills to kept claiming he didn't know his name, but I suppose you do. Yeah. I stopped beating his brains out with money and started snooping for myself. And look what I found. Mildred from Chris was hidden in a sugar can in Misses Kingsby's cabin. There could be any number of Chris's. Oh, don't say a thing like that. That's our boy lavery that ties him up with two missing women, Crystal and Muriel. Do you think he drowned Muriel Chest? He would have drowned me if there had been any water handy. I'm sure it must have been Crystal Kingsby. She fought with Muriel over a month ago, you just said. So Muriel's been found dead. And Crystal's missing. And from now on Marlowe's missing, what's the matter now? Maybe Crystal did it. Maybe she didn't give me the dough I put out for expenses. Now go on home out finding Crystal King's baby. You want me to find it just so she can be locked up? There wouldn't be enough evidence. Oh, maybe you could find something else. A gun. Maybe. Why don't you just look beautiful and quit worrying about guns and dead females and missing ones and that million bucks you want to marry. Crystal drank a lot. She, she had a violent temperature start being a woman. Quiet down long enough to hear your heartbeat. You might wake up and find it's a different world. Now in this scene, you'll notice that when a character looks directly into the camera, the emotional impact is immediately stronger. It's a bit like the example I gave you in the previous lesson with Jaws. Now notice that in Lady in the Lake, the character isn't looking directly into the camera, but slightly on the left. As a director, it's up to you how you want to know frame this and what to tell actor where to look. The effect is as if he or she would be looking into the camera. Also, pay attention to the review of the main character at the end of the scene, where we see him in the mirror. The movement of the actor and the camera has to be spot on. If it had been slightly off, we might have been left wondering if the camera is the main character or not. But because the movement is perfect, we know instantly. Now, Lady in the Lake is the first film where POV was a part of the whole film. There are quite a few films that did that afterwards. For instance, Caspar No entered the void in this film. They even went as far as to imitate the characters blinking. Now, I found this a bit irritating while I was watching the film for the first time. Luckily, he doesn't blink throughout the entire film length. It's always a question of why you would choose to do a particular scene, or even a whole film as a POV, it's more challenging. The process is more complicated when you're staging it because you need to synchronize the camera perfectly with the actor. Also, it's not always the most comfortable viewing experience for the audience. We're used to seeing scenes from the spectators perspective, right? Why bother? Well, in this next example, I want to show you a clip where POV was used in a music video to shock the audience. There is a reason why the director decided to film the entire thing using a POV and we get to understand it during the finale. I'm not going to put the whole video here, obviously. I'm just going to give you the link in the notes. You can watch it yourself and continue this course when you see it. It's about 4 minutes long. Please take my warning though. This is the completely uncensored Version of the clip by Prodigy directed by Jonas Akerlund. The first version censors drugs and nudity. The second version was a publicly released version, which was only allowed to be aired after 11:30 P.M. on MTV and contained the majority of the drugs and violence. Then there is this third version, it was only aired once on MTV's top 100 most controversial music videos, which came in a number one of this list. Now is the time to watch the clip and come back here once you're done. Okay, I hope you've watched the video and came back. If not, I'm going to spoil it for you. With my analysis, it's your choice. The main dramatic reason for using POV in this music video was to conceal the main character was a woman. Why might we assume that main character is a man? Well, it's due to the level of violence and drug use. Woman can also be violent, but when we watch a film or a scene, we tend to generalize things to make sense of the story unfolding before us. Another clue is that our main character is pursuing women. So it makes sense to assume that the character is a heterosexual male. This is how the director plays with our expectations to deliver a shock during the climax. Now this music video wasn't made to change our lives. Its sole purpose was to entertain and shock the audience. However, there's no reason why you can't use this POV technique to conceal your character in an arthouse film, right? If done correctly, it could even challenge your audience biases and expectations. In this video, you've seen drug use, which is slightly about the theme of our next lesson. Now all the warping and spinning of the screen was there to immerse us in the drug experience of the character. In the next lesson, we're going to delve deep into how PO visas can depict the unique way your character perceives reality. Looking forward to seeing you there. 5. Distorted Perspective (Class Project 2): Pov shots are a potent tool for showcasing a distorted or unconventional perspective, emphasizing characters who see the world in unique ways. Take for example, the music video that we've seen in the previous lesson. Here, distorted POV shots are employed to illustrate the disorienting effect of drug use, offering a glimpse into the protagonist altered state of mind. Now this portrait plunges the audience into the characters chaotic and fragmented world, challenging their perceptions and steering a sense of unease. In a similar way, films like Predator or Terminator capture a non human perspective of aliens and robots through POV shots. These shots are not only there to add to the genres aesthetics, but also serve as a visual treats. By presenting the world from these non human entities viewpoints, filmmakers deliver a visual spectacle that enhances the audience overall experience. It nicely aligns with genres, expectations, and conventions. One of the most intriguing examples of using the power of POvitas in this way is the film that I mentioned before, Enter the Void. The director uses a variety of techniques to express what happens to the soul after death. This film is much more subtle in the way how it uses the PO, much more subtle than predator For example, in enter the void, we can observe how the camera moves without any boundaries. It can pass through a wall or even inside a human body. It's a fascinating film to watch. Now I recommend watching it and every other movie that I've mentioned during this class, and since I'm here, please watch it from a legal source. As a filmmaker myself, I always advocate for supporting the creators. Now let's jump into the second class project. Your task is to watch a scene from The Diving Bell and a Butterfly, another great movie. And pay close attention to how extensively POV shots are used in the scene. Try to identify the reasons for using POV shots in this class project. Just ask yourself the five questions. Are the filmmakers, are they aiming for an immersive experience like you see in Jaws, for example? Is it there to enhance acting by having the actors look directly into the camera? Or could it be to reveal a unique perspective? You know, or perhaps it's to illustrate how detached the character is from his surrounding. And then there is also the question of whether it's a perspective of one person or maybe a multitude of different points of views. Reflect on these questions and let me know what are your thoughts. It could be one reason or a combination of few or maybe even all of them. You can find the link to the scene in the project description. Now, happy analyzing. In our next lesson, we'll explore the character detachment and barrier representation. 6. Character Detachment (Main class Project): Okay, POV shots can be a powerful tool to depict the detachment of characters from their surroundings. They serve as a visual clue to indicate a character's perspective, often providing a window into their emotional state and their inner world. While primarily POV shots are used to showcase what the character is seeing, these cinematic devices can also carry deeper symbolic and dramatic significance. Let's take a look at Mike Nichols amazing film, The Graduate. Let's get off on the show now. Just hang on a minute. I've got a few words to say. You always do, look who's talking Dad. Can we just talk about this for a second? I can't hold them much longer. Ben, you better get out here. I'd like to discuss this. This boy, I'm sorry. This young man is soon to continue his education as a Frank, helping him award scholar. But before he does, before he does, you're disappointing them Ben. You're disappointing them there. Can you listen? I'll give you 10 seconds. He is going to give us a practical demonstration of what I feel safe in saying is a pretty exciting birthday present and a better work, or I'm out over 200 bucks. Okay, then let's hear it now for Benjamin Burn. Hey, come on Veggie. Come on Veggie. Let's hear it now. A void hop. This remarkable young man is going to perform for you some spectacular and amazing feats of ing in water that is over six feet deep. Hello. Now in this iconic scene, the use of a scuba diving mask serves as a vignette symbolizing the protagonist isolation amidst lively and nice garden party of his parents. Mike Nichols idea for the scene was to use a contrast from one side, we have a sunlight illuminating the joyous gathering, and from on the other side, we have a protagonist that remains distant, lonely, and confused. I think so the vignette of the mask that you see on the screen is there to highlight the stark contrast between, you know, the joyous garden party and the loneliness of our main character. Moreover, the director employs sound designs to deepen the sense of isolation. The main character can't hear his parents talking to him and laughing. Instead, he is surrounded in the sound of his own breeding inside the scuba diving suit. Now this sound effect is intensifying the feeling of solitude and disconnection. So throughout this multi faced approach, filmmakers effectively convey the character's emotional disconnect and inner conflict, adding depth to the narrative and enhancing audience empathy for Ben, who is the main character. Now I want you to notice that this scene doesn't start with a scuba diving vignette right off the bat. Initially, we see the father followed by a glimpse of Ben hidden in the house. The vignette begins when Ben walks toward the camera with a mask very close to the lens, as if he's inviting us to his own POV, right, to his own point of view. This transition might feel a bit awkward at first for a character which is precisely what the effect the director was aiming for with this particular camera work and editing. Next we move to the main part of the scene where we see the POV shot, which we already spoke about. It's where he's hearing his own breathing and walking to the swimming pool. Now towards the end, we see the shot of Ben awkwardly standing in the bottom of the pool. The camera gradually pulls away from him, making him appear smaller and amplifying the sense of awkwardness until he begins to disappear in what we call an extreme wide shot. By the way, if you're interested in learning more about shot sizes, I recommend checking out the course I'm going to link here. It offers a comprehensive overview with different shot sizes and their uses in filmmaking. Is just 15 minutes. I encourage you watching it even if you know stuff about shot sizes already. Now let's talk about the main class project. I want you to recreate the POV of your choice. You can use a camera in your phone. It doesn't matter what kind of technology you're going to use now, I hope you're not going to choose to recreate any of the shots you have seen in the music video by Prodigy. You can get in trouble for that. But once you've recorded your recreation, it's a good idea to upload your work to Youtube and then share it here in the project section possible. Also include the link to the scene you were recreating. This way we can all see the creative decisions you made to reimagine the original. If you're looking for notes, sources, or a list of films for this course, you can visit my website, Cinema Explained, where all the materials are linked. You can also see how this course fits into the entire curriculum on my website. If you've enjoyed this class, I'd appreciate if you could leave a review. I read every review and I'm always looking forward to seeing your projects and hearing your thoughts. See you soon, bye.