Point-of-View shots or POV Shots are unique shots and very stylised shots that will put the audience right into the shoes of the character. A POV Shot will show the action through the eyes of a character in the movie.
Use POV shots through out your movie too often and your audience may get a bit annoyed with you, but use them in the right places, and you can actually enhance an audience’s ‘viewing pleasure’.
This has got to be one of those classic POV shots, that every film that involves a roller coaster, will have in it somewhere. They will fit it in somewhere and for good reasons too.Just read below to understand why and when you could use this POV shot in your movies:
- One way this is used simply but effectively is to put the audience into the roller coaster. By watching the action from this position they feel as if they are part of the roller coaster. They feel that they are ‘riding the ride’ and that they are experiencing the same thrills that the characters in the film are feeling.
- Alternatively, this shot can be used to show the audience what is going to happen. The audience can see further onto the ride but if the subjects in the scene were messing about on the ride, or talking and they could not see the rest of the ride then this gives the audience more information. It’s one of the situations where the audience would be shouting at the screen, “turn around!”
This is clearly a POV shot if used in a film and probably only has the one use in this case. If the shot beforehand was a mid shot or a long shot of the subject on the game console then the audience cannot see what the subject is playing. By using a POV shot to look through the eyes of the character, it becomes clear that the person is playing the game that they are playing.
I know only 60 words or so ago I said that this only has one use, well, it was a lie. If you were to think more ‘intelligently’ about it, then you would also think that this shot could be used in a different situation. It can be used to show the subject’s concentration in the game. By using the POV shot, the audience understands that the only thing that the subject can see is the game on the screen, therefore, any approaching danger (murder, monster or menace) is hidden from sight. This is a great way to scare the audience (only if this is your intention though, naturally).
Lets all take a moment of silence to sit and stare at this shot… It is stunning and if you ever manage to capture a shot like this in production, don’t let your editor persuade you to get rid of it. The movie critics will praise you for keeping it: “Beautifully shot” “Amazing photography” “Picture perfect”. Now we’ve praised the shot, lets look at it in detail and why it is so stunning.
First of all, this POV shot is stunning because of the use of depth of field. Not only has the shot got great depth, but it shows the journey that the people on the boat have taken so far. It is also stunning because of the scenery. It may not be the actual faming of the shot, but the scenery for the shot does make a hell of a lot of difference to the look of it.
Another reason why this POV shot is so special is that it is unclear whose POV the shot is from because it is slightly off centre from the boat. Is it from the perspective of the oar? It is from the perspective of a person hanging over the side? This question may have already been answered or it may be about to be answered.
POV shots: Quite simply can be stunning. Get them right and you really can draw your audience into your movie and make them feel, quite literally, in your movie. But get it wrong and you can disorientate them… A big NO NO!
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