Good vs. Bad Angles

Below is an explanation of great angles vs weak angles and why each works and others don't. These are taken from real shoots to demonstrate what should be aimed for and avoided in scenes.

If you start to see an actor moving to a position that is BAD, unless you know for sure they'll only be there for a brief moment or two, it's best to quickly reposition the camera or light to fix the problem (while the opposite actor is saying their lines, or by asking everyone to hold), rather than letting the entire scene continue from that bad angle.

If you see a shoot you did here, please don't get offended. I am not writing this to make anyone feel bad - just to let us all learn and improve!

Please email [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns!

3/5 - NEEDS ADJUSTING - Lighting

This shot is framed well, but the lamp in the background is too bright compared to the actor. The actor should have been brighter and the lamp dimmed a decent amount, since it's drawing too much attention right now.

3/5 - NEEDS ADJUSTING - Framing

​This shot should have been a bit brighter - it's underexposed. The framing is off too - it should have been closer, more similar to the other shot of the male actor. Why are we seeing so much of the desk? Maybe for one moment it could work, but the scene isn't about the desk, it's about her - the paying client. Should be tighter.

5/5 - GREAT

No issues with this shot - it's a standard, well-framed angle and good lighting. Maybe a tad underexposed but it's not a problem that can't easily be adjusted in post.

3/5 - NEEDS ADJUSTING - Framing

This shot is close. Right now she is just too low in the frame. Too much headroom. Should have been framed more similarly to the image of the guy right before this one.

5/5 - GREAT

Excellent shot - good exposure and all around very strong for a side angle shot.

3/5 - NEEDS ADJUSTING - Framing & background

Again, too much headroom. Should have been framed so the top of her hair is cropped off like the other guy. Also, it's too much of a side angle. We should be more similar to the other guy's shot - we don't see enough of the far side of her face right now. Lastly, the lamp in the background should not have been so close to her face, and should have been dimmed.

4/5 - PASSABLE - Framing

This shot is technically fine. It's passable in a scene, but I wouldn't stay on it too much. Again, why are we seeing so much of the desk? It would work if he's about to stand up, but for just back and forth talking, it would be better to be tighter. Actor reels need to be tighter on the face for a lot of it so casting directors can get a sense of the acting ability. This is a medium-wide shot. We prefer medium-close shots and closeups whenever possible - so be sure to get plenty of takes of those so they can be used more in the edit.

2/5 - BAD - Framing

Way too much headroom, and why is the camera so high up, looking down at her? We should have lowered the camera like 6 inches, and then framed them closer to the top of the frame. It's also too wide. Maybe it could be used one time this far out, but as a shot we keep coming back to in the scene, it's not good. We don't need to see so much of the desk unless there's a reason for it!

3/5 - NEEDS ADJUSTING - Framing

This shot is a cool idea, but has a few problems. First, we need some sort of camera movement whenever using wide angle shots like this to keep them interesting. Using the dolly or gimbal and slowly moving from one side to the other could help a lot. Also, they have WAY too much headroom again. The camera height should have been lowered by 6-12 inches instead of looking down at them.

3/5 - NEEDS ADJUSTING - Lighting

Framing is fine on this. It's a nice shot. BUT the lighting is not good. It's very flat. We should have positioned a light on the far side, behind them, that came down to at least create a hair/edge light that would separate them from the background. The far side (opposite side of the 180 degree line) won't create any shadows on the wall, and would help make them pop more.

2/5 - WOULD BE FLAGGED - Lighting

Framing OK on this one as well, but lighting is not good - again too flat. On single shots, lighting is even more critical than on two shots since we often keep cutting back to them. We should have had at least some sort of hair or edge light to separate her, and ideally had a tube light or something hitting more of the far side of her face (opposite side of the 180 degree line), since right now both sides of her face are being hit with even lighting and there is no separation/shadow/contour.

1/5 - UNUSABLE - Framing

This shot has a myriad of problems, but the biggest is that it's such a side angle shot. It might be usable for a brief moment, if he's looking at her and then turns back towards the camera to do something, but this was one of the only angles of him used in the edit, cutting back and forth with the angle of the girl from the previous shot. Her medium shot should have been how this guy's angle was shot. This could have been used maybe once in the entire scene, but the shot should have been a lot more frontal to be usable.

3/5 - NEEDS ADJUSTING Framing & lighting

​This is better, as a more frontal angle, but it's too wide for a primary shot in an actor reel. We should have been a lot tighter on him. The only time to use a shot like this would be if he's about to walk somewhere, and we follow him. But this was used for some back and forth talking, and unfortunately it's not close enough for that. There seems to be a hair light, but it's hitting the background a bit too much. Also, the actor's face is very evenly lit. The side closer to the camera is almost always better if it's slightly more shaded.

1/5 - UNUSABLE - Framing

This entire shot where he opens the wine bottle had almost zero headroom. We cannot cut off the top of actor's heads in shots. This also should have been more frontal. If one wanted to take this moment of opening the wine and make it awesome, they could have started with a tight closeup on the wine bottle being opened from a more frontal angle, and then in real time raised or tilted the camera up to a CU on his face. That would be an awesome dynamic movement shot.

4/5 - PASSABLE - Background

​This is an interesting angle and it works. However, the background is just too bland. Her positioning should have been slightly adjusted to get some more stuff seen in the background so it's not just blackness.

2/5 - WOULD BE FLAGGED - Framing

Way too much headroom on the male actor. Shooting this close with one actor standing and the other sitting emphasizes the height difference. The background is completely black as well. The lighting is good though. Better would have been to zoom a lot further out to show more of the desk, so then you can see that he's sitting and she's standing.

6/5 - FANTASTIC

This is a super interesting angle and looks very cinematic. Nice shot!

2/5 - WOULD BE FLAGGED - Framing

Again, this shot is too wide. Maybe once for an opening shot, or if something is being placed on the table, but why are we this wide? What's the purpose of her sitting at this huge desk? How does a shot like that tell the story? If there's no reason to shoot that wide besides showing the set, stay closer.

5/5 - GOOD

This shot is fine. It's deliberately done very wide so you can see the groceries she's holding, which are part of the scene. But after she drops the groceries, the rest of this scene was tighter on her.

2/5 - WOULD BE FLAGGED - Framing

Too much of a side angle. This was intercut with the straight on angle of the man sitting on the bed (further down). Why would we use this angle and not have anything straight on? We do not want profile shots unless there's a deliberate reason for using them. Perhaps if he's about to turn towards camera and walk off, it could be used, but in the edit this was used constantly because we had no other angle of this actor to cut to for a number of lines at the beginning of the scene.

4/5 - PASSABLE - Framing

This shot is generally fine, but slightly too close. This could work for a very specific moment of the scene, but the entire scene was shot from this angle and then intercut with the next angle of the man sitting on the bed. When shooting side angles, stay slightly further out unless it's getting extremely emotional, and for those specific moments if you really want to get close, you can.

2/5 - WOULD BE FLAGGED - Framing

This is again shot too wide. It's fine for a limited section of the scene, but multiple takes were done for the entire scene from this angle, and had to be digitally cropped closer (making the shot low-res) because we didn't have enough closeups. This shot also had almost zero headroom - the actor's hair is all the way at the top of the frame, which is unacceptable, especially for a shot this wide.

6/5 - FANTASTIC

​This is an excellent, creative shot. Framed properly, good lighting, and the creative factor of having the other actor blurred out in the background is super cool. Very nice!

4/5 - PASSABLE - Framing

This shot is too much of a side angle. For side angle shots we need to see both eyes. It should not be full profile like this unless there's a reason for it. If ever an actor moves forward and you lose the proper side angle, re-adjust the camera for it. Don't just waste time shooting from an angle like this if it could be better by slightly re-adjusting the camera position! Especially when using the gimbal and it's super easy.

2/5 - WOULD BE FLAGGED - Framing

Unless there's a reason for a shot this wide (like the other actor stepping into frame from the left and sitting down), it should have been done a lot closer and with more normal framing. The actor should have been positioned on the left side of the frame, looking from left to right. As it is, this was intercut back and forth with a much closer shot of the other actor because we had no other angle on this, and it just looks terrible in the edit.

4/5 - PASSABLE - Framing

​This is a fine shot but could be so much better if it included some lateral camera movement. When on a tripod, two shots like this don't usually look as good unless they're an interesting angle, like very low down, etc. If you're on a gimbal and slowly moving left to right, it's much more interesting and professional-looking. As is, this shot could be used maybe once in the scene, but it also would have been much nicer if something else were in the background to fill the empty wall. Like maybe a monitor or IV drip, etc. Always look for blank spaces and fill them somewhat if it makes sense!