Film Studies 101: Camera Angles

How angles silently communicate and connect the viewer to the story

When you’re lost in a good movie, it’s easy to forget that everything you see from the props and setting to the shots and lighting is a deliberate choice by the filmmakers to help tell the story and connect with the viewer. We’ve discussed what a shot is here and different types of shots in this post so let’s tackle camera angles: why they are important and what they might communicate. Once again, we’ll be using Star Wars: A New Hope for our film studies.