Sunday 6 February 2011

Hollywood Telt "Dutch" Angles

In Hollywood studio parlance a "Dutch" angle is a crazily-titled camera angle, according to Mascelli(1965), which the vertical axis of the camera is at an angle to the vertical axis of the subject, so that it slopes diagonally, off-balance. Such slanted images must be used with discretion to avoid detracting from the story-telling sometimes. They could be reserved for sequences when weird, violent, unstable, impressionistic or other novel effects are required.

For instance, a player who has lost his equilibrium, he is drunk or delirious, or in a high emotional state, may be shown to advantage in a titled shot, or a series of tilted shots, perhaps in pairs of opposing tilts, so that the audience realizes he is behaving irrationally.

These shots may be combined with subjective point-of-view shots, in which the upset player sees other players or events in a tilted off-balance series of shots.

These two pictures are from The.Incredibles made by Pixar in 2004.
They are combined for the narrative vividly. We could clearly understand that the incredible man is attacked strongly, he is off-balance and fainting. 
Then the killer girl is appearing and walking to him, which is important for the next step.  

Reference:

Mascelli, J. V. (1965). The Five C's of  Cinematography. The United States: radstone publications.

The pictures are from The.Incredibles made by Pixar in 2004.

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