Camera Work in documentals

I researched conventional Shots, angles and uses of the Camera in documentaries in more depth to capture the essence of a good documentary.

Type of shots

Documentaries most often use close up shots to convey emotion from the character in emotive moments. Close up shots allow more emotion to be conveyed to break the third wall and make the audience feel what the enterwee is saying with the larger facial gestures.

moreover, a medium shot, or waist shot, indicates that it was captured at a medium distance from the subject. It is often used for seeing what is behind the subject meanwhile the subject is speaking to the camera. Adding on, Extreme Long Shot, which traditionally is used to establish a scene by showing the time of day and what the weather is like. Also, Full shot frames a character from head to toe, filling the shot. This type of angle focuses more on action and movement of the character rather than their emotional state.

Camera angles

Documentaries use Aerial shot that is a great technique to use if you want to emphasize the scale of the environment where the film is taking place. This is especially effective when filming huge views and landscape shots. Adding on, Eye Level is where a shot is taken with the camera approximately at human eye level, resulting in a neutral effect on the audience.

Camera movement

Zooming is the most used and most overused camera movement used in documentary production. It is often used when the videographer is not sure what else to do to add interest to a shot.