Category: Thesis

Thesis question

How does camera perspective influence our view of a character/scene?

Draft Introduction

Perspective is the view we have regarding three-dimensional objects, we get the right impression of the subject by looking at its height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other. In other words, it is also a particular attitude we have towards something, also known as a ‘point of view’. Throughout this paper, we will be talking about somewhat more specifically the camera perspectives. Camera angles and perspective have been used in the animation, film, and VFX industries for years. Regarding this topic, you will be reading about how camera angle has been influencing people’s lives, how it develops over the years in the industries, what has changed regarding the rules of camera perspective, and how it affects us.

General Outline of each Chapter

Chapter 1: ‘point of view’ through its times

In this Chapter, We will take a look back in time and see how camera angle and perspective have been created through the times, Starting off

Chapter 2: Society in Perspective

To get a clear view of how camera perspective is portrayed it is important to also have an understanding of how society views the different ways of perspective. In this section, we will talk about how in society different questions and ideas can have an influence on how they will portray or view something through a camera lens.  Here I will talk about different researched that will use different subjects to get a result on how people use a camera to get different types of perspectives. (Research in question: Gale, A., and Lewis, M.B. (2019))

Chapter 3: Camera Perspective and its power

What is the power of camera perspective and angle now and what kind of effect does it have? After talking about the history of camera perspective in films of course it shows that over the past years, a lot of improvements have been made regarding technology. This kind of influence makes it to where the camera angle and perspective have also influenced. So what kind of perspectives do we have in the industry from this time?

Chapter 4: Result of the Influences of camera perspective

This chapter will dive into the specific influences the camera perspective has on its viewer. Talking about the information gathered in the other chapters and pointing out different theories such as crossing the line also confuse the viewer.

Indicative bibliography

Bálint, K.E., Blessing, J.N. and Rooney, B. (2020). Shot scale matters: The effect of close-up frequency on mental state attribution in film viewers. Poetics, 83, p.101480. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2020.101480.

Cores-Sarría, L., Hale, B.J. and Lang, A. (2021). Danger, Sex, and Everything Else. Journal of Media Psychology, pp.1–7. doi:https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000295.

Desautels, L. (2014). Perspective: A Game Changer in the Classroom and in Our Lives Perspective: A Game Changer in the Classroom and in Our Lives. [online] Available at: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1100&context=coe_papers

Gale, A. and Lewis, M.B. (2019). When the camera does lie: Selfies are dishonest indicators of dominance. Psychology of Popular Media Culture. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000260.

Huang, W., Olson, J.S. and Olson, G.M. (2002). Camera angle affects dominance in videomediated communication. CHI ’02 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems – CHI ’02. doi:https://doi.org/10.1145/506443.506562.

Lassiter, G.D., Geers, A.L., Handley, I.M., Weiland, P.E. and Munhall, P.J. (2002). Videotaped interrogations and confessions: A simple change in camera perspective alters verdicts in simulated trials. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(5), pp.867–874. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.5.867.

learningonscreen.ac.uk. (n.d.). Home · BoB. [online] Available at: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/03083967?bcast=113751392 [Accessed 30 may. 2023].

learningonscreen.ac.uk. (n.d.). Home · BoB. [online] Available at: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01BCA054?bcast=104031654 [Accessed 30 may. 2023].

Mandell, L.M. and Shaw, D.L. (1973). Judging people in the news — unconsciously: Effect of camera angle and bodily activity. Journal of Broadcasting, 17(3), pp.353–362. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/08838157309363698.

Silverman, K. (1993). What Is a Camera?, or: History in the Field of Vision. Discourse, [online] 15(3), pp.3–56. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41389284.

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After Talking with Nigel about my thesis proposal, we talked about the form I posted in the last post. In this document, I did some research about how society interacts with a camera and how they will create a different camera angle to show how they view that scenario in different scenarios. I will use this part of the research in one of my chapters to show a different side of the camera perspective (not only film). Unfortunately, the person that was just before me with their one on one meeting with Nigel took too much time and caused a delay in Nigel’s schedule. Due to this I was also a bit rushed and didn’t get all my time to talk to Nigel.

I got a few points from him that I should further research and After the meeting, I decided to see what kind of structure I should have for the thesis. I used Nigel’s document of the structure and wrote a small explanation/idea for myself so it will be easier and quicker to write the proposal.

The Thesis Proposal structure:

• Research title or question

[How does camera perspective influence our view on a character/scene (work on detailing my question and point out the issue/ what is really the question I want to answer?)]

• Draft Introduction

[The use of camera angle and perspective has been used in the animation, film and VFX industries for many years now. (First sentence – a general statement that does not include the main focus but introduces the issue)]

[Perspective is a way of presenting a subject to a person. This can be the view on someone in real life or something you watch through a monitored screen portraying the perspective for you

(Definition – A paraphrased definition (don’t copy/reference sources!))]

[Overall the camera angle and perspective has been used in the industries for a long time and the have been helpful in portraying the subject in question but will this form a view on perspective on the viewer for the movies (Thesis – include question words and show your sections / key arguments of the assay)]

[This assay will focus on different scenarios where the importance of camera perspective will influence the view of different viewers. (Outline – Must explain what the assay structure will do and the outcome/conclusion)]

• Key words searched

Perspective, Cinematography, Point of view, Camera Lens, Camera Angle, Dominance

• Research Design Methods

A research design is the ‘procedures for collecting, analysing , interpreting and reporting data in research studies’ it is the overall plan of connecting the conceptual research problems with the pertinent (and achievable) empirical research.  In other words, the research design sets the procedure on the required data, the method to be applied to collect and analyse this data, and how all of this is going to answer the research question.

There are three possible forms of a research design: exploratory, descriptive and explanatory.

Parahoo(1997:142) describes a research design as ‘a plan that describes how, when and where data are to be collected and analysed’

• General outline of each chapter

A general outline of each chapter, here I want to find different types of researches that will all point back to my one question.

• Draft literature review

A literature review is an objective, critical summary  of published research literature relevant to a topic under consideration for research. Its purpose is to create familiarity with current thinking and research on a particular topic, and may justify future research into a previously overlooked or understudied area.

Consistent of a literature review:

1. Introduction:

A concise definition of a topic under consideration, as well as a scope of the related literature being investigated.

Intentional exclusions (example: this thesis will not include’)

State the general findings (what do most of the sources include), comment on availability.

• Main body:

Chronological and thematical approaches

Premise, methodology and conclusion.

Use logical transitions and connections.

• Conclusion

Summarize the key findings

Justify a research proposal.

• References

Don’t forget to cite in the text and complete citations for every source.

• A draft chapter (Title)

In this draft chapter, I will write out one chapter with more information and point out the different research used for this chapter.

• Indicative bibliography

Researches used and also researches that may be used in further development

Note, Questions to ask yourself: who, what, where, why, when

Nigel had given us a template so that we could sent it to him and discus this during our one on one meeting. For my template I talked about what I had made last time and evolved this into some interesting sources regarding my topic. During the meeting I discussed with him that I also had my research direction not only going into the Cinema spectrum but also leaned towards how it is in real life and how it is used as a fraud.

For this class we got asked about what we are researching (our topic title) and give a short explanation of this research.

For my research I decided I want to research different camera perspectives, as for a title I have until now: How does camera perspective influence our view on a character/scene. This is so far the first question I came up with and could still shift a bit into shape to get to the right point.

This idea is linked to what I am doing for my personal project now. I am intrigued by scenes that will view either an overpowering environment or just give you an overwhelming feeling. When I was thinking about my personal project I thought about when 1 person sits in a football stadium full of people cheering, this person may feel small compared to the size of the scene. For my personal project, I want to redesign this feeling by creating a temple enormous to scale compared to a person standing in front of it.

Coming back to my topic for my thesis proposal The different in scale/power can be viewed in a movie by changing the perspective of the viewer. When you lay the camera low and point toward the actor, the actor will show as more powerful as to where when you point the camera down on the actor it will feel inferior. Going from this point of view I will do my research in different areas. for example, research about the history on cinema and animation and their point of view process I could link this to Multiplane cameras that Disney used for the first time in 1957 to how cinematography is used today.

Keywords

Perspective, cinematography, point of view, narrated, camera lens, camera angle

Sources

Branigan, E. (n.d.). Point of view in the cinema. [online] De Gruyter Mouton. Available at: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110817591/html [Accessed 1 May 2023].

[This source will provide me with information about the different points of view that I have talked about in the small text above this source]

Fielding, R. (2013). Techniques of Special Effects of Cinematography. [online] Google Books. CRC Press. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=nl&lr=&id=Dgd6AgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=cinematography&ots=8h4FjjDhAS&sig=6vOn0eTixei3jN914vbeC20e6x0&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=cinematography&f=false [Accessed 1 May 2023].

[This will give me further information on different effects a cinematographer can have in general]

Paik, J. and Kim, C. (2013). Research on Disney’s 3D Animation ‘s Style, Layout Pipeline, and Camera Capture System. Journal of Korea Multimedia Society, 16(11), pp.1348–1356. doi:https://doi.org/10.9717/kmms.2013.16.11.1348.

[This will give me information on where the different perspectives started in the history on animations and further on]

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