What is Eye Level Framing in Film?
Filmmakers are quite keen on the idea of various techniques that can be used to achieve the desired outcomes and connections with the audience. They often use various cinematic elements of composition, framing, and camera movement to engage the audience and create the desired focus on various areas of the screen. Shot selections, particular those in which the camera is naturally placed at eye level, are often employed to generate a connection between the viewer and the character. This is called Eye Level Framing in Film and it’s frequently used along with other tactics to achieve the desired composition and connection.
What is Eye Level Framing in Film?
Eye Level Framing in Film is pretty self-explanatory. If is achieved through the use of filmmaking that appears to capture the elements of the set or areas of the scene at eye level. Just as it sounds, eye level framing in film involves placing the camera at the same height as the eyes of the character within the frame such that the angle is essentially that which would be expected of human vision.
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The visual information that is conveyed through eye level framing is familiar and easy for the audience to connect with. Because the shots are captured at the same eye level as the character, what is seen within the frame has a comforting and humanized feel. This is commonly used to humanize characters, to stimulate a sense of familiarity among the audience, and to breakdown barriers between the audience and the story.
How is Eye Level Framing in Film Achieved?
Eye Level Framing in Film requires the filmmaker to simply place the camera at a level in which the shot that is captured is at the eyes of the character. Not at the shoulder level, and not above the eyes, but exactly level with where the actor’s eyes would be viewing. This way, the iris of the camera is level with the actor’s eyes and the composition and framing which results is precisely what would be visualized from the character’s eyes, making the audience feel as if they are looking through the character’s eyes at the set.
Eye level framing is not used as frequently as some other forms of framing such as the shoulder level or hip level frames which are commonly used to create a sense of character empowerment. However, when eye level camera angles are incorporated into the film the resulting outcome is one of precise connection.
Eye Level Framing Builds Emotional Impact
Filmmakers employ Eye Level Framing in Film to create a deep connection and emotional impact among the audience. This technique is used generally to connect the audience directly to the emotions that a character is feeling at the time. Because eye level framing humanizes a character, this is an excellent shot option for characters that the audience has otherwise struggled to connect with, particularly when the character has been involved in events that are otherwise questionable or potentially unwarranted.
In a storyline where the audience feels like a character has done something unfathomable or questionable, eye level framing can be used to pull the audience into the character’s mind. While this isn’t always effective, this method can build connections in ways that other shots simply cannot achieve. Thus Eye Level Framing in Film can be used to produce a situation in which the audience depends on this connection with the character in order to sense that they are human, that what they did was warranted in some manner, and that maybe the audience can understand their reasoning and their “why.”
The use of Eye Level Framing in Film can certainly build emotional impact among the audience. Although it’s not frequently used when compared to some other forms of framing and composition, such as over the should shots or shots that are captured from shoulder level or even hip level, a well-planned eye level frame can certainly create some humanized connection among your audience and your character, and can work better than neutral shot choices that happen to have less emotional weight to them than this particular shot.
What is Eye Level Framing in Film? It’s the positioning of the camera such that the iris is at eye level with the character thus creating a visual that the audience can connect with which adds heightened humanization and a sense of emotional connection between the audience and the character.
