Naughty Road

What's with all the Dutch angles anyway?

Added 2021-04-09 17:18:15 +0000 UTC

Every now and then, someone remarks on the liberal use of what is known as a Dutch angle in Light of my Life.

According to Wikipedia, a Dutch angle is "a camera shot in which the camera has been rotated relative to the horizon or vertical lines in the shot", and often used to create a sense of unease or disorientation.

So, why use it so much in Light of my Life? Is it to create tension and/or unease?

Well, to be totally honest, no. More often than not, it's to cut off the MC's head. In Light of my Life, I make it a point never to show his face, or even head if I can help it, and the angles allow me to keep it out of frame while at the same time still showing the other characters in the scene.

Other times, it's to maximize the size of a character in a shot. Especially if the character is in an interesting pose or outfit, it'd like to get the most out of limited screen real estate, and angling the camera helps to get in closer without cutting parts out of the frame.

Any dramatic tension is just a by-product.