The Dutch Angle: Tilting the Camera for Dramatic Effect
The Dutch Angle (or Dutch Tilt) is a technique that involves tilting your camera to one side, resulting in a frame that isn’t level. Jacob T. Swinney of Fandor created this 3-minute compilation video showing the technique being used in a large number of movies.
The Dutch Tilt “can be used for dramatic effect and helps portray unease, disorientation, frantic or desperate action, intoxication, madness, etc,” writes MediaCollege.
Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: the Dutch Angle is also known as the German Angle because it initially appeared in German movies in the early to mid 1900s. The “Dutch” was likely a corruption of “Deutsch,” the German word for “German.” So even though it’s now known as the “Dutch Angle,” it was originally from Germany, not the Netherlands.
