One of the deepest and most embedded "rules" of photography and videography is to ensure that horizon lines are straight. It is a practice so hardwired into most courses, seeing any deviation from this is deeply unsettling. And that's the point.
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.
‘Sallie Gardner at a Gallop’ is sometimes considered to be one of the earliest films ever produced when it was released on June 15th, 1878. Twenty-four photographs of a horse and its jockey were played rapidly in succession, creating the illusion of motion when viewed through an old-time zoopraxiscope.
Since then, filmmakers have broken out their creativity and established a number of essential shots for depicting emotion through a lens. Today, we are taking a look at a number of these typical cinematic camera shots and angles to learn how they could be incorporated into still photography.