Dutch angles

J

jghenderson

Well-known member
So I was watching Slumdog Millionaire, and was noticing the crazy amount of Dutch angles in the movie and thought I would try to find out what people thought about them. I personally like them, and even though they are used almost constantly in Slumdog Millionaire I think it helps give that film it's style.

So what do you all think of them? Are there particular places you think they work better than others? Do they evoke a certain emotion/mood in you or do you think people just use them to try to be interesting and different.

For those who don't know what a dutch angle is, it's basically just when the camera is tilted, i.e. :

PickupOnSouthStreet-DutchAngle.jpg
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I don't think I've ever been blown away by a Dutch Angle shot...that being said, I could see how they'd be used to show a warped perspective (ie. hallucination, delusion of grandeur, flashback, etc.) The only movies I remember that use them effectively are The Third Man and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
 
I like the use of dutch angles in the new Star Trek movie. Like SDM, J.J. uses them a lot, but not in a bad way.

I think they're a good filmmaking tool, but they have the potential to be easily overused if you don't understand when/why to use it (i.e. Battlefield Earth).
 
I recently watched 'Doubt', it uses dutch angles in an very strong way. It greatly enhances the tension of the scene.

danjchoi said:
I don't think I've ever been blown away by a Dutch Angle shot...that being said, I could see how they'd be used to show a warped perspective (ie. hallucination, delusion of grandeur, flashback, etc.) The only movies I remember that use them effectively are The Third Man and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
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OLDBOY FOR THE WIN! YEONG-WOOK JO FOR THE WIN!
 
I have never been a big fan of the dutch angle. To me they remind me of the old "Batman" TV show from the '60's.... "BAM".... "POW".... "Biff". I have seen them used effectively in old Noir thrillers, but they need to be used judiciously.
 
like anything else, they can be done right or wrong, depending on the scene.

as danjchoi mentioned: "hallucination, delusion of grandeur, flashback, etc."

as in anything, overdoing it will dilute it's effect (at least as far as cinema is concerned).
 
I watched jim carrey's grinch movie on TV the other day and was so distracted by all the dutch angles I could barely pay attention to the movie. I'm pretty sure less than 1/4th of that film was shot on a level tripod.
 
Justin Kuhn said:
They can really help you achieve things in terms of composition and depth.
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Well, yes they can. The issue is that the dutch angle is a deliberate filmic manipulation of the camera point of view, in essence, the story point of view, that really has no analog to the real world, and therefore, calls attention to filmmaking process. Try this out. Tilt your head 45 degrees. Do you see the world as a dutch angle? No. The body, eyes and brain, makes accommodation and maintains a stable, horizontal horizon. Now, put your camera on a tilt plate, and put it at 45 degrees. That looks strange and just like what is going on, the camera is on a tilt plate, at 45 degrees. This extreme manipulation can not help but to call attention to what the camera is doing, and while I am not shy about doing that, at all, it really needs to done for specific effect, and judiciously.
 
I love the D.A.

De Palma uses this a lot.

Like anything else, if used right, it is genius.

The usual visual language stuff
 
Dutch is something that is very easy to get wrong and very hard to get right.

My favorite dutch angle use, from the top of my head... the opening from Natural Born Killers. Amazing.

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I AGREE
 
Saw a good one recently, in The Street (season 3, episode 3). Didn't even notice it was a Dutch angle till I rewatched -- was too caught up in the story. Basically, the situation is that a young teacher has just found out that her fiance might have been killed, and she rushes out into the corridor. The angle communicates... I don't know... sense of world breaking, I suppose, as well as her confusion, panic, etc.

I remember thinking Terry Gilliam uses them to good effect, but I can't think of a specific shot. Someone mentioned Fear and Loathing, but maybe just see any Gilliam film.

Oh... just remembered -- diving sequences in Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia" (though it might not qualify -- I suspect the cameras are more tilted than rolled -- I must confess to ignorance about the exact definition of "Dutch angle").
 
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I agree about Terry Gilliam using it well, as long as your taste goes along with his style of visual presentation. Personally, I love it. I also love have the old Batman series used it for the villain lairs.

I think it's a device that you use to create the world on screen, and as a director you need to use it judiciously. Just like any technique. Your DP (or you as well) need to make sure the DA is executed in a visually stimulating way, just like any camera shot.

I'm going to use them in my current project, but in a way to highlight a location's personality and hopefully not dizzy up the audience.
 
they are great for exaggerating perspectives. Sometimes leading lines just lead a little more at an angle. if the shot isnt connected with dialogue coverage you can get away with it without it seemeing jarring during a conversation.

Modern audiences' eyes can delineate alot of visual abstraction and have it seem natural. 50 years ago a film like crank would probably make someone puke. nowadays.... after a coule years it seems.... well, old. that whole movie is a dutch.
 
I've got an upcoming indie short film about two hunters in the woods. There's a bit of tension between the friends, then the next day one shoots the other when hunting. There's a bit where he walks into the clearing where his friend is kneeling, bleeding out. I was going to shoot the first wide shot where he walks in towards his bleeding friend slo-mo and dutched, sort of a "things are not right" feeling. Thoughts on this? I was thinking about plunking a few in when they are hiking in the woods (just for better composition, going up hills, etc.), or there's some subtext in the scene that things aren't quite right but we don't know why. What are the general rules on it? I figure I'll play with it a bit and see how it feels, but I'd hate to shoot em and have it not work. Then again, I'm only doing scenic shots dutched, no dialogue etc so I'm sure I'll have the time to pump a couple of each shot off and play it safe.
 
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