High angle

egproductions

egproductions

Veteran
As people become more and more obsessed with the perfect selfie angle, subjects (who are often clients) are starting to give there opinions as to camera hight and how they want to be filmed. For instance, during an interview, i’ll have requests to shoot at a high angle. People are very critical of how they look but obviously shooting an interview at eyeline is supposed to be the norm. How do you explain to a client that you cant film everything from a high angle. Is there some way of explaining that they actually look better from eyeline?
 
Find a diplomatic way to tell them that they called you for a reason and to trust your eye and knowledge.
 
Give them side by sides with some classic photographic portraits. Also mention that no one cares about or looks at their selfies. So if you shoot it in the same style, their video interview will be associated with a look which people are actively ignoring. Try not to do business with them again.

Alternatively you can step back from the tripod and tell them to show you what they mean with the framing. At this point you can ask them for help with lighting and sound as well.
 
How “high” do you mean? “Selfie high” is obviously silly but slightly above eyeline can be more flattering in the same way without being obvious...help hide double chins/wattle, make facial features look a little nicer.
 
three thoughts in response:

- "the norm" is overrated.

- there is no "can't" in the Arts.

- the client is always right.
 
If nothing else all of your responses show me that people handle clients very differently. I've had moments where I've given in to the client with a smile on my face and I've had moments where their critiques have totally crushed my soul and energy to hit the record button.

I'm a fan of keeping the camera right under eyeline and straight on so that the framing of the subjects head is in the upper 3rd. Yes there are exceptions but generally thats my starting point. If the FOV is a little wide, or the camera further back, the camera gets a little lower.

I agree that higher angle allows the neck to disappear but that isn't the point really, it's not a traditional way of filming things and could be distracting to viewers who are expecting to see things framed in a certain way, ultimatly taking away from the content. But then again, I guess a double chin can be distracting. I guess everyone has their preferences.
 
I may have been unclear. There is a short range where I dont think you can tell from the image how high above or below the eyeline the lens is. In this range, going high with the lens and shooting down a little can help make your subject look better (which is something they all pretty much want) without it/them looking weird or wrong. Once it DOES look wrong, that’s your limit.
 
Assuming it is an interview, then I also assume you would want the person asking the questions to be sitting a little higher as well.
 
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