🎥 Camera Angles & Movement

A visual reference for the angle, framing, and movement vocabulary Shot Director draws its suggestions from. Entries tagged 📋 ON THE LIST come straight from your Master Shot & Lighting List.

1. The Angle Wheel

Every camera angle is really just how high or low the camera sits relative to the subject, swept from directly overhead (90°) to directly underneath (−90°). 📋 marks the four positions that are exact entries in your spreadsheet — the rest are common in-between reference points.

2. Three building blocks of every shot

Any camera direction is really three independent choices stacked together: the angle you shoot from, how tight the framing is, and whether the camera moves. Mix and match freely — Shot Director's Photography track only draws from Angle + Framing (a still can't move); the Film track adds Motion on top.

Angle

Eye Level 0° 📋 — neutral, objective
Hero Angle −18° 📋 — slight look-up
Slightly Above 12° 📋
Elevated Angle 62° 📋
Dutch Angle 📋 — tilted off-axis
Low Angle 📋 — looking up
High Angle 📋 — looking down
Over-the-Shoulder 📋

Shot Size / Framing

Extreme Close-Up 📋
Medium Shot 📋
Full / Wide Shot 📋
Two-Shot / Three-Shot 📋
POV Shot 📋

Motion

Orbit / Arc 📋
Zoom Shot 📋
Pan & Tilt 📋
Dolly & Crane 📋
Handheld 📋

3. Camera Movements

Once you've picked an angle and a framing, the camera can hold still or move through the shot. These eight are the movement entries in your Camera Shot & Combo Camera Shot categories — the ones the Film track adds on top of Photography.

Dolly Push-In / Dolly In

The camera physically moves closer to the subject.

Dolly Pull-Out / Dolly Out

The camera physically moves away from the subject.

Pedestal Shot

The camera moves vertically up or down without tilting.

Tracking Shot

The camera moves smoothly alongside the subject.

Panning Shot

The camera rotates horizontally on a fixed axis.

Tilt Shot

The camera rotates vertically on a fixed axis.

Crane Shot

The camera sweeps high above the scene.

Arc Shot

The camera continuously circles around the subject.

4. Lighting Vocabulary for AI Prompts

Angle and framing describe where the camera is; lighting describes where the light is and what it does to the subject. These three groups — direction, quality, and color/mood — are the words worth reaching for when you want an AI image or video model to render light on purpose instead of by accident. The full technique library with demo stills lives on the 💡 Lighting tab back in Shot Director.

Light Direction

Front Lighting — light hits the subject head-on, flattening shadows for a clean, even look.
Side Lighting — light from roughly 90°, carving a strong shadow across one half of the face.
Backlighting / Rim Light — light from behind the subject, tracing a glowing edge that separates them from the background.
Underlighting — light from below the subject; unnatural and unsettling, common in theatrical or horror looks.
Rembrandt / 45° Lighting — a classic portrait angle that leaves a small triangle of light on the shadowed cheek.

Light Quality

Hard Light — a small or distant source (direct sun, bare bulb) that draws crisp, well-defined shadow edges.
Soft Light — a large or diffused source (overcast sky, softbox) that fades gradually into shadow.
Diffused — light passed through a translucent material to spread and soften it before it reaches the subject.
Bounced — light reflected off a nearby surface (wall, ceiling, reflector) to fill shadows indirectly rather than at the source.
Silhouette — the subject lit only from behind, rendering the foreground as a solid dark shape against the light.

Color & Mood

Warm Light (Tungsten / Golden Hour) — amber and orange tones that read as cozy, nostalgic, or sun-drenched.
Cool Light (Daylight / Blue Hour) — blue tones that read as clinical, cold, or nocturnal.
Mixed / Practical Lighting — warm and cool sources sharing a frame (a lamp against a window, neon against dusk) for built-in contrast.
Motivated Lighting — light that appears to come from a visible source in the scene, like a lamp, window, or screen.
High-Key — bright, low-contrast lighting with minimal shadow; upbeat and commercial.
Low-Key — dark, high-contrast lighting with deep shadow; moody, dramatic, noir.