The camera is the audience’s only eyes, so every shot that is captured is essential to connect with the audience on an emotional level. Hemmerich says “Every single shot should support or enhance the mood and tone of your project” (2015), this statement summarises this report, every shot that is used throughout any film should have an effect on the audience. This report will explore how simple shots are used effectively in documentary, how medium shots and close-ups can be used to create an emotional connection with the audience, how handheld shots create or enhance the contract with the viewer and how interview techniques affect the audiences perception of a documentary. This report will discuss the use of camera techniques to connect with an audience and build relationships with the viewer and how these techniques can be applied to low-budget documentary. This will draw upon the research from a range of sources including books and online sites whilst discussing why and how camera techniques are used to show emotion, it will also build upon the work of writers including Hemmerich, Millerson and Willoughby. 

The emotion of a piece can be broken down into aspects such as mood, tone and atmosphere, all of which can be created and manipulated through the use of camera techniques. Documentary film making includes a wide range of camera shot sizes and angles, Roy Thompson discusses the ‘simple shot’, which includes a basic frame and usually contains only one subject. In a simple shot there are a range of frames that can be used often determined by the ‘Rule of Thirds’, keeping the subject to one side of the ‘thirds’ is often used and sometimes subjects are framed in the exact middle of the frame. Using a range of frames but also keeping the shot simple grasps the audience’s attention and makes them focus on the only subject in the frame.”(The simple shot) is the most commonly used shot and is often the most effective in story telling”(Thompson, 1998), telling the story effectively to the audience through the use of camera techniques will allow the audience to judge whether they think what they’re being shown is truthful or not. This shot type will give the audience a chance to develop with the character on-screen and feel connected throughout. Having a complicated shot wouldn’t be effective when trying to get the audience to focus on one thing, in a complicated shot there is a lot more in frame and there is more for the audience to look at, where as the simple shot grabs the audience’s attention straight away with (typically) one subject in frame.

The medium shot shows the audience useful information about the subject on-screen. Usually in documentaries it is the character who is speaking that is filmed using a medium shot, this type of shot allows the audience to feel close to and feel a connection with the person who is talking. Burns said “Talking head is completely dependent on the […] delivery expertise of the talking head.” The medium shot develops the believability for the audience as the information they are being told is coming directly from a ‘talking head’ this makes the audience feel like they’re being directly spoke to as they hear the information first hand. Millerson stated that “The medium shot […] offers the audience a useful amount of detailed information and so can sustain interest for a relatively long time”(1994) this type of shot would mainly be used for interviewing and cut-aways, not only does it hold ‘interest’ for a long time, it gives the audience enough information to understand the character. This type of shot is typical of a documentary as you can see enough information about the character on-screen to be able to build a relationship with them. It is often used a lot in interviews and shows the person from chest upwards which gives the audience a chance to not only watch how the character is acting (their body language) but also listen to what they’re talking about, as they’re the only thing on screen to focus on. 

Each type of shot has a different emotional effect on the audience, this impacts the way the audience feels throughout a film. One of the main shots typically used in documentaries to show emotion is a close up, this is predictably a concentrated, zoomed in shot of an object, usually of a persons facial features such as their eyes. The shot often shows the subjects features and details in high-definition which allows the audience to analyse the facial expressions that the character is making. Wilson says “The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face […] so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot.” (2012). This shot forces the audience to be near to the object in frame; usually a shot of a persons face. This doesn’t give the audience a chance to choose the distance between them and the character on-screen and so automatically makes them feel ‘intimate’ and makes them build an instant relationship with the character. This lets the audience inspect the characters facial expressions and features, allowing them to judge how they’re feeling and connect with them through the emotions that have been forced upon the audience. This technique can be used for a range of reasons; in a lot of disney or ‘children’ films the use of their close-ups makes the audience feel happy and engaged with the film, they use close ups in a fun way to show the audience more about the characters and their adventures. In horror films such as Annabel, the use of close up shots scare the audience but also make them intrigued about the storyline. Each way of using this technique makes the audience connected to the storyline and interested in the rest of the film.

Using a range of shots makes the audience feel various emotions when watching a film. It is common to use a range of shots in documentaries including the over the shoulder shot, which is typical to use in cutaway shots and sometimes in interviews. “Over-the-shoulder shots draw the viewer in by creating a sense of intimacy”Author unknown, (2012-Online; Lavideofilmmaker.com). The over the shoulder shot makes the audience focus on one thing: what the subject is looking at. The audience feel like they have built a relationship with the subject and it makes them feel close, this allows them to sympathise with what is happening to the person on-screen. Looking over the shoulder of a subject lets the audience look at what the character is looking at which then allows them to understand more of the storyline or what the person may have been talking about in an interview or voiceover.

“Handheld shots […] give the audience the feeling that the footage is real rather than a fictional story.”Kyle Cassidy (2014). Using this type of footage would allow the audience to connect with the character on-screen, what they see is representing the truth and this allows them to sympathise more and understand how the character is feeling. Sometimes when people watch documentaries they question how reliable they are and whether the reality within the film is true, to enhance the contract with the viewer the ‘handheld shots’ are often used to prove to the audience that what they’re seeing is “real”and not staged. When reconstructions are used in documentaries, handheld shots are still used to show the audience that what they’re seeing is a reconstruction of an event that has happened, doing this the audience feel sympathy even though they know what they’re seeing is a set up scene of the truth. The handheld overall is one of the most used camera techniques that is used to show the audience ‘truth’.

As well as handheld shots enhancing the contract with the viewer, interview techniques also do the same, these are essential to communicate with the audience and without them the audience wouldn’t have the chance to build a relationship with the character on-screen. Nick Willoughby stated that  “Mid shots and close-up shots give the most natural look to an interview”(2006), for the audience to understand that the interviews are real, the interviews must look ‘natural’ and so using a range of interview techniques including the medium shot and close-ups, will make the audience more emotionally involved with the character on-screen. Willoughby then went on to say “You might start with a mid shot for the first question, change to a close‐up for the second question, and then back to a mid shot for the third. […] you can change the camera angle as he or she moves from one answer to the next” this is touching upon the use of multi way camera set up and how useful it is to get more than one angle of the subject on-screen, using a range of shots is key to create an atmosphere so using multi way cameras allows you to film more than one shot at the same time. Changing the camera angle for the different answers given allows the editor to use the shots to create and show emotion, if the subject was talking about a personal or emotional story the editor may want to cut to the close up shot (set up with multi camera) to show the expressions on the subjects face and then cut back to a medium shot. Multi way camera set up allows you to choose from which shot looks best in different parts of an interview, having a choice from more than one shot is helpful when trying to build emotion as you can choose how much of the subject the audience gets to see.

There was a noticeable theme occurring in the sources, when reading into interview techniques there were some that were mentioned more than once, one of which was, where the person on-screen (when interviewed) looked when talking. The direction of where the subject looks in an interview depends on the subject of which they are talking about, for example news presenters always look straight down the lens when talking directly to the audience as this is quite a serious tone however in documentaries it is common to have the subject looking off-screen and to the side of the camera. Willoughby says “Many filmmakers film interviews with the subject looking away from the camera […] this can be more comfortable for the audience to watch”(2006), making the audience feel ‘comfortable’ is essential when they’re watching interviews, the emotions from the character will only be displayed effectively to the audience if they feel engaged and connected to the character, which they wouldn’t if they weren’t comfortable with what they’re watching. Part of this research included watching the ‘Amanda Knox’ documentary on Netflix, this allowed me to look at the camera techniques that were used throughout but also in the interviews too. This documentary was based on an unnerving story and the camera work and techniques displayed this, typical documentaries make the subject look to the side of the camera to make the audience feel relaxed and at ease, however in the interviews used in this film each of the subjects looked straight down the lens. The subject of what the interviewees were talking about was a sensitive, unsettling theme: murder. Being looked at straight in the eyes, by a person who has been ‘convicted of murder’ makes the audience feel vulnerable and tense and so the placement of where the interviewee looks is very significant to the mood and tone you want to create for your film.

In conclusion to these findings, camera techniques are essential- not only in documentaries but in all films. The medium shot is important because it increases believability, people tend to like a human face talking to them as they hear the information first hand. Close ups in documentary are used in a conventional way to heighten an emotion, for example when someone is crying the camera gets brought closer to the subject, the camera enhances what the audience can see and as their ‘eyes’ the use of close ups brings the audience closer to the subject in shot. The use of the simple shot makes the audience more involved with what is happening in the frame and so makes the audience feel connected to the story line. Over the shoulder shots are used to make the audience more engaged and allows them to understand more of the storyline. Handhelds are used frequently in documentaries to strengthen the contract with the viewer and adds to the believability of the film. Finally interview techniques are critical when creating emotion in documentaries; they set the mood of the film and force the audience to get to know the character in shot, for example in the Amanda Knox documentary discussed above. Without all of these techniques the mood of a film wouldn’t have the same emotional impact on the audience and the audience wouldn’t be able to build such a strong relationship with the characters in the story/film.

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