Point Of View Shot

A point of view shot (also known as POV shot) is a short scene in a film that shows what a character is looking at. It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction (see shot reverse shot). The technique of POV is one of the foundations of film editing A POV shot need not be the strict point of view of an actual single character in a film. Sometimes the point of view shot is taken over the shoulder of the character, who remains visible on the screen. Sometimes a POV shot is "shared" ("dual" or "triple"), i.e. it represents the joint POV of two (or more) characters. There is also the "nobody POV", where a shot is taken from the POV of a non-existent character. This often occurs when an actual POV shot is implied, but the character is removed. Sometimes the character is never present at all, despite a clear POV shot, such as the famous "God-POV" of birds descending from the sky in Hitchcock's The Birds. A POV shot need not be established by strictly visual means. The manipulation of diagetic (natural) sounds can be used to emphasize a particular character's POV. It makes little sense to say that a shot is "inherently" POV; it is the editing of the POV shot within a sequence of shots that determines POV. Nor can the establishment of a POV shot be isolated from other elements of filmmaking — mise en scene, acting, camera placement, editing, and special effects can all contribute to the establishment of POV.

 

<< PreviousWord BrowserNext >>
phenylketonuria
paleocene
parallax
paralysis
paths of glory
protozoa
particle physics
peninsula
plain
peter altenberg
public domain
palestinian
physicist
pipe
peter nilson
patent
pretty tony
pythagoras
philosopher
the three stigmata of palmer eldritch
time out of joint
a scanner darkly
ubik
do androids dream of electric sheep?
radio free albemuth
passport
persistence of vision
propaganda film
pliocene
pharaoh
printing press
patrick rafter
proportional representation
provisional irish republican army
paula abdul
project gutenberg
personal area network
personal digital assistant
personal telco
prince paul
paul vixie
pleistocene
pasteurization
penicillin