An Introduction to Film

is insane, and a low-angle shot emphasizes her anx-
iety, fear, and vulnerability. The shot also reminds
us that the visual and narrative context of an angle
affects our interpretation of it. The shot places
Jack’s typewriter in the foreground, thus making it
appear very large, which implies its power over her
and the threatening nature of what she is seeing
(even before it is revealed to us). The low angle also

denies us the ability to see what is going on behind

her at a moment in which we fear (and expect) the

newly mad Jack to creep up behind her—thus ele-

vating the suspense and making a character seen

in extreme low angle appear more vulnerable than

any high-angle shot could have.

In most scenes, obviously, different angles are

used together to convey more complex meanings.

262 CHAPTER 6 CINEMATOGRAPHY

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Camera angles in MThis scene from Fritz Lang’s M(1931;

cinematographer: Fritz Arno Wagner)——in which an innocent

man becomes the object of a crowd’s suspicions——uses eye-

level, low-angle, and high-angle shots to provide a context

for us to distinguish real threats from perceived ones.

[1] A neutral (and accidental) meeting between a short man

and a little girl occurs in a context of suspicion (the city of

Berlin has suffered a number of child murders in a short span

of time). [2] The short man’s perspective, an exaggerated

low-angle shot, makes the question “Why were you bothering

that kid?” even more ominous than the man’s tone of voice

makes it. [3] A high-angle shot from the perspective of a tall

man who has brusquely asked, “Is that your kid?” reinforces

the short man’s modest stature and relative powerlessness.

[4] Here we return to an LS as the short man protests his

innocence and a crowd——soon to be a mob——gathers round.