High-Angle Shots in Film: Definition, Use, and Examples

Published: October 10, 2024

In a high-angle shot (aka top angle shot), the camera is elevated and looks down on the subject. This angle can vary from slightly above eye level to a steep, almost overhead position. It can provide narrative information not achievable by other angles, highlight vulnerability, and communicate large-scale environments. While often used to diminish the subject’s power, it can challenge expectations by showing victory or freedom.

High-Angle Shots Provide Narrative Information

One of the main reasons directors use high-angle shots is to provide narrative information that other angles might miss.

By positioning the camera from above, you can show the broader context of a scene, revealing spatial relationships or elements hidden from the character’s perspective.

Here’s another great example from Sin City, where the high-angle shot helps reveal information about the spatial layout and action that’s about to unfold:

In other words, high-angle shots can communicate vital context about a scene, offering us an omniscient point of view that helps us understand a situation’s environment or stakes.

High-Angle Shots Have An Emotional Impact

High-angle shots can communicate various emotions depending on the context. Emotions such as fear and vulnerability are commonly linked to top-angle shots because the camera angle makes the subject seem smaller.

Because a high-angle shot makes the subject seem smaller, it can also make a character seem pitiful and pathetic.

Another key aspect of high-angle shots is that they can trigger vertigo, a sensation of whirling and loss of balance, particularly when looking down from a great height.

Hitchcock, of course, explored this in his movie Vertigo:

Because high-angle shots mimic our natural fear of heights, the steep downward view can make the audience uneasy or anxious, playing on primal instincts. The classic ‘cliffhanger’ shot, like the one below from auteur Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, is another good example:

The cliffhanger shot lets us stare into the abyss while focusing on how the character barely hangs on to life with the tip of the fingers, creating tension: does he make it?

You can use high-angle shots to intensify the emotional stakes in a scene; a simple glance downward can transform a moment into one charged with tension or distress, pushing the audience to feel alongside the characters.

High-Angle Shots Emphasize Character Dynamics and Power Relationships

High-angle shots are great for showing power dynamics. This can be done subtly by placing the camera at a slightly higher angle from one character’s perspective – or be more obvious where the camera looks straight down as in an overhead shot.

See the opening sequence from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) below. Notice how high-angle shots are used to diminish Harry and make him powerless and in danger.

In the first high-angle shot, Harry sits on the swing while Dudley and Dudley’s friends bully him. Harry isn’t allowed to use magic outside Hogwarts and is no physical match for Dudley, so the high-angle reinforces this physical relationship, foreshadowing Harry’s later position at the tribunal for using magic outside the school (to save Dudley and himself).

Then, as magical storm clouds roll in, a crane movement raises the camera above the playground to show they’re both in danger from something above. This is stressed further in the sequence as the boys run for refuge in a tunnel, primarily filmed from high-angle perspectives, and when Harry is thrown to the ground fighting for his life. The Dementors (and Lord Voldemort) are a powerful force to be reckoned with, and this is underlined in the choice of camera angles.

Now, let’s look at the sequence from Harry’s hearing in the same movie. First, we see a low-angle shot of the Minister of Magic and the tribunal, who will decide Harry’s fate. This makes them seem even more powerful. Then, we cut to a high-angle shot of Harry sitting in a huge chair, making him seem even smaller. Clearly, he’s in no position of power.

Then, when Dumbledore enters the scene to defend Harry, notice how the camera angles are reduced. Dumbledore is still filmed from a high-angle as he looks up at the tribunal, and vice versa, but the high and low-angle shots are much more subtle, meaning Dumbledore’s presence has leveled the playing field and shifted the position of power.

In other words, high-angle shots are great for reinforcing hierarchical relationships. Whether it’s a servant bowing before a master or a character in peril, the camera’s angle illustrates the power imbalance.

Rules are meant to be broken: Subverting the expected meaning of the high-angle shot

While high-angle shots often emphasize vulnerability or weakness, they can also be used to subvert expectations. A high-angle shot can show triumph or freedom, challenging the viewer’s perception of what the angle typically conveys. A good example is this shot from The Shawshank Redemption:

When Andy Dufresne finally escapes prison, the high-angle shot looking down at him in the rain highlights his triumph and the washing away of years of filth (literally and figuratively).

Similarly, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining plays with audience expectations by using high angles when we don’t expect them. Take this screenshot from the scene where Wendy and Jack are arguing:

Wendy is afraid and distressed, grasping a baseball bat while walking backward up the stairs to escape her husband. Jack is aggressive, threatening, and demeaning, and he’s clearly the person in power, so you’d expect him to be filmed from a low angle. But Kubrick uses juxtaposition to subvert our expectations, making Jack seem like a small but aggressive and dangerous pitbull.

In The Shining, Kubrick often uses high-angle shots in unexpected moments, creating a feeling of unease that permeates the story. Instead of showing weakness, the high angle becomes a tool for making us uncomfortable by distorting what we expect to feel.

Practical Considerations for Using High-Angle Shots

As with all camera shots, using a high angle must be motivated! Overusing this angle can reduce its impact. Here are three things to consider before you choose a high-angle shot:

Purpose: Every high-angle shot should serve a specific purpose, whether it’s to provide information, evoke emotion, or highlight character dynamics. The camera’s positioning should add something to the narrative that couldn’t be achieved with another angle.

Subject Size: Pay attention to how the subject appears in their surroundings. A high angle can make a subject seem tiny and insignificant. Is this what you want?

Audience Perception: Remember that high angles can subconsciously affect the audience’s mood and feelings about a character or situation. A high-angle shot (like any other shot) influences how viewers interpret a scene, whether that’s a sense of danger, helplessness, or triumph. How do you want the audience to feel?

Summing Up

A high-angle shot is a great way to provide narrative details and information about a scene, intensify emotional tension (revealing things to the viewers the character can’t see), and highlight power dynamics between characters. Used creatively, high-angle shots can subvert expectations and introduce surprise or complexity.

Overall, the high-angle shot is one to consider when you want to shape or subvert how your scene is perceived and felt.

Up Next: The FilmDaft Guide to Camera Angles, Shots, and Movement.