Killing Nazis and Sarah Connor: Examples of angle use in modern films

As the old cliche goes: it's the little things that matter. In film, this is no exception. Sure, audiences may not be praising filmmakers for their impeccable use of angles or camera movements, but such things are very important to the overall effect of a film. When watching a film, you may not even notice how these things are used, but your brain does. The way filmmakers use angles is very important to how people feel about the film. They help set moods, and help establish characters.

One example is a stand out scene from the 2009 film "Inglourious Basterds" (Directed by Quentin Tarantino):

When the "Bear Jew" enters the scene after a dramatically long sequence in which he taps his bat against the wall, the scene is shot from a low angle to show the dominance that he has over the Nazi soldier. This low angle gives the "Bear Jew" a lot of power, and shows that he is a very daunting figure. The shot also follows the basic shot progression by starting with a longer shot.

The scene continues to shoot him at a low angle, but switches to a medium shot.

Meanwhile, the Nazi soldier is shot at a high angle, removing power from him. The soldier is essentially helpless, and the angle portrays that. The medium shot is used here as well.

Now, the shot is a close up to show the emotion of the scene. The "Bear Jew" hates Nazis, and he is very angry. The shot is also tilted to make the shot more interesting. The low angle is consistent.

This shot is almost the same as the last one by being tilted and a close up, but the Nazi is shown from the high angle. This again removes his power. He is, to be blunt, about to get his head bashed in by a baseball bat. He is staring at his death.

The use of angles in this scene tells pretty much everything about the characters without really having to use any other means.

Another example is from the 1984 film "The Terminator" (Directed by James Cameron):

As the Terminator approaches Sarah Connor in the bar, he is shot in a low angle. Not only does this give him an incredible amount of power (he is shot in low angle for nearly the entire film), but it gives him the  appearance of being incredibly tall.

Meanwhile, Sarah Connor is shot from high angle, to give her the helpless attribute.

As the Terminator pulls the gun out, the low angle is used again.

The low angle is used again for Sarah, but now it is a close up shot of her face. This, just like the scene from "Inglourious Basterds" is used to show the emotion of being near death. Sarah believes that she is about to be killed at that moment, and this close up shows her emotions, while the high angle shows that she can do nothing about it.

Both of the aforementioned scenes are nearly exactly the same. Both show a daunting figure about to kill a helpless victim, and are shot in nearly the same way. They both follow the basic shot sequence of starting with long shots and getting closer as the scene continues, and both use the low and high angle shots effectively.