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Angles & Tilts
This ties in directly with what we’re doing on this particular assignment. The angle and tilt of the character’s head can convey a lot of feeling. Your choice of angle and tilt should be well thought out as you think of the emotion that you’re trying to get across.
The angle and tilt of the character’s head is directly related to two primary factors:
1) The viewer’s point of view (or the camera positioning) and, as already mentioned,
2) The emotion of the character.
The point of view is mainly determined by the layout artist within the animated cartoon context or the cartoonist in a comic strip or book context. The point of view can also be called the “camera angle” (which is a live action term and also used in animation as well). There are 3 different types of camera angles:
- Upshot (an extreme of this would be a “bird’s eye view”, meaning, you are the bird flying in the sky looking down at the ground where the character is),
- Downshot (the extreme of this shot would be called a “worm’s eye view”, meaning you are the worm, crawling on the ground looking up at the character), and
- Eye Level Shot (where you the viewer are at the same eye level as the character you’re looking at, which is the normal point of view for most people, unless you’re really tall or really short and depending on the character’s actual height as well,. This assumes you’re the same height of course).
The emotional state of the character will also determine the tilt of the head. Someone who is aloof will tilt their head up and away. Someone who is shy will tilt their head to the side and down. Someone who is angry will tilt their head forward and slightly down. Try some emotional stances yourself and see (feel) how you tilt your head. |
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