Directing, 4th Edition

C H A P T E R 1 2

POINT OF VIEW

A point-of-view shot is a camera angle taken from a character’s physical location in the scene, but cinematic point of view (POV) is less tangible. Like point of view in literature, you know it because something is making you share a character’s feelings and predicaments. The effect is easier to describe than to account for. Harder still is to say how to write, direct, and control it. Film language—unlike the printed page, which obligingly stands still as you analyze it—moves in a flow of dynamic images that are subtly modified by words, symbols, sounds, color, movement, and music. However complex it is, POV is nevertheless within its director’s sphere of influence, so let’s first glance at antecedents in ...