Filming claustrophobia and perspective

sam_stickland

I'm going to be filming a piece soon where I want a very claustrophobic feel to it. I've found lots of tips already, but one of them confuses me:

"keep your planes frontal and not longitudinal", "Avoid 1, 2, or 3 point perspective"

My brain is having trouble envisaging a shot that doesn't make any use of 1, 2 or 3 point perspective. Can someone enlighten me?

Mark_the_Harp

Could you avoid any perspective by shooting on a narrow lens angle with a subject against a parallel wall (or a complete plain background of any colour)?

Or do it audio only? That would fulfil the advice! Joking aside, that would give you a sense of claustrophobia - good audio but against very ill-defined shapes, as if you're trapped inside something.

Or if you have to have pictures, keep the camera in one position. Sort of like a bush of death, but with acting which could be on- or off-camera.

jpbturbo

1 point perspective creates a sense of space and depth.

brianluce

How about posting some of those tips. This is an extremely useful topic.

sam_stickland

Good tips:

long focal lengths, tight framing
if the shot has movement, keep it parallel to the camera and rely on panning and tilting
shallow depth of field (to remove sense of depth)
no back light
keep the camera higher than eye level
keep planes frontal and not longitudinal (avoid 1,2 and 3 point perspective)
shoot against a flat background like a wall
keep a consistent size between your subjects
aim for tonal affinity between subject and background and reverse the usual warm/cool color separation (contrast between subject and background is a depth cue. Avoid contrast to achieve flat space)
a canted/dutch angle can go a long way in letting the audience in on how the subject feels if he/she is claustrophobic themselves--you can achieve an even great effect if you tilt the z axis of the camera into the canted angle (z-axis here means the axis that runs into the scene)
include the ceiling in the shot to give a sense of confinement

Obviously locations and set dressing have there parts to play too.

Sage

Don't want to pull a battlefield earth, but gotta love that* canted angle. I love a moving shot that slightly introduces the canted angle over the course of the shot. Brings in that subtle element of dissonance as the shot continues

sam_stickland

bumsklumpen

do you know this movie (Buried)? it's not about claustrophobia but when i saw it all alone in the dark i felt like i was in this box too.

Sage

@sam_stickland

Every single shot too XD

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