cinematography POV Camera Shots?

I'm wondering how to do point of view camera shots. Like it's being watched through the eyes of a character, like at the start of John Carpenter's 'Halloween'
Anyone know?
 
Shoot with the camera handheld at eye level (obviously). Then it is a matter of practice, of shooting where your eye would look in any given location, and subtly adjusting the camera as such.

Also having others directly address the camera is a good sell for this type of shot.
 
Hi!

Though I've never seen Halloween, I think I know what you're talking about.

I think the best bet would be to shoot with the camera shoulder-mounted, or otherwise bulked up... so you get that first-person perspective, but without TOO much of the jiggling and jarring that you would get if you tried to shoot with just the camera itself (assuming it's a consumer or prosumer, lightweight model)

It's a good idea to give the camera at least one point of contact to your body besides through your hands. For instance, if you're shooting with a viewfinder where it's held against your face, that will offer stability. Or if you're shooting with an LCD/monitor, then some other way to stabilize the camera against your chest, etc.

Hopefully some of those ideas help.

P.S. If you're talking about shooting as if through eyeholes in a mask, you'll likely want to shoot manual focus to keep the camera from trying to focus on the mask in the foreground.
 
1. Have a shot where you establish your characters eye level. For example if they are lying on the floor sideways, show them in the position first, then cut to their appropriate eye level and angle.

2. Then during the pov shot, it depends on how the character is behaving. For example, if they were drunk and their head was bobbing up and down, use a steadicam to show that movement. If they we having a seizure, you can have the camera shake.

3. Bring out the sound of whatever was happening with the character. If they were running, then make a the heavy breathing sound louder/closer during the pov shot. If its the pov of a sniper, you can go with a quiet slow breathing sound.

Think about these 3 points and adjust each level according to what kind of a pov shot you want.
 
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