POINT OF VIEW

Point-of-View Shot: A shot in which the audience temporarily shares the visual perspective of a character. The camera points in the direction that the character looks, simulating his field of vision.

Point-of-View Editing: The joining together of a point-of-view shot with a match cut to show, in the first, a character looking, and in the second, what the character is looking at. Often the point-of-view shot is followed by a third shot, a reaction shot.

1. Character looking

2. What the character sees

3. Character reacting

“Point-of-view shots can, but don’t always, align viewers with characters. They help to explain the way characters experience the world, validate character interpretations of events, and provide information about motivation.”

Maria Pramaggiore and Tom Wallis, Film: A Critical Introduction, 3rd ed., Pearson (2011).

Point-of-view editing relies on the Kuleshov effect, a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.