Week 3 & 4: Camera Angles

I chose to comment on the camera angles used in the popular TV show series "Big Brother" on CBS. I watched the hour long episode that aired on September 4, 2019. I chose to review an episode of Big Brother because it is one of my favorite shows and it uses a wide variety of camera angles to build suspense. The show is very dramatic with lots of twists and surprises, so the directors definitely use the camera angles we learned about to their advantage.

This is a high angle shot that was taken at the Veto Picking Ceremony on the show. The Head of Household, the man closest to the camera, would be picking houseguests, on the couch, to play in the Veto competition. In Big Brother, the Veto competition is a huge deal because it can buy you safety in the game. The high angle shot was chosen for this ceremony to get the entire room with all the houseguests in the shot, and to show their facial expressions and reactions.

This is a close up shot of the Head of Household picking a person's chip from the Veto box. The close up shot builds tension because it isolates where the action is in this season. It also builds suspense because the audience doesn't know whose chip will be picked. I've been watching Big Brother for several years, and I have always noticed how much excited I get when they do a close up shot on the Veto box, and now I why.

This is a medium shot of the houseguest Jessica running to hide the object in her hands for the Veto competition somewhere in the house. I think this shot was chosen to emphasize that she was hurrying to hide the disk. Medium-long shots are very often used in Big Brother because the people filming are never in the house. The cameras are all scattered along the walls. Keeping the shots from a distance most likely preserves detail and shows more of what is going on. This medium shot of Jessica got me very anxious because I could hear the counting down while also watching her race the clock.

This is another high angle shot of the houseguest Christie trying to find the other houseguest's disks so she could win the Veto competition. This shot was an excellent choice because it showed her ripping up the rooms, desperately trying to find the disks. It also showed the damage that was already made in the room. There was a huge mess all around the house.

This shot is a full shot. It shows the Veto winner, Tommy, hugging his friend, Holly. I feel like a closer shot, like a medium shot, would've been better for this scene. The full shot made it look kind of awkward, but I'm sure Big Brother was just adding in several camera angles to show more dimension.

This last shot is and establishing shot, but it is also a pan shot which can not be shown by the still photo I took of my TV. This establishing shot was chosen because it showed the Big Brother House after the Veto competition. Big Brother holds this competition every year and it absolutely destroys the house, so the show was trying to show the entire mess. The establishing shot did exactly what it was meant to do, set the setting. It made me anxious looking at the entire mess. The pan shot went along with the establishing shot to show all of the damage in the house. The camera panned in every room.