Dutch angle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Dutch tilt, Dutch angle, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle or Batman Angle is a cinematic tactic often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. A Dutch angle is achieved by tilting the camera off to the side so that the shot is composed with the horizon unparallel with the bottom of the frame. Many Dutch angles are static shots at an obscure angle, but in a moving Dutch angle shot the camera can pivot, pan or track along the director/cinematographer's established diagonal axis for the shot.
[edit] Examples of usage in movies
The angles were widely used in German cinema of the 1930s and 1940s, hence its name (Deutsch, meaning German, was often confused with the English word Dutch, as in "Pennsylvania Dutch"). Montages of Dutch angles are structured in a way that the tilts are almost always horizontally opposite in each shot, for example, a right tilted shot will nearly always be followed with a left tilted shot, and so on.
The 1949 film The Third Man makes extensive use of Dutch angle shots to emphasize the main character's alienation in a foreign environment (and perhaps as a homage to co-star Orson Welles's own heavy use of unusual angles as a director). An anecdote of cinema lore alleges that once filming was completed, the crew presented director Carol Reed with a spirit level to sardonically encourage him to use more traditional shooting angles.
Dutch angles were used to great effect in the original TV series of Batman. Each villain had their own angle. In fact, such was the influence of this series in Britain, the colloquial term 'Batman Angle' is still in common use today among Britons. They also were used in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas to help intensify Sally's (the ragdoll voiced by Catherine O'Hara) lack of physical balance. In another of Tim Burton's movies, Ed Wood, there is a Dutch angle used in the scene where Bela discusses suicidal intentions with Ed. Specifically, it was used when Bela stood up and said "You could come with me, Eddie..."
Terry Gilliam has often used Dutch angles in his films, including The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, representing madness, disorientation from time travel, and drug psychosis respectively.
A Dutch angle was used in American Pie during the love scene between Kevin and Vicki, to highlight the awkwardness the characters felt as they lost their virginity together.
David Lean uses a Dutch angle in the climactic scene of Brief Encounter, displaying Laura Jesson's unease on the train platform.
In the Hammer Horror adaptation of Phantom of the Opera, Terence Fisher uses dutch angles for the entirety of the lengthy flashback sequence, to distinguish it from the 'present day' (1911) scenes.
The television show Good Eats also makes use of Dutch angles and other unorthodox camera angles.
The Dutch angle technique has sometimes been overused in film. The movie Battlefield Earth made use of the technique in just about every scene.
In the video game Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, the netherworld part uses this too.
