Video Camera Angle ... mostly on Youtube.

[kilofox]

This is kinda silly, but I find it perplexing as to why some videographers/youtubers do this.

I will be watching a YouTube video on a camera review, monitor, computer etc etc. The person will be looking at the camera talking about the subject. There will be a cut to another camera angle with the person is looking in a different direction as if they are talking to another person off camera.

Are they trying to give the impression they are talking to a group of people?

 

[JasonTheBirder]

This is kinda silly, but I find it perplexing as to why some videographers/youtubers do this.

I will be watching a YouTube video on a camera review, monitor, computer etc etc. The person will be looking at the camera talking about the subject. There will be a cut to another camera angle with the person is looking in a different direction as if they are talking to another person off camera.

Are they trying to give the impression they are talking to a group of people?

I think one reason is to make it more interesting, where "interesting" here is subjective. People like to see faces from different angles.

But there's also a more practical reason. When people are reading their scripts or just following an outline or however they do it, they make mistakes. And if you just cut from one piece of the video to the next without changing the angle, it is very jarring. Personally, I stop watching a video if it has these cuts...it's utterly horrible.

 

[Gato Amarillo]

Those cuts to a different angle can be used to cover cuts and also they are supposed to create more interest.

Whether it works is another question.

Gato

 

[JasonTheBirder]

Those cuts to a different angle can be used to cover cuts and also they are supposed to create more interest.

Whether it works is another question.

Gato

I personally would much rather watch a cut to a different angle than a straight cut to the same angle.

 

[Gato Amarillo]

Those cuts to a different angle can be used to cover cuts and also they are supposed to create more interest.

Whether it works is another question.

Gato

I personally would much rather watch a cut to a different angle than a straight cut to the same angle.

And I am the opposite. I suspect there are a lot of folks on both sides of the issue and no obvious right or wrong.

Gato

 

[StoneJack]

This is kinda silly, but I find it perplexing as to why some videographers/youtubers do this.

I will be watching a YouTube video on a camera review, monitor, computer etc etc. The person will be looking at the camera talking about the subject. There will be a cut to another camera angle with the person is looking in a different direction as if they are talking to another person off camera.

Are they trying to give the impression they are talking to a group of people?

I think it is sometimes used on news and TV.

However, on TV it used to zoom in on news or anchor to make the point clearer, so it does have a meaning.

on YT, not so much, so it is just a copycatting a broadcasting technique.. just don't pay much attention. On YT, there are mostly amateur videos (even by best bloggers still sometimes amateurish), so lack of proper editing is understandable and forgivable

 

[Leif Gredsted]

I agree, it's irritating and alienating. At least to me. You will see, that professional tv photographers use all kinds of tricks to be able to cover cuts in an interview, like shots of the person from behind (so that you cannot see what the subject is talking about), shots of the subjects hands, shots of the interviewer nodding/smiling and so on.

In the video club where I'm a member we mostly use two cameras from aproximately the same position, but with different framing. This gives us the freedom to cut in the interview as we please. And of course we use other shots of the subject matter as well to hide cuts and hightlite the content.

So, in my opinion, it is the content and the person being interviewed that makes an interview interesting, and not quirky and unexpected angles that divert attention from the topic itself.