Grammar of the Shot, 2nd Edition

Dutch Angle

You will most often strive to keep your horizon line stable and level, thus ensuring an even viewing plane for your audience. A shift in your horizon line is also likely to cause shifts in your vertical lines—any tall building, tree, door frame, and so on will look tilted or slanted, not upright and even. When horizontal and vertical lines go askew it causes a sense of uneasiness and a slight disorientation in your audience. If this is done unintentionally, then you get people confused. Done on purpose and you have created what is called a Dutch angle, a Dutch tilt, a canted angle, or an oblique angle. When a character is sick or drugged or when a situation is “not quite right” you may choose to tilt the camera left or right and create ...