In visual representation, social distance is related in part to apparent proximity.
In camerawork, degrees of formality are reflected in shot sizes
- close-ups signifying intimate or personal modes.
- medium shots a social mode and
- long shots an impersonal mode.
In visual media, the represented physical distance between the observed and the observer often reflects attempts to encourage feelings of emotional involvement or critical detachment in the viewer.
Proximity is not the only marker of social distance in the visual media: angles of view are also significant. High angles (looking down on a depicted person from above) are widely interpreted as making that person look small and insignificant, and low angles (looking up at them from below) are said to make them look powerful and superior
The interplay of these techniques is important. In the three photographs shown here of Michelangelo's David (1501-4, Accademia, Florence), whilst all of the shots are taken from below this gigantic figure, the close-up from below seems to me to emphasize the power of the figure in contrast to the mid-shot, in which - despite the musculature - David seems somewhat softer and more vulnerable. The closer we are the more we look upwards.
Power is signified most strongly by a low angle which is also a close-up - as if, as we get closer, we become more vulnerable.
In camerawork, degrees of formality are reflected in shot sizes
- close-ups signifying intimate or personal modes.
- medium shots a social mode and
- long shots an impersonal mode.
In visual media, the represented physical distance between the observed and the observer often reflects attempts to encourage feelings of emotional involvement or critical detachment in the viewer.
Proximity is not the only marker of social distance in the visual media: angles of view are also significant. High angles (looking down on a depicted person from above) are widely interpreted as making that person look small and insignificant, and low angles (looking up at them from below) are said to make them look powerful and superior
The interplay of these techniques is important. In the three photographs shown here of Michelangelo's David (1501-4, Accademia, Florence), whilst all of the shots are taken from below this gigantic figure, the close-up from below seems to me to emphasize the power of the figure in contrast to the mid-shot, in which - despite the musculature - David seems somewhat softer and more vulnerable. The closer we are the more we look upwards.
Power is signified most strongly by a low angle which is also a close-up - as if, as we get closer, we become more vulnerable.
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