Mike Victorick©
Lesson deck · REF CA-001

Where the
camera sits

AnglesShot sizePower07 slides1920 × 1080PPTX · PDFHS AV productionRev. 2026

Instructional design · Presentation design

A seven-slide lesson that teaches high school film students to choose camera angle and shot size on purpose, so the audience can tell who holds power in a scene.

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Manifest

FormatLesson deck
Slides07
AudienceHS AV production
Design systemTHE 90s
FilesPPTX · PDF
AccessibilityAlt text · notes
StatusNot yet taught
Project thumbnail reading Where the Camera Sits, Angles, Shot Size and Power, beside a card that stacks camera heights above, level and below, and asks who holds power in the frame.
Fig. 01 · Project thumbnailTHE 90s
01 · Slides07One idea each
02 · Films09Titles cited
03 · Lines06Shot twice
04 · QA7/7Slides passed
01

The brief

Problem

Film students learn the names of camera angles fast. Picking one on purpose comes much later. Most first shoots happen at eye level because that is where the tripod ends up.

Audience

High school students in a CTE AV production or film course. Some have shot on their phones for years and some have never framed a shot.

My role

I wrote the brief, approved the outline, chose the assessment and own the final copy. The slides were built with an AI-assisted pipeline I set up, with an automated QA check on every render.

02

Objective

Measurable outcome

By the end of the unit, students choose camera height and shot size on purpose so the audience can tell who holds power in a scene. They show it by shooting one short exchange twice with the power flipped.

03

Approach

  1. 03.1
    Clip first, vocabulary second

    The lesson opens on the Prague restaurant scene from Mission: Impossible (1996). The lines stay the same while the camera drops lower and tilts as Ethan works out that Kittredge is lying. Students say what changed before they learn the terms for it.

  2. 03.2
    One idea per slide

    Low angle, high angle, overhead and Dutch, shot size, then how size and angle build across a scene, then three questions to ask before every setup.

  3. 03.3
    A real film behind every term

    Citizen Kane, The Ring, Casino, The Master, 12 Years a Slave and Westworld, pulled from a NotebookLM notebook built on StudioBinder's breakdowns and tagged in the speaker notes.

  4. 03.4
    The rule gets complicated on purpose

    In Citizen Kane the extreme low angle on Kane after the election plays as defeat. The angle sets size. The scene decides what that size means.

  5. 03.5
    Differentiation in the notes

    Students below level get a shot list with sizes filled in and choose only the angles. Students ahead add one Dutch angle and justify it in writing. Everyone ends with an exit ticket: one shot, its size, its angle and the reason.

04

Assessment

Performance task

Pairs write a six-line exchange and shoot it twice. In version A one character holds the power. In version B it flips. Same lines, same actors. Only the angles and shot sizes change.

The class watches both versions, names who holds power in each and points to the shot that shows it. If they can't tell, the pair reshoots one setup.

Before every setup · Slide 07
  • Who holds the power in this moment?
  • Where does the camera sit to show it?
  • How close should the audience be?

Shot list columns: size · angle · reason_

05

Slide index

Slide 01CA-001.01
Slide 1: The camera decides who looks strong. Three stacked boxes showing camera heights. Low angle: looking up, the subject reads strong. Eye level: straight on, equal footing. High angle: looking down, the subject reads small.

The camera decides who looks strong.

Slide 02CA-001.02
Slide 2: Low angle: looking up gives a character power. Diagram with the camera at the bottom, below the eyeline and tilted up, and an arrow pointing up to the subject, who towers over the viewer.

Low angle: looking up gives a character power.

Slide 03CA-001.03
Slide 3: High angle: looking down takes it away. Diagram with the camera at the top, above the eyeline and tilted down, and an arrow pointing down to the subject, who shrinks into the frame.

High angle: looking down takes it away.

Slide 04CA-001.04
Slide 4: Overhead shots watch. Dutch angles unsettle. Two boxes. Overhead: straight down, the audience watches from above. Dutch: horizon off level, something is off. The Dutch box is drawn tilted.

Overhead shots watch. Dutch angles unsettle.

Slide 05CA-001.05
Slide 5: Shot size sets how close the audience feels. Four stacked boxes for shot sizes. Wide shot: whole body and the room around it. Medium shot: waist up, neutral. Close-up: the face fills the frame. Extreme close-up: one detail such as eyes or hands.

Shot size sets how close the audience feels.

Slide 06CA-001.06
Slide 6: Move in as the tension rises. Three stacked boxes joined by downward arrows: Wide, setup, where are we; Medium, rising action, who wants what; Close-up, climax, what do they feel.

Move in as the tension rises.

Slide 07CA-001.07
Slide 7: Ask three questions before every setup. Sample shot list entry. Shot 04A, two-shot in cowboy framing. Angle: low on character A, who takes control here. Angle: high on character B, who loses the argument. Shot list columns: size, angle, reason.

Ask three questions before every setup.

06

Design and accessibility

THE 90s design system

Near-black ground, monospace type, hard offset shadows, and an accent color that changes slide to slide. Every slide runs the same grid: title row, bullet panel on the left, diagram card on the right, source line, footer.

Each diagram reads without color. Camera heights are labeled BELOW, LEVEL and ABOVE, and the Dutch angle box is drawn tilted. Every slide image carries alt text, and the PPTX has full speaker notes on all seven slides.

Every slide passed the QA script for layout, type scale, focal point, accent use and contrast. Four slides failed the first pass because single words were wrapping onto their own line. I rewrote those bullets shorter and they passed.

07

Outcome

Evidence of impact

Not taught yet. This is a portfolio build. The flipped-power shoot is the test: if the class can name who holds power from the frames alone, the lesson worked.

What I learned

An automated check catches things I miss at a glance, like one word stranded on its own line. Short bullets fixed it every time, and the slides read faster for it.

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