ABSTRACT
Tilt shots pivot the camera up or down while mounted on a tripod, a gimbal, or while handheld; this action shifts the audience’s attention from one area of a scene to another, extending a shot’s visual range vertically. A tilt shot is used to imply a special connection between a location and a character in a key scene from Steven Soderbergh’s science fiction drama Solaris. The tilt move is performed slowly, giving the audience ample time to observe and analyze the patterns, in effect presenting them in the form of an abstract shot at this stage of the tilt shot. A more common implementation of focal length in tilt shots, however, involves the level of perspective distortion it can apply to the look of a setting. Tilt shots are often used in establishing shots, usually by tilting down from the top of a location to show a character arriving at or departing from it.
