The objective perspective in film is a camera viewpoint that presents the story and characters from an external, detached standpoint, akin to a neutral observer.
Understanding the Objective Perspective
This filmmaking technique positions the audience outside the immediate thoughts and feelings of any single character. Instead, it offers a broader view of the scene, allowing viewers to take in information and events impartially.
As per the provided reference, an objective perspective tends to use wider shots to show all the characters and/or a large portion of the Story World within the frame, with no focus on one particular character. This visual approach ensures that no single individual's experience dominates the frame.
Key Characteristics
- Wider Shots: Often utilizes medium shots, long shots, or wide shots to encompass multiple characters and the environment.
- Neutral Framing: The camera does not align itself with the specific gaze or emotional state of a character.
- Equal Focus: No single character is visually prioritized through framing or camera movement.
- External Viewpoint: The audience sees the scene from a distance, as if observing from afar.
Audience Experience
The use of objective perspective significantly shapes how the audience engages with the film. This type of perspective gives the audience facts and information, more than emotions, by making the audience to be a spectator.
- Receiving Information: Viewers are given factual details about the setting, actions, and relationships between characters.
- Emotional Distance: The detachment allows the audience to analyze the situation intellectually rather than experiencing it through a character's subjective feelings.
- Spectator Role: The audience is positioned as an observer, watching events unfold without being directly immersed in a character's personal viewpoint.
Practical Application
Filmmakers use objective perspective to:
- Establish setting and context.
- Show the dynamics within a group of characters simultaneously.
- Create a sense of scale or isolation within the story world.
- Maintain suspense by not revealing a character's immediate reaction or hidden knowledge.
For example, a wide shot showing a character walking across a vast, empty landscape objectively presents the character's presence in that environment and its scale, without necessarily conveying how the character feels about the walk. In contrast, a subjective perspective (like a point-of-view shot) would place the audience directly into a character's eyes or align the camera closely with their emotional state.
By favoring broader frames and a neutral viewpoint, the objective perspective delivers information and structure, inviting the audience to interpret events from an informed yet detached position.
