CCM Coaching Tip #35: Camera Angles

by Tommy Kramer, KramerMedia.net

One of the most important things I teach is Camera Angles.

Here's a simple way to explain it:

There's always going to be a certain perspective on any subject that just comes to you naturally. It grows out of what you've lived, and what you see first when you think about it.

But here's a way to get to a whole other level: ARBITRARILY picture yourself in someone ELSE's shoes, and you get a different perspective.

Example: The Tournament of Roses Parade every New Year.

Most air talents see only the obvious, what it looks like from the "judges' booth" as the floats roll by. And you get that plain vanilla, mostly left-brain description..."That float is 50 feet long, took 7 months to build, and used 150,000 rose petals. The queen is waving to the crowd from a seat on the top of the float, 25 feet above street level."

MAN, is that boring.

But put yourself in the Tournament of Roses Queen's shoes, and you get a different perspective: "I've been waving and smiling for 3 miles, and now my face is frozen that way and my arm is really tired...and we have 8 more miles to go!"

But that means nothing to the guy in the marching band AHEAD of her float. He's thinking, "What's SHE griping about? I have to WALK these next eight miles, AND lug this stupid tuba!"

And to the guy on the street corner, holding his daughter up balanced on his shoulders, the camera angle is simply, "When did my 3-year old blow up to 200 pounds?"...because that's what it feels like.

Each of those camera angles gives you (1) a different way to tell the story that's not what everyone else is going to say, and (2) a whole different ENDING.