Switching Point of View: LEOPARD SKIN
how to switch from 'Omniscient Third Person' to 'Subjective First Person' POV
Similar to how you can write different POVs, you can use the camera to ‘be’ different POVs — the most used are Third Person (showing us the audience the whole scene), and First Person (showing us exactly what one character is looking at).
While a few films are entirely in First Person — such as Christmas noir Lady in the Lake (1946) — most switch to First Person POV only for specific moments.
Let’s look at the switching techniques in this scene from Leopard Skin 1.04 “The Claustrophobic Diver”
Clocking the Character’s Eyeline
In the opening wide, Batista (Gaite Jansen) turns her head and looks towards the far wall where a strange noise sounds. The move is small, but because it’s the only action in a still frame, we’re intensely aware she’s looking at something specific.
Then she gets up and leans over the bed , and we get the first shot of a socket, our first POV shot. We grasp this is her POV because we’re so aware of her movement to look at the wall, and now with the centering of the socket in an otherwise uncluttered frame, we expect that’s where the sound must be coming from.
Back in the wide, Batista begins to crawl across the bed . . .
Direct 180 Reverse Shots
The shot of the wall is Batista’s POV — cutting to to the wall socket’s angle looking at Batista as she barrels / breaks the fourth wall / makes eye contact with the camera serves to confirm that.
Note the camera is moving only on the shots of the socket (more on that below,) and the second shot of the light socket starts more closeup than the first, because Batista has moved closer.
Camera Moving with Character
The first of two camera dollies is 0:15-0:18, a push-in on the wall socket which is directly tied to Batista, who we just saw moving forward while looking at the wall.
The second is immediately following, 0:19-0:28, a smooth R-L move parallel with Batista moving across frame R-L. This is more indirect, but still keeping us in the mindset of camera equating to Batista.
What the Scene Doesn’t Do
You can certainly also throw in more stylised shots — a Dutch Tilt (perhaps two tilts at opposite angles like the above Direct Reverse 180), or a line cross, or a top-down as Batista crawls over the bed, etc.
But keeping the shots more straightforward, and repeating them through the scene, makes it easier to clearly show this is Batista’s POV.
Takeaways
If you’re going to show a character’s exact POV, and want the audience to know that’s what’s happening, consider all the shots around that POV.
Consider how you can connect the camera to the character to demonstrate to the audience what the character is seeing, how they are moving, and what they may be thinking.
Finally, consider how shot angles, character+camera movement, and the order of shots within the edit, work together to keep clear what/whose POV the audience is in.