i've started to pick up on some nuances of cinamatography and visual grammar in anime over the time i've been lurk-ticipating here, and i wanted to share a few of those things with the highly insightful fart-huffers that have taught me.

so one basic idea is that you don't get bloopers in animation. everything that makes it onto the screen is there on purpose. that isn't to say that mistakes don't get made, but that generally speaking, what's going on in front of the "camera" is deliberate.

the first and greatest thing that i've become mindful of is this: what is the "camera" pointed at?

we can split the camera's subject into one of several basic categories: the person speaking, or the person being spoken to, a third person, or "The thing being talked about" (flashback imagery, scenery).

next is, whose perspective is the camera from? this can be subtle and difficult to pick out but rewarding if you notice that events are unfolding in first person. that's deliberate - you're experiencing these events from that character's perspective. if third person, you're viewing the events uncolored by the subject's perspective.

framing. how is the shot framed? there is a foreground and a background, and the former is a great place to put things that don't physically separate the characters on screen but imply separation none the less. close-up shots can be intimate or claustrophobic zomed out shots are more impersonal

where are the characters in the frame? do they dominate it or are they insignificant?

where are the characters relative to each other?

high and low? that implies a power imbalance.

close together? implies solidarity; finding strength in another or giving support.

far apart? physical distance can imply metaphorical difference - a rift between two characters.

advancing/retreating? together/separated separated 2?