Must-have angles for your product videography

Product videography is necessary for most products when it comes to advertising. Whether you’re filming to upload an advertisement on social media or if it’s going to appear on the television, people all over the nation, probably all over the world, are going to see your video.

When it comes to making a good advert, angles are key. Which part of your product does your video catch? How does the light bounce off it? What does your camera catch in the background? Angles can be used to emphasize different aspects of a story or to give you a closer look at a specific part of a product. Directors utilise a series of different angles to give their audience the best experience, and in the case of advertising, to give them the best view of their product.

With so much to think about, it can be hard to know which angles you should use to best advertise your product. If you find yourself stuck on how to start, here are 5 top tips on finding those winning angles for your product.

5 top tips to find the best angles for your product videography

1. Consider your product

Before you even touch a camera, first consider what kind of product you’re marketing. If you’re trying to sell a pair of vibrantly coloured trainers, you might want your advert to be more exciting. Showing your trainers off at an angle can make your product seem more interesting, more exciting. It’s also a good idea to consider that since trainers are on our feet, we find it more important to judge them from the top down. By filming the trainers at a high angle, you can isolate the trainers from the rest of the scene to put more attention on them, while also showing off those key features. Maybe you could even throw in an oblique angle – an angle where the camera is tilted – to give a unique effect, making the trainers seem just that bit more different to your run-of-the-mill pair. On the other hand, if you’re selling a pair of glasses, you might feature an eye-level angle, keeping the focus on the eyes themselves so that the glasses fill up the screen.

2. Consider your script

If you want to tell a story to sell your product, you might have created a script.

Consider what kind of story you’re telling to sell your product. If your product is a car, you might feature a series of car chases that follow the car from an extreme longshot bird’s eye view to show off the control the driver has over the car.

Alternatively, you might want to show off its appearance instead by telling a story on passion and vividity. In this case, a bird’s eye view would show less of what you want compared to a high angle, which could catch more of the features of your car with a closer view.

3. Know your angles

In order to know exactly what angles you should be using, you should familiarise yourself with the different kinds of angles there are. Angles can fall into a number of different categories: field of view, which determines how close you are to the object you’re filming and dictates how much you can see around it; horizontal position, which as you might guess dictates which angle you’re filming on a horizontal angle (for example a rear view or a front view); vertical position, meaning how you view your object from the vertical axis (a birds-eye view looking straight down or a low angle which looks up at your object); and finally the camera level, whether the camera is straight or askew (if it is filmed at an oblique angle).

As we’ve discussed so far, each angle has its benefits when it comes to filming your product. Where one angle might show off one feature, another angle might be better for another. Ultimately, it’s down to you to decide what angle best fits your needs.

4. Switch

The great thing about using video to advertise your product rather than a photo is that you can utilise several angles in just one video. If you want to show off your product as much as possible, you can change your angle multiple times to highlight different aspects. The front of a car is vastly different to the backside of the car, and where an eye-level angle might show off the boot nicely, a high angle could show off the details on the front better. If the wheels of the car have an interesting design, or you want to show off their traction on different kinds of terrain, a low angle might be better at catching what you want.

By switching to different angles, you can make sure to grab the details you need to best sell your product, no matter what it is. Keep in mind, however, that switching angles too frequently can become disorienting and might not give a potential customer enough time to view certain details of your product.

5. Experiment

It can sometimes be hard to know what angle will show off your product the best. Some people can be more interested in one aspect of a product, while others can be focused on a completely different part.

Sometimes, it can come down to experimentation. What angle do you find more interesting? What angle shows off the most of the product? By trying different things with your filming, you might come across some scenes you would never have thought to use. It’s always worth trying out new things.

Must-have angles for a product video

Now that you understand the different types of angles and how they work, here are the best angles to show off your products in video.

- Closeup shot – to show off the specific details of your product.
- Medium shot – to show off your product as a whole.
- 3/4 angle and 3/4 rear angle – to show off both the sides and front/rear of your products in one shot.
- High angle – to show off your product from a higher point of view, revealing details on the top while also showing off the side of your product.
- Low angle – to catch the details nearer to the bottom of your product.
- Normal and oblique angles – normal angles show your product off clearly and in a more standard way, whereas the oblique angle can make your product seem more exciting and unique.

There are many ways for you to utilise angles in your product videography to show off the most of your product. These are just a few winning angles and tips on how to best film your product for advertisement. Play around and experiment with your video angles to achieve more winning shots that draw more attention to your products.

If you’re interested in learning more about filming your product for advertisement, why not check out our other product video guide – Top tips to create a product video that sells.