Happy New Year to all and a special one to André.

Next months I’m planning to make a movie "Cartoons», I have a story "Book "and the problem is that I have to adapt the story to scenes and one of my major problems is understanding the camera "The picture" according the research I did elements (Objects) in the scene have souls and depending where they appear in the screen they have different meaning (Advertizing techniques).
Now if have to shoot a scene where shall I put the camera? When Shall I zoom in /out?
Let’s imagine it’s a video game where the camera is the "virtual eye" of the player and since the player can only see an image of himself where would you put the camera and why.

Thank You.

Buddy, this is a tough question. I studied Media at college, and the usual task was to disect a TV commercial. Each second could have five separate shots aiming at completely different objects to form a scene. The motive is to build a complete narrative around composition, angles, lines, color, subject, etc. Even reflection, refraction and obscurity may be used. The viewer is then drawn through a journey of subliminal exercises that invoke a subconscious knowledge of the product.

Take milk, for example. On his delivery, the milkman will provide a lot of signifiers to promote milk. His milk van, milk crate, uniform, milk bottle, reflection in window, driving past a cow, happily whistling, bidding good morning to a neighbour. Even the colors of the houses (White and light blue perhaps?), provide the means to sell the product.

Now, for your task, you need to take on a different persona... That of dramatisation. The camera can remain on specific points in a scene for a lot longer, but they must have a dramatic effect. The camera angles need to lead the viewer through the emotion of the scenes, be they action, romance or comedy.

I'd suggest watching some cartoons on YouTube and noting the different camera angles and movement to describe similar scenes in your tale.

Sorry I couldn't be more specific, but camera usage is a real art.

Lee