Eyelines: How to visually connect to your audience

Dr. Leslie Dobson , host INTENTIONALLY DISTURBING

Have you ever been with someone who was really bad at making direct eye contact? What did you feel? Alone or perhaps disconnected? Well as it turns out, the same can be true for photography and cinematography.

We humans build trust through eye contact and when someone looks us in the eye, we can feel connected to them.

How does this play into a video podcast recording you say? Well… we’ll explain.

What is an eyeline? No we are aren’t talking about emo, post-punk, or goth fashion…

To put it simply, an eyeline is where someone on camera is looking. If the angle is close-to or more in line with the camera, the eyeline is “tight”. If the angle is angled away from the camera, the eyeline is “wide.”

Tight Eyeline. The camera is placed in a more direct line-of-sight to the person. We can see both eyes close clearly and almost directly into camera. This builds more connection, almost as if the person is looking directly at the “us”, the audience.

Wide Eyeline. The person has a less direct line-of-sight to the camera. This becomes more a profile shot from the side and we can see less of both eyes. They are not looking as directly at “us”. This gives us a less direct feeling of connection, which can still be useful at times.

Wide Eyeline Example The person on camera is seen more from the side, in this case, a three-quarter angle.

Tight Eyeline Example Here, the camera is placed more in-line for a tight eyeline.

There is no right or wrong eyeline, it’s simply a creative choice.

At our Los Angeles podcast studio we use our skills in visual and photographic language to inform all our choices.

We frequently shoot podcasts with two camera angles per person, giving them both a tighter eyeline shot and a wider shot. We do this to give the show visual variety and to place emphasis and feeling at different moments during the conversation.

It can be very effective to let a conversation breath and be seen from many angles. In fact, you’ve likely seen this kind of visual design in popular shows like 60 Minutes, but for some reason, the video podcast world is slow to catch on.

Whichever eyeline style or styles your show decides is most effective and evocative, we’ll be there to help guide your creative decisions!