How Do the Camera Angles on “Bloodline” Complement the Storytelling?
Bloodline (2015) capitalizes on the elements of visual storytelling to use the camera and the cinematography to enhance and propel the narrative arc of the series. The photography gives the viewer clues, some overt—some much more subtle, about how to feel or react to the dialogue or visuals on screen.
There are times when we are in a character’s head, experiencing flashbacks or visions, directly from their first person point of view. This type of super intimate POV often happens with Danny (Ben Mendelsohn.) For these shots, we see the world through Danny’s eyes, sometimes including the blurry edges. As viewers, we know enough to understand that Danny isn’t a reliable narrator. In turn, we learn that we cannot trust the things that we ‘see’ in Danny’s head. The camera work puts viewers directly into Danny’s wobbly world.
The use of long shots in certain key scenes convey the look and feel of surveillance footage. This comes up a lot with Meg (Linda Cardellini) and her romantic relationships. She will see Marco from a distance as she talks to another man on the phone. In one particular long shot, the camera is placed outside of the kitchen window and records Danny talking to his mother (Sissy Spacek) from a distance. Both of these instances force the viewer into the role of the voyeur, like an eavesdropper spying on an intimate moment in which we are not invited. With Meg, we are front row to her infidelity. With Danny and his mother, we know that they are deliberately keeping things from each other and from other members of the family. The long distance shots in these moments reinforce the characters’ separation from the truth.
The camera angles underscore the storytelling elements. Viewers move from distant to uncomfortably close, sometimes in the same scene. This is all part of the overall aesthetic of the show. The constantly changing viewpoints allow the writers and the production team to say more than they could with simply dialogue alone. By utilizing these camera tools, the show’s creators effectively immerse the audience in the layered, shadowy world of Bloodline.