POV Shot
A POV or point-of-view shot puts the camera in a character's eyes so the audience sees what they see.
What this is about
The grammar is a sandwich: a shot of the character looking, the POV itself, then the reaction. Skip a slice and the audience reads the POV as an ordinary angle. Planning a POV means matching eyeline height, lens and head movement to the character — a child's POV sits lower, a running POV shakes. Horror and thrillers use unclaimed POVs deliberately: someone is watching, and the missing reveal is the threat. In the shot list, POVs mark their partner shots so neither gets cut alone.
A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.
What runs differently here
Where this differs from the general case:
- German crews call it die Subjektive; POV is understood on every set.
- Eyeline height and lens choice sell the illusion more than camera shake does.
- A POV without its reaction shot is just a moving frame — plan them as a pair.
With TillyGen
In TillyGen a POV line in the shot list sits next to its look and reaction shots, so the trio survives schedule cuts together.
Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.
Frequently asked
What makes a POV shot believable?
Correct eyeline height, a lens close to human perception and motion that matches the character's state. The cut into and out of it does the rest.
How long does it take to get started with TillyGen?
A first project takes under an hour to set up. There is no configuration phase in which templates and fields have to be defined before the tool produces anything.
Can the results be exported?
Yes — as PDF for the crew, CSV for downstream systems and through the API for anything automated. The plan stays the source; the exports are views of it.