Camera angles completely affect the way the audience sees the images. This is the viewer's eye into the world created by the production crew. Where the camera is placed, what lenses are used and how the camera is moved determine the feel of a scene and can dramatically impact the images as seen by the viewer.
Eye-level camera angles are common and represent a real-world view of the scene, while a bird's eye view is a shot positioned from directly above the subject. This angle allows the viewer to see the movement of the subjects below more clearly and is commonly used in sports productions. Meanwhile the low angle shot positions the camera below the subject, making the object or person in the shot seem more powerful, scary or dominant, according to MediaCollege.com. This is typically used for dramatic purposes in film. The opposite works by positioning the camera at a high angle to diminish the size or significance of a subject.
The use of b-roll today is much different than it was in the early days of television. This technique is a standard operating procedure for all television and film productions now. The b-roll is what you see when there is a reason you shouldn't see the established shot.
Early on when television reporters would record audio and video together for interviews or other purposes, the editing process required them to put an alternate image on the screen to distract the viewer from the jump cut in the audio and video, according to b-roll.net. The playback personnel would start two reels at once and manually switch to the "b-roll" when the time came to distract the viewer.
Today the process is much easier, but the concept remains the same. Imagine an interview with a man talking about a crime scene. The image cuts away to actual shots of the crime scene he's discussing. You still hear his voice over the images. This editing necessity became a standard editing style over time and is used for far more than covering jump cuts in today's productions.
If you've ever wondered how they make it look like Superman is flying high above the clouds, the answer is blue screen and chroma key.
The use of the blue or (sometimes green screen) in film or television production is quite common today. Anytime the director wishes to composite an actor or actors over an image that isn't really there, they bring out the blue screen, according to the Visual Concept Entertainment website.
Chroma key allows the editor to replace the specific blue color of the background with another still image or full video while still keeping the actor on camera. In the Superman example, the actor is strung up in front of a blue screen in a flying position and the view of the clouds and sky are inserted over the screen during post-production.