Point of view

A shot showing what a character sees, as they see it. The camera stops observing and starts belonging to someone.

The point-of-view shot dissolves the camera's neutrality: for its duration we do not watch a character, we are one, seeing what they see at their height, their pace, their attention. The film's grammar makes the loan explicit, a look, then the seen, then the reaction.

Belonging to someone is a loan with terms: POV binds sympathy hard, which is why horror gives us the stalker's eyes and romance the first glance. Break the terms carelessly and the audience feels used. Interfaces make the same wager, a screen is always somebody's point of view, and design decides whose.