Extreme low angle from inside the tub—badegast's perspective. Creates vulnerability and intimacy, standard in psychological thrillers and drama.
You are lying in the bathtub, the camera is positioned directly above you — that's the bathtub shot. Not just any shot from above, but a radical low-angle from the bather's own perspective. The camera is at eye level or just below, often even partially submerged in the water. This creates a perspective that feels immediately physical: the bather dominates the frame, the surroundings — bathroom wall, ceiling, perhaps a window — become a backdrop that arches above them.
Practically, it works like this: You need a stable, waterproof camera mount, often an underwater housing or an action camera on a tripod that you lower into the water. Alternatively, you work with a cinematographer who goes into the water themselves — here, good communication and clear distances to the actor are essential. The bathtub needs to be sufficiently large and clean; reflections and water spots on the lens are your constant adversaries. Lighting is tricky: side lighting works better than direct overhead lighting because it models the water's surface plastically and doesn't reflect into the lens.
The emotional impact is immediate. Because the perspective is so close and vulnerable — naked, in the water, exposed to the viewer — an intimacy arises that is more disturbing than any normal wide shot. You see the actor's expression from below, their helplessness is practically pressed into your field of vision. In psychological thrillers like Marnie (Hitchcock) or modern arthouse dramas, this is used deliberately to externalize a character's inner fragmentation — the bath as a place of forgetfulness, dissolution, or observation. This camera position is also almost standard in scenes where someone is drowning or about to drown, as it conveys the bather's panic more authentically than any over-the-shoulder shot.
In terms of editing, you shouldn't keep the bathtub shot isolated — short cuts to the door, the mirror, a second person in the room break up the intimacy and create tension. Combined with sound (still water, breathing sounds, footsteps on the tiles), a simple low-angle shot quickly becomes a dense, claustrophobic experience.