Camera points straight at the subject plane — zero perspective angle, full frontality. Confrontational or documentary feel depending on intent.
The camera is directly facing you and looking at you — not from above, not from the side, but straight-on, at eye level or exactly parallel to the object plane. This is the most radical form of confrontation between the image and the viewer. No vanishing lines, no illusion of spatial depth through perspective, just the pure surface of the face, the wall, the body. You eliminate one of the most powerful cinematic tools — spatial depth — and force the audience to engage with what is depicted without escaping into perspectival complexity.
In practice, you use the straight-on angle for completely different purposes. Documentarily, it appears honest and direct — interview situations, direct looks into the camera, mugshots. The early Bresson films or late Ozu works show how you can create an almost meditative stillness with it, because your eye has no vanishing points to wander to. Psychologically, the same shot can be disturbing: If an actor stares rigidly and unmoving into the straight-on positioned camera, something disturbing, hypnotic, quickly emerges — Lynch masterfully uses this. The straight-on angle forces stillness, presence. Movement then happens not in space, but on the surface itself.
On set, you need discipline. No excuses about spatial construction, no rescue through spatial trickery. Your lighting, your focus, your timing must be precise — there is no distraction. When lighting, be careful not to accidentally create cues for depth (highlights, shadows in the background), unless that is precisely what you want. Often, flatter lighting is used because the straight-on angle is already so maximal. In editing, this effect is intensified — two straight-on shots cut together create a rhythmic series, almost photographic.
Related to this are the dead-center composition and strict symmetrical framing. However, the straight-on angle is even more radical: it negates spatial depth not only optically but also psychologically. Use it consciously — not out of convenience, but out of artistic intent.