There are multiple ways for film to capture the interior emotional world of a character, from cinematography to sound design. But one way to put an audience directly into a character’s headspace? The Snorricam shot. (thread)

A Snorricam shot is when a camera is latched on to an actor’s body as the background shifts around them. Even if you didn’t know it by name, you’ve seen these trippy POV shots before in movies, TV, and music videos — think Smashing Pumpkins “1979” or Janet Jackson “Go Deep.”

But the Snorricam has a longer history than you may realize. Though it grew to prominence in the 90s, the earliest use of a body-mounted camera rig is believed to be in the 1932 German film KUHLE WAMPE, where the camera tracks a woman walking through a crowd of children.

One famous early use of the Snorricam before it was coined as such (we’ll get there) is in MEAN STREETS (1973). Scorsese’s bodycam gives us a front row seat to Charlie’s (Harvey Keitel) drunken daze, the camera fixed on his sweaty face as the background swirls in a woozy blur.

But Scorsese was using a Snorricam two decades before it was technically invented. The Snorricam as we know it today was created in 1996 by Icelandic photographers Einar Snorri and Eiður Snorri while shooting the video for "Chunky Black Shoes,” a track by punk band Maul Girls.

Soon after, the Snorricam skyrocketed to prominence thanks to Darren Aronofsky, who first used it in his 1998 debut PI and again in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2000). After that, it was used by everyone from Spike Lee to the Wachowski sisters to Michael Bay.

But what exactly is the point of a Snorricam? These bodycam shots visually emphasize a character’s state of mind, often to amplify the effect of intoxication, panic, paranoia, or sometimes a calm euphoria.

With a Snorricam, the audience is invited to experience the heightened sensations a character is feeling while also getting an up-close-and-personal look at their facial reactions throughout.

A Snorricam is often used to echo a character’s booze or drug-addled POV, as Scorsese did in MEAN STREETS, and again in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013) during Leo DiCaprio’s quaalude bender.

Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap uses a Snorricam to similar effect in his 2009 film DEV.D. Much like Charlie in MEAN STREETS, the camera follows Abhay Deol's drunk Dev through a nightclub after tossing back several shots.

The Snorri Brothers’ rig is just as effective at capturing the disorienting haze of a hangover. Rather perfectly, Todd Phillips used it in THE HANGOVER (2009).

But Snorricam shots aren’t just about being wasted. In Guy Ritchie’s LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS (1999) the body rig is used to convey the utter shock and paralyzing panic of losing a huge chunk of money in a poker game.

In Richard Shepard’s THE PERFECTION (2019), a Snorricam plays a crucial role in the film’s blood-splattered finale when — *SPOILERS* — Allison Williams’ Charlotte finally gets revenge on her rapist.

John Frankenheimer’s sci-fi cult classic SECONDS (1966) memorably used a Snorricam prototype to startling effect, attaching the camera to Frank Campanella, Rock Hudson, and John Randolph at various angles to express the unnerving paranoia that permeates the film.

Though commonly used to evoke a sense of confusion or vertigo, Snorricams can also express a character’s quieter moment of internal bliss. Such is the case in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s BABEL (2006) during Chieko’s (Rinko Kikuchi) trance-like swing sequence.

That BABEL scene? An homage to Satyajit Ray’s 1964 film CHARULATA, in which the camera (mounted on a swing) watches Madhabi Mukherjee’s Charu rock back and forth as her husband’s handsome cousin reads to her. But wait, the reference goes back further!

Charu’s enraptured moment of liberation on the swing in CHARULATA recalls a similar scene from Jean Renoir’s 1936 film A DAY IN THE COUNTRY. In it, the camera, also mounted to a swing, watches Henriette (Sylvia Bataille) joyfully swinging in a garden.

Whether you first experienced a Snorricam shot in a Scorsese film, a 90s music video, or a raunchy comedy, now you know a little more about the versatility of this unique camera technique that’s been used in cinema for over 80 years.

You can watch Snorricam shots in MEAN STREETS, LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, BABEL, DEV.D, THE HANGOVER, and THE PERFECTION on Netflix (US) now.