Originally published on Homingo Learn .

Fear on a phone screen comes from where the camera stands and where the light falls. What each choice does, how to plan it shot by shot and how to build it for flat 2D art in code.

Horror cinematographers work with a short list of tools: where the camera stands, how it moves, and which part of the frame the light is allowed to reach. An animated vertical Short uses the same tools, with two differences. The frame is tall and small, so every choice has to read at a glance on a phone. And there is no set: a camera move is a transform on your art layers, and a light is a layer you draw. This guide covers both halves, the film grammar and the code for it.

What each camera angle tells the viewer

Five heights, five meanings. Pick the height from who holds the power in the beat.

The height of the camera decides who looks strong. That is the whole trick, and horror uses it in both directions:

Overhead: the subject is pinned to the floor plan, small and watched.…