A close-up shot taken from a low position upward toward the actors, so as to flaunt their nostrils.
A classic example comes from The Blair Witch Project, spawning numerous parodies. If done well, it can be very creepy, but it has been mocked mercilessly ever since.
Might be part of a Goblin Face shot. Compare Closeup on Head, when the scene begins with a close-up of the face just to gradually pull back. Contrast Facecam, which is mounting a camera on the actor's body so the background can change over a face close-up.
Examples:
Comic Strips
- Liberty Meadows: Leslie mimics this shot when he and the guys are lost in the woods.
Films — Animation
- Igor: At one point, Scamper comments, "Can you imagine a face like that on a 40-foot screen?" Cut to an extreme close-up of Eva.
- The Incredibles: Played for Laughs. Both The Incredibles and Incredibles 2 feature security camera nostril shots of the diminutive Edna Mode.
Films — Live-Action
- Scary Movie: It pokes fun at the Blair Witch scene, complete with a runny nose that just keeps running.
- The Blair Witch Project: Heather records herself crying and talking to the camera, apologizing to her mom and her friends' mothers for starting the project and dragging them to the forest. The take shows only half her head, and especially noticeable are her nose and eyes. (According to the DVD commentary, this was accidental; the actress thought she was filming her whole face.) It's a point where she has given up on finding their way out of the woods and saving themselves.
Live-Action TV
- Doctor Who:
- Discussed on the DVD commentary for the story "Robot". Terrance Dicks remarked that Jon Pertwee was very sensitive about his nose and refused to do low-angle shots for this reason, to which Elisabeth Sladen complained that she always got nostril shots because she was looking up at horrible things so often.
- A particularly unpleasant one happens at the beginning of Episode 3 of "The Seeds of Doom", where Sarah and the Doctor are lying dazed on the ground following the explosion of the shack. The closeup of the Doctor's face gives us a tour of Tom Baker's nasal cavity, with polystyrene snowflakes visibly clinging to the brightly illuminated nose hairs, slap bang in the centre of the frame. Yuck.
- Whose Line Is It Anyway?: One game of World's Worst involves examples of the world's worst TV show, and Greg Proops and Drew Carey take turns to move too close to the camera, "announcing" the TV shows "You're Standing Too Close" and "What's Up My Nose".
Music
- Dong Bang Shin Ki: Not really for the scary effect. In a show
where the guests were supposed to sing to old legends right in front of them, they attached a camera to the mike.
- Peter Gabriel: In the concert video of the Secret World Live tour, Peter and his backup band would wear head-mounted fisheye face cams during "Digging in the Dirt". This trope is particularly notable for Peter himself, and even more so for his bassist, Tony Levin.
Web Comics
- Sluggy Freelance: Bun-Bun shoves the camera up Torg's nose.
Web Videos
- Echo Chamber: Of Tom in the storeroom.
- Tess Masazza: She parodies the famous scene of the trope namer in an episode of her Web Series Insopportabilmente Donna. She records a last message to her parents and friends where she begs forgiveness for “having agreed to this madness”. The “madness” being an outdoor camping trip.
- The Autobiography of Jane Eyre: The series uses lots of tricks to create gloomy and spooky atmosphere of the original Gothic Novel. Episode 3 especially was very Blair Witch-y with Jitter Cam and other obscured camera angles. Some of the angles taking Jane's face were posed from below and it was effectively creepy.
Western Animation
- My Gym Partner's a Monkey: Parodied in Principal Pixiefrog's The Outsiders movie audition tape.
- The Scooby-Doo Project: A promo parodies the famous shot with Shaggy, who mutters "I'm so hungry!"
- The Simpsons: In "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", Lisa parodies The Blair Witch Project.
Lisa: If I don't make it out alive, I love you, Mom and Dad. Maggie, you can have my books. And Bart, I'll See You in Hell, you booger-eating wuss! Yeah, that's right, we all know!
