Shots in Titanic

Camera Angles
Much of the movie Titanic deals with the struggle between social classes and the polar ups and downs of emotion.  For this reason, James Cameron uses camera angles in shots to convey to the viewer the extent of a character's power in a given scene. One example of Cameron's utilization of camera angle to strengthen a scene is in the very beginning when the character Jack Dawson first makes his way on the the boat.  Having just won the tickets minutes prior in a lucky poker game, Jack and his friend Fabrizio run to the front of the ship.  At the same time, the captain of the ship is also shown a few decks up receiving news about the ship's starting progress.
Titanic- I'm the king of the world!
The prime example(s) of camera angle use can be see at 1:37 of the video.  For a short second, the camera flashes back to the captain, with a low angle shot.  This shot establishes his character to be exactly what you would expect an optimistic captain of the new and revolutionary cruise ship to be: powerful.  The scene then switches back to Jack Dawson who exclaims "I'm the king of the world!".  The character can say the line, make the gesture of spreading out his arms, and the viewer will get it.  But James Cameron knows using another low angle shot for this moment will let the viewer truly grasp the emotion Jack feels at this moment: complete freedom, happiness, and the idea that nothing could bring him down.

Shot Progression
In the beginning of the scene where Jack takes Rose to a third class party, Cameron uses an interesting shot progression.  Instead of starting with a shot of the full party, he starts with a close up.  This creates suspense and excitement for the audience.  This shot is especially effective here because it immediately shows this third class party to be an exact opposite of the first class party in the scenes directly prior.  The close up on the instruments and energy shows exactly what the first class party was missing.  He then pulls the camera back to show the rest of the party.  This shot and shot progression was very useful in drawing the distinction between the third class party and the first class party.
Titanic- Third class party

Distance of Shots
Another scene in the movie that utilizes a different kind of shot is the "I'm flying!" scene.  Jack and Rose have been engaging in a curious flirtation up to this point. This scene happens in the movie when Rose turns against her mother's wishes and societal conventions and meets Jack at the front of the boat.
Titanic- I'm Flying
For the majority of this scene, James Cameron uses medium shots and close ups. The medium shots tell a lot about the relationship between characters, so it would obviously be utilized in this scene.  The close up shot allows the viewer to "read" a character and gauge their emotions.  When she approaches him in the beginning of the scene, a medium shot is used to show how the two feel about each other.  This creates audience attachment to the characters and their story.  A little further in the scene when they are both standing on the railings, the camera gives us a close up on both of their faces together. This shows them both to be completely happy. James Cameron switches it up at 1:32 into the video by using a long shot.  As we learned in lecture, long shots show isolation.  However, this isolation conveys the idea that Jack and Rose are all that matter, they are alone together.  This also positively influences how the audience will think about them.