Camera Movement

Camera movement

The manner in which the camera-person moves the camera plays a very important role in the effects and emotions given off in a scene.

Basic camera movements:

PAN: A pan is a horizontal camera movement in which the camera moves left and right about a central axis. It should always have a start and end point. Also, it usually 'leads', rather than 'trails' a subject. The speed of a pan across a subject creates a particular mood as well as establishing the viewer's relationship with the subject.

      

TILT: A tilt is a vertical camera movement in which the camera points up or down from a stationary location. For example, if you mount a camera on your shoulder and nod it up and down, you are tilting the camera.This movement is not used as much as panning due to human nature; we look left and right more than we do up and down.

PEDESTAL: A pedestal camera movement means moving the camera vertically in respect to the subject. Often referred to as 'pedding' the camera 'up' or 'down'. A pedestal move is different to a camera tilt, as with a 'tilt',  the camera is in the same position but tilts the angle of view up and down. In a ped movement, the whole camera is moving, not just the angle.

Dolly: When the entire camera is moved forward or backward, this move is called dolly. If the camera is on tripod, the tripod will also be moved. Dollies are often used when recording a subject that moves away or toward the camera, in which case the goal would probably be keeping the subject at the same distance from the camera. For an optimal dolly, the camera should be mounted on a wheeled-platform, such as an actual dolly, or a shopping cart, depending on the budget. Moving the camera forward is called dolly in. Moving the camera backward is called dolly out.

TRACKING: The term tracking shot is widely considered to be synonymous with dolly shot; that is, a shot in which the camera is mounted on a cart which travels along tracks.

ARC: A combination of dolly and truck, the ARC is a semicircular movement or to reveal a view from behind the principle subject.

CRANE: A crane is the movement of the camera atop the long arm of a crane