Everything you need to know about camera movements

                                                                  Introduction

Camera movement is key to achieving the film reality, to lead viewers and make them feel like they are moving, rather than the camera actually doing it. The right movements can accomplish a lot, for example, guiding an audience through different camera movements makes the performance more captivating and holds the attention of the audience.

As cameras have evolved through the years, they became smaller and easier to manoeuvre, which made the story more compelling and storytellers more entertaining. Using the right movement that suits the story the best, helps you to make every single shot more effective.

What is a camera movement and how many types are there in cinematography?

-Before digging into different types of camera movements, let's take a look at what is a 'camera movement' in theory, so we can understand why directors use it so often.

Camera movement refers to the way the camera shifts and creates an illusion to visually narrate the shape of the viewers perspective of the scene.

 Camera movements allow directors to play with viewers visual senses and to shift their view without cutting. Specific movements in the film can make the audience emotional or thrilled, of course depending on the genre of the movie.

-Now, these are types of camera movements:

1. Pan/panning
2. Zoom
3. Track shot
4. Crane shot
5. Tilt
6. Handheld
7. Steadicam

What is Pan/panning?

So, panning involves moving the camera horizontally/vertically without chaining its position. It follows the subject/object or just tracks the surroundings. Panning is usually used to show the scene's setting and to indicate where the action in the movies takes place. It is also often mixed with the audio or a specific tone to give an idea of what is a story about, to the audience. 

What is a zoom shot?

Zoom shot is technically not a camera movement, but what is moving is objective in the camera creating apparition that object/subject is moving towards you (camera).

 We can obviously zoom in or out.

 Zoom shots make the audience feel more intimate with the character because it compresses the background and makes the audience concentrate on one subject/object in the frame. Zooming can give a claustrophobic atmosphere to some viewers and can convey paranoia.

What is track/tracking?

A tracking shot is any shot that follows the subject/object forwards, backwards or alongside.

 When trying to capture this shot the camera is placed on a dolly (wheeled cart where the camera is placed) and moved alongside the object to achieve smooth movements.

 The best examples of tracking shots are action movies when the main character is riding a horse or is in the car, the camera follows him alongside.

What is a crane shot?

A crane shot is any shot that is mounted on a robotic crane and can be lifted up and down in the air. 

Crane shots create an illusion for the audience to leave a normal point of view and to look at a novel perspective of it. 

This shot is usually used as an establishing shot, and the best example of the most frequent crane shots are Marvel movies.

What is a tilt?

Tilt shot is basically pivoting the camera up/down without moving its base which stays in the fixed location.

 It is usually a small movement of the camera and is used in establishing shots to show the location or place of action. 

A tilting shot can be also used to give dominance to the character or reveal new info to the audience.

 The best example of a tilting shot would be Jurassic Park, where Spielberg uses a tilt when introducing new dinosaurs.

What is a handheld?

I would say that the word is pretty self-explanatory.

 So, the camera is held by the operator and is usually unsteady and uneven when moving with it, because obviously, we don't have a base for it, it is our own handshaking and holding the weight of the camera. 

It is mostly used in documentaries or horror films ( Blair Witch Project-using go-pro cameras).

What is Steadicam?

Now, my personal favourite is steadicam. 

Steadicam shot is a variant of a handheld shot, but your operator wears it as a vest that is attached to the rig, and this equipment makes movement easier and more smooth rather than bumpy as in handheld shot.

 It was invented by Garrett Brown in 1975 and changed cinematography completely.

 It is often used in character tracking or putting the audience in characters P.O.V. The best example is the scene from Goodfellas by Martin Scorsese.

                     Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese-Steadicam