4 Camera Moves Every Filmmaker Needs To Know

INTRODUCTION

The way in which the camera moves isn’t an arbitrary choice made by filmmakers, or, at least, it shouldn’t be. Each choice made by cinematographers or directors should be a deliberate one that is responsible for visually communicating information or an emotional tone.

From early on in cinema, people worked out that the camera presents a point of view and that moving the position of the camera in different ways during a shot can have different effects on how that shot is perceived by audiences. The way in which information on screen is presented, and in what order that information is presented, can also be controlled by the motion of the camera.

So today I thought I’ll look at four common types of camera movement, go over how they are technically achieved, with what gear, and uncover how each can be used to communicate different emotional tones.

PAN & TILT

Let’s start with the most basic and easiest to achieve camera movement - the pan and tilt.

Panning directs the angle of the camera on a horizontal axis. From right to left or from left to right. Tilting the camera moves it on a vertical axis, angling it upwards or downwards.

These movements are most often done on a tripod head, which can pan or tilt the camera in a smooth motion without shake. However, other types of gear can be used to pan to tilt, such as: a stabilised remote head like a Libra, by whipping a gimbal up or down or controlling its motion remotely, using the motion of a Steadicam, or even panning or tilting the camera handheld.

Both a pan and a tilt are usually used in combination to achieve what I’d call motivated camera movement. This is where the camera’s motion mimics that of the motion on screen. 

For example, if a character moves around during a scene the operator may pan or tilt with them so that they remain the focus and do not leave the shot or ‘break frame’ as we say. By following the motion, the camera takes on a more subjective visual language that is more focused on a specific individual and their actions. As opposed to a wide locked off frame that doesn’t move and is more observational and objective.

The easiest way of quickly communicating which character in the story is most important in a scene is to follow their movement by panning or tilting with them.

Panning and tilting can also be used to reveal important information to the audience. For example the camera may start on a character and then tilt down onto an object. Tilting down to this object is a way of directing the audience’s eye to an important detail or piece of information in the story and saying ‘Look at this. Pay attention to it. It will be important later.’

The speed at which the camera tilts or pans will also create different tones. 

A slow pan over a landscape may be used to build a sense of anticipation or gradually reveal the magnitude of the space. Whereas a quick whip pan makes a shot feel much more dynamic and is used to inject energy into a scene in a way that is more stylised.

PUSH IN & PULL OUT

A push-in physically moves the camera closer to its subject, usually at a gradual speed. The opposite is a pull-out where the camera steadily moves further away from its subject. So for push ins the shot size will go from wider to tighter and for pull outs the shot size will go from tighter to wider.

Although these moves can be done handheld, they are more commonly done with rigs that keep the motion smooth, such as a dolly, a slider, a Technocrane or a Steadicam.

The more slow and smooth the movement the more natural and subtle the emotional effect. The faster the motion the more abrupt, stylised and impactful it becomes.

For me, slowly pushing in on a character, especially during an important moment where we move into a character’s close up, makes me get inside that character's head. The camera is literally drawing you into their world. This movement makes you concentrate more on what the character is talking or thinking about. Often this move is used when characters are dealing with some kind of internal conflict or during a pivotal moment in the story.

The pull-out works in an almost inverse way. Instead of pushing in closer to the mind of the character, we pull away from them and become increasingly detached. This move can therefore be done to isolate a character on screen and introduce a sense of loneliness.

Another function this move has is to reveal a space or information. Starting in a close up and then pulling backwards will slowly reveal more of the location to the audience, better contextualising the character within their space. 

Since the push in and pull out are not motivated by the movement of the character, it is more of a stylistic choice and is therefore in danger of losing its impact if it is overused or continuously done for every close up. 

TRACK

A tracking shot kind of speaks for itself. It’s what I’d call a move where the camera physically moves through a space from a start to an end position - often tracking the movement of its subject.

Usually this is done with a dolly by laying a line of tracks and then pushing the dolly along those tracks on a straight axis, sometimes maintaining the same distance between a subject and the camera. Track positioning can also be more diagonal, where the camera tracks sideways but also gradually closer or further away from its subject.

This move can be done on a Steadicam, especially for sequences composed of longer takes with different axes of movement, or where the terrain changes gradient and placing tracks becomes cumbersome. Tracking shots done from directly behind or in front of a character are also commonly done with a Steadicam or without tracks on a dolly on a smooth, even floor. 

Like with panning and tilting, this movement can be motivated, based on the movement of the characters.

For example, characters walking from right to left can be followed by tracking in the same direction. Again, this increases subjectivity, shows you what the main focus of the shot is and puts you in the literal footsteps of the characters.

Sometimes filmmakers use a counter track, where the dolly moves in the opposite direction to the subject. Usually this is done in a swift move to increase the energy and tempo of a shot. As the camera moves against the motion of the subject, it decreases the length of the take so is usually inserted as a quick cut within a sequence. For this reason, cars are often shot with counter moves from a Russian Arm, which increases the feeling of motion and speed.  

Tracking through a space alongside a character in a longer take also gradually expands the scope of a location and introduces the audience to a space as we are exposed to new backgrounds as the camera moves.   

BOOM

Booming refers to moving the camera up or down on a vertical axis.

Boom shots are usually associated with camera cranes which are used to lift or drop a camera using an arm. But for more limited moves they are also commonly done with a dolly, which has a smaller hydraulic arm. These two methods are popular for their stability and smoothness of movement and easy control. Some other gear used for boom shots may include a drone, a spidercam or rig using a pulley system, or a Towercam.

Booming up can be used to reveal more information using a single shot. For example, it could boom from an object, point A, up to a character, point B. This is a way of pointing out to the audience that the object at point A may be important or hold significance to the story. It creates a link between the two points.

Even in the case of the cliche example of characters driving off into the sunset on an open road, point A starts on the characters in a car which then booms up to point B, the open road. This move therefore creates a link between the characters and the open road, which may represent possibilities, freedom, or hope.

As with the push in, booming up and down is often not motivated by movement and should be used sparingly to avoid overuse and minimising its impact.

Also, in the same way as a tracking shot, booming can reveal more of a landscape or setting and is therefore often used to uncover the space as either an establishing shot at the beginning of the scene or as a closing shot at the end of a scene.

CONCLUSION

There we have it. Four types of basic moves which can be used to control how information in a movie is presented. 

When interpreting and coming up with camera movement context matters. The same move made to capture different stories in different contexts, at a different pace, in a different manner with different gear may change the effect and meaning that move has on an audience.

So, when you’re planning your shots ask yourself these questions: What is the focus of the scene? What information do we need to present? In what order? Whose perspective is the story being told from? Should the movement be motivated? Or does the camera need to move at all?

These four moves are also just the tip of the iceberg. Some directors like combining some, or even all, of the above moves into a single shot if it serves the telling of the story. Because, really, how the camera in a film should move is only limited by budget, the three dimensions and our imagination.