MovementComposition

SelectionStandard 1

Students will be able to understand and demonstrate the correct operation of the camera.

Objective 2Camera movements

Objective 3 Picture composition

Objective 4 Shot selections

CAMERA MOVEMENTS

Camera Movements

• Tilt• Pan• Zoom• Pedestal• Dolly• Arc

Truck Movement

• Truck: Trucking is like dollying, but it involves motion left or right. Truck left means "move the camera physically to the left while maintaining its perpendicular relationship." This is not to be confused with a pan, where the camera remains firmly on its axis while the lens turns to one direction or the other. You might truck left to stay with a pedestrian as she walks down a street.

Trucking

• Trucking is basically the same as tracking or dollying. Although it means slightly different things to different people, it generally refers to side-to-side camera movement with respect to the action.

• The term trucking is not uncommon but is less widely-used than dollying or tracking. Yet another equivalent term is crabbing.

• The example pictured here shows a simple, very mobile set of tracks used with a standard tripod to create smooth trucking shots.

Tilt Movement

• Tilt: Moving the cameras lens up or down while keeping its horizontal axis constant. Nod your head up and down - this is tilting.

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.

• Tilting is less common than panning because that's the way humans work — we look left and right more often than we look up and down.

• The tilt should not be confused with the Dutch Tilt which means a deliberately slanted camera angle.

• A variation of the tilt is the pedestal shot, in which the whole camera moves up or down.

Pan Movement

• Pan: Moving the camera lens to one side or another. Look to your left, then look to your right - that's panning.

Pan

• A pan is a horizontal camera movement in which the camera moves left and right about a central axis. This is a swiveling movement, i.e. mounted in a fixed location on a tripod or shoulder, rather than a dolly-like movement in which the entire mounting system moves.

• To create a smooth pan it's a good idea to practice the movement first. If you need to move or stretch your body during the move, it helps to position yourself so you end up in the more comfortable position. In other words you should become more comfortable as the move progresses rather than less comfortable.

Zoom Movement

• Zoom: Zooming is one camera move that most people are probably familiar with. It involves changing the focal length of the lens to make the subject appear closer or further away in the frame. Most video cameras today have built-in zoom features. Some have manual zooms as well, and many have several zoom speeds. Zooming is one of the most frequently-used camera moves and one of the most overused. Use it carefully.

Pedestal Movement

• Pedestal: Moving the camera up or down without changing its vertical or horizontal axis. A camera operator can do two types of pedestals: pedestal up means "move the camera up;" pedestal down means "move the camera down." You are not tilting the lens up, rather you are moving the entire camera up. Imagine your camera is on a tripod and you're raising or lowering the tripod head (this is exactly where the term comes from).

Pedestal• A pedestal shot means moving the camera vertically with respect to the subject.

This is often referred to as "pedding" the camera up or down.

• The term comes from the type of camera support known as a pedestal (pictured right). Pedestals are used in studio settings and provide a great deal of flexibility as well as very smooth movement. Unlike standard tripods, pedestals have the ability to move the camera in any direction (left, right, up, down).

• Note that a pedestal move is different to a camera tilt, which means 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 of view.

• In reality, like most camera moves, the pedestal move is often a combination of moves. For example, pedding while simultaneously panning and/or tilting.

Dolly Movement

• Dolly: Motion towards or motion from. The name comes from the old "dolly tracks" that used to be laid down for the heavy camera to move along - very much like railroad tracks - in the days before Steadicams got so popular. The phrase dolly-in means step towards the subject with the camera, while dolly-out means to step backwards with the camera, keeping the zoom the same. Zooming the camera changes the focal length of the lens, which can introduce wide-angle distortion or changes in the apparent depth of field. For this reason, it's sometimes preferable to dolly than zoom.

Dolly• A dolly is a cart which travels along tracks. The camera is mounted on the dolly and records the shot as it moves.

Dolly shots have a number of applications and can provide very dramatic footage.

• In many circles a dolly shot is also known as a tracking shot or trucking shot. However some professionals prefer the more rigid terminology which defines dolly as in-and-out movement (i.e. closer/further away from the subject), while tracking means side-to-side movement.

• Most dollies have a lever to allow for vertical movement as well (known as a pedestal move). In some cases a crane is mounted on the dolly for additional height and flexibility. A shot which moves vertically while simultaneously tracking is called a compound shot.

• Some dollies can also operate without tracks. This provides the greatest degree of movement, assuming of course that a suitable surface is available. Special dollies are available for location work, and are designed to work with common constraints such as doorway width.

• Dollies are operated by a dolly grip. In the world of big-budget movie making, good dolly grips command a lot of respect and earning power.

• The venerable dolly faced serious competition when the Steadicam was invented. Most shots previously only possible with a dolly could now be done with the more versatile Steadicam. However dollies are still preferred for many shots, especially those that require a high degree of precision.

Arc

• An arc shot is a camera move around the subject, somewhat like a tracking shot.

• In mathematics, an arc is a segment of the circumference of a circle. A camera arc is similar — the camera moves in a rough semi-circle around the subject.

• Some definitions of the arc shot describe it as being tracking and dollying at the same time, i.e. simultaneous side-to-side and in-and-out movement.

PICTURE COMPOSITION

Picture Composition

• Rule of thirds • Nose room • Headroom • Lead room • Crossing the line • Aspect Ratio Selection • Interlaced • Progressive

Crossing the line

Aspect Ratio Selection

Interlaced

Progressive

SHOT SELECTIONS

Shot Selections

• Wide or long shot (LS) • Medium shot (MS) • Close up shot (CU) • Extreme close up shot (ECU) • Over the shoulder shot (O/S) ‐ ‐• Cross shot (XS)

Over the shoulder shot (O/S) ‐ ‐

Cross shot (XS)

Assignment

• Add to your shots video the new composition and shot selection we learned today.– 2-3 minute video– 26 shots– Everyone in video– Music– Label each shot– Name: Period_Shots_Name