Camera Movement

Tuesday 16th October 2018:

Functions of a camera movement:

• Zoom into something
• Switch between 2 characters
• Follow the action of a scene
• Reveal information about a shot
• Find out more about surroundings 
• Continuous shots
• Take us on a journey
• Disorientate viewer
• Add realism to scenes

Camera Movement:

• potential to function in different ways
• reveal dramatic information by enlarging audiences field of view
• narrow/focus attention on significant objects or characters

Motivated Camera Movement:

• Camera moves when prompted by characters/events in films, e.g. follows a moving character.
• Here is an example of a motivated shot from Raiders of the Lost Arc
• In this scene, you can clearly see how the camera switches between the man, the shots and the woman, and then back again. It follows the character's every move, thus making it a motivated movement.

Unmotivated Camera Movement:

• A camera movement that doesn't match what's happening in the scene, such as pushing in on a character that is standing still.
• The end part of this clip from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows part 2 is an example of unmotivated camera movement.
• At 3:38, you can see the three characters standing still together facing the camera, whilst it zooms out from them. This therefore makes it an unmotivated movement.

Zoom:

• Magnifies element of a scene
• Altering the focal length
• Can force the audience to focus on a certain subject
• Zooming out could show surroundings.
• Here's an example from A Clockwork Orange opening sequence.
• As the scene zooms out from the main character, the audience becomes aware of what/who else is in the room, whilst still being able to see the main character whom the shot started on.

Pan:

• Camera moves horizontally
• Follows a character
• Shows surroundings
• Shows a point of view
• Allows audience to follow action
• Reveals unseen information about a scene

Tilt:

• Moving camera vertically
• Reveals location
• Changes significance of a subject

Whip pan and tilt:

• Extreme fast movement from side to side or up and down, which causes the shot to blur slightly
• It moves from one subject to another
• Can be used as a cut
• This in an example of a whip pan in Lala Land
• It also shows the behind the scenes of the shot, and you can see the camera operator quickly moving the camera from each character in order to get the blur effect as well as focusing on each character when needed for the scene.

Dolly:

• A piece of equipment that follows a subject/action
• Designed to create smooth camera movements
• Can dolly in and out or left to right
• Brings attention to a subject

Dolly Zoom:

• Camera moves closer or further from the subject whilst simultaneously zooming in/out
• Creates an unnatural effect
• Focuses on the subject whilst background changes
• This is an example of a dolly zoom in the film Jaws.

Handheld:

• Camera is held in hand
• From the point of view of characters
• Adds realism and makes it feel like you're actually there
• This is an example of a handheld camera in the film Saving Private Ryan.
• It makes the audience feel involved in the action and as if they're actually there with the characters in the film.

Steady cam:

• A steady cam is like a handheld, but it makes the scene smoother and easier for shots like going up stairs.
• The Shining using a steady cam in the bat scene on the staircase.
• This helps the camera crew to keep the shot steady instead of having it all bumpy and all over the place as it would be if you were using a handheld camera.