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Camera Movement

Page history last edited by Air Dupaix 14 years, 4 months ago

Camera movement is one of the tools in the filmmaker’s arsenal that can bring life and a unique quality to the vast number of shots that comprise a film- in short, it helps shape the viewer’s perspective of the world created by the filmmaker. While often under-appreciated by the viewer, it is often one of the key elements in film that draws our attention and makes us enjoy what we are viewing. The fundamentally basic forms of camera movement were being widely used by the 1920s but, as is the case with most elements of filmmaking, the equipment that deeply influences how camera movement operates (as well as the new styles of camera movement) continues to evolve over time.

  

Here are a few common camera movement terms:

  

Camera Pan: 

A pan is a horizontal camera movement in which the camera moves left and right about a central axis (2). This type of camera movement is usually performed while the camera is mounted on a tripod and can give the effect of looking from left to right (3).

 

 

Camera Tilt: 

A is a vertical camera movement in which the camera points up or down from a stationary location (2). This type of camera movement is also normally performed while the camera is mounted on a tripod and can give the sense of looking up or down (3).

 

 

It should be noted that on both the pan and the tilt the camera moves while the tripod remains stationary (3).

 

Camera Dolly, Tracking or Trucking: 

A dolly is a cart that normally travels along tracks that are laid in the direction needed to obtain the desired shot. There are also dollies that can operate without tracks when suitable surfaces are available for filming. The camera is mounted on the dolly and records the shot as it moves. (2) A dolly can move in a number of directions: forward, backward, side to side, diagonally, and even in circles (3). The camera movement where the camera moves parallel to the action being filmed is most often referred to as “tracking,” while the camera movement closer to or further from the action being filmed is most often referred to as “dollying” (2).These shots stand apart from panning and tilting because the entire camera physically moves, rather than being anchored to a single point and being shifted.

 

Dolly Zoom: 

A dolly zoom is a camera technique where the camera moves closer or further from the subject while simultaneously adjusting the zoom angle in order to keep the subject the same size in the frame. The effect of a dolly zoom is that the subject appears stationary while at the same time the background size changes (this is also referred to as perspective distortion(2).

 

 

 

 

The above video shows dolly zoom examples from the following films: Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975), Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982), Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990), and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

 

 

In the above montage of various types of dolly zoom shots we can see that the camera movement can have different meanings when used in different ways. In the first clips from Vertigo the effect of a man gripped by vertigo, or feeling unbalanced at the height of the tower he is climbing, can nearly be experienced by the audience through the use of this camera movement. In the clip from Jaws, the viewer is able to see the sudden realization of impending danger as the dolly zoom focuses on Brody. The clip from Poltergeist is meant to add a paranormal feeling to the film of unease and help add to the fright of the audience as they watch this eerie scene. The Goodfellas scene can be seen and described below. The final clip in the montage shows Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. In this shot the dolly zoom gives an extraordinar yet ominous feel to the forest ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

In this scene from Goodfellas a variety of camera movements add to the visual aesthetics of the scene. We are first given a dolly shot entering the diner to establish the setting of the scene and show the perspective of Ray Liotta’s character as he walks. We then see the dolly zoom shot during the conversation of the two characters. This dolly zoom adds the effect of closing in on the two characters and their booth, heightening the tension and drama of the scene. Through the conversation the camera performs small motions such as pans and tilts. This clip ends with a dolly shot of the camera moving back from the table to open up the scene as the conversation ends.

 

Innovation of Camera Movement 

One of the earlier examples of a director using unique camera movement in their films could come from Jean Renoir. In his 1937 film La Grande Illusion (The Grand Illusion), Renoir often uses long flowing shots where the camera moves to both follow the action as well explore the surrounding area of the scene. Andre Bazin explains Renoir’s choice of camera movement over making multiple cuts by saying, “By moving the camera to ‘reframe’ the scene instead of cutting, Renoir is able to treat the sequence not as a series of fragments but as a dramatic whole.” (1:p64) Bazin also explains how Renoir had movable sets created to be used on location, rather than shooting in a studio. He used these sets in a way that he could have action both “inside” and outside on location in a single shot by using camera movement to show both aspects of the scene. This is the way that Renoir “attempts to portray realistically the relations between men and the world in which they find themselves,” according to Bazin.

 

To learn more about Bazin's views on Renoir and La Grande Illusion please visit Bazin on The Grand Illusion.

 

Other Examples

 

 

 

In this short clip from an early scene in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, camera movement is used in a unique way. The character Freder is seen looking at the factory workers and a giant machine. The machine appears to be over-heating and the effect of an explosion is implied through the use of the camera moving in towards Freder. He is seen walking towards the viewer, towards the camera, and towards the large machine and then the camera moves towards him as he stumbles backwards towards the wall. This camera movement acts in a way in place of what we would probably now see through the use of pyrotechnics or elaborate stunt work in a modern explosion scene. The viewer is given all the information needed to understand that Freder is being pushed back as the machine explodes out of control by way of a simple camera move.

 

 

*Yet another major edit could go here with an explanation of the Do The Right Thing clip Sean showed in class. I wanted to add it but ran out of words.

*Link Fritz Lang and Metropolis once those pages are created.

 

 


 

Works Consulted

 

1. Bazin, Andre. Jean Renoir. Ed. Francois Truffaut. Trans. W.W. Halsey II, William H. Simon. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1973. Print.

2. "Camera Movement." Mediacollege.com. n.d. Web. September 29, 2009.

3. "Camera Movement." Filmreference.com. n.d. Web. September 29, 2009.

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