#basic camera movements

(via 7 Basic Camera Movements - Pan, Tilt, Truck & More - Storyblocks)

https://downloads.boords.com/boords-camera-angles.pdf

  (TO BE UPDATED)

http://blog.vasukibelavadi.com/how-to-select-the-right-camera-movement/

http://www.videomaker.com/article/10775

http://www.videomaker.com/article/14221

video basics 6 by herbert Zettl (books.google.com.ph/books?isbn=0495572489)

There are nine basic camera movements: pan, tilt, cant, pedestal, dolly, truck, arc, crane, and tongue. Sometimes "zoom" is included in the major camera movements. Describe the different terms and explain how each of these movements can be applied in making a film.

Pan – To pan is to turn the camera horizontally, from left to right or from right to left. To pan right means to swivel or move the camera clockwise so that the lens points more to the right; to pan left means to swivel or move the camera counterclockwise so that the lens points more to the left.

Tilt – To tilt is to make the camera point up or down. A tilt up means to point the camera gradually up.; a tilt down means to point the camera gradually down.

Cant – To cant is to tilt the camera sideways. You can cant the camera either left or right. When you cant right, the horizon line will be slanted uphill; its low point will be screen-left, its high point screen-right. Canting left will produce the opposite effect. Canting is easy with the handheld or shoulder-mounted camera but you cannot cant  a camera supported by a standard camera mount.

Pedestal – To pedestal is to elevate or lower the camera on the center column of a tripod or studio pedestal. To pedestal up you crank or pull up the center column, thereby raising the camera. To pedestal down you crank or pull down the center column, lowering the camera. This motion puts the camera into different vertical positions, which means that the camera sees the sense as though you were looking at it from the top of a ladder or while kneeling on the floor. You can pedestal a handheld camera by simply raising it slowly above your head or lowering it to the ground.

Dolly – To dolly is to move the camera toward or away from an object in more or less a straight line by means of a mobile camera mount. When you dolly in, you move the camera closer to the object; when you dolly out or dolly back, you move the camera farther away.

With the handheld or shoulder-mounted camera, you simply walk the camera toward or away from the scene. Some directors call this dollying, in or out, even though the camera is not mounted on a dolly; others simply ask you to get closer or back up.

Truck – To truck, or track, is to move the camera laterally by means of a mobile camera mount. When you truck right or truck left, you move the camera mount to the right or left with the camera lens pointing at a right angle to the direction of travel. If you want to follow somebody walking on a sidewalk, you would truck with the camera alongside on the street, with the lens pointing at the person.

Tracking often means the same as trucking. Sometimes tracking refers simply to a moving camera’s keeping up with a moving object. With a handheld or shoulder-mounted camera, you walk parallel to the moving object while keeping the camera pointed at it.

Arc – To arc is to move the camera in a slightly curved dolly or truck movement. To arc left means that you dolly in or out in a camera-left curve, or you truck left in a curve around the object. To arc right means that you dolly in or out in a camera-right curve, or you truck right in a curve around the object. With the handheld or shoulder-mounted camera, you simply walk in a slight arc while pointing the lens at the scene. Arching is often required to reveal more of the camera-far person in an over –the-shoulder shot when the camera near-person is blocking or nearly blocking out view of the camera-far person.

Crane – To crane, or boom, is to move the camera up or down on a camera crane or jib arm. A crane is a large and bulky device that can lift the camera and its operator, and sometimes a second person (usually the director), up to 30 feet aboveground in one impressive sweep. The crane itself is moved by a driver and an assistant. A jib arm is a simpler crane that can be handled by a single camera operator.

To crane up or boom up means to raise the boom with the attached camera; to crane down or boom down means to lower the boom and the attached camera. Simple holding a small camcorder high above your head then swooping it down close to the floor level will not duplicate the feeling of a crane motion. Unless you are 10 feet tall, there is simply not enough height different between the extreme high and low camera positions to simulate a crane motion.

Tongue – To tongue is to move the whole camera from left to right or from right to left with the boom of a camera crane or jib arm. When you tongue left or right, the camera usually points in the same general direction, with only the boom swinging left or right. Tonguing creates an effect similar to a truck except the horizontal arc of the boom with the camera is usually much wider and can be much faster. Tonguing is often combined with a boom-up or boom-down movement.

The crane and tongue movement are somewhat of a special effect. Even if you have access to a crane, use each extreme camera movements sparingly and only if they contribute to the shot’s intensity.

Zoom – To zoom is to change the focal length to a lens through the use of a zoom control while the camera remains stationary. To zoom in means to change the lens gradually to a narrow-angle position, thereby, making the scene appear to move closer to the viewer; to zoom out means to change the less gradually to a wide-angle position thereby making the scene appear to move farther away from the viewer. Although the effect of a zoom is the object’s moving toward or away from the screen rather than the camera’s moving into or out of the scene, the zoom is usually classified as one of the camera “movements”.