From the course: Camera Movement for Video Productions

What are the different types of motion?

From the course: Camera Movement for Video Productions

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What are the different types of motion?

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The most basic camera movement that we see in movies is used to follow characters. It is the most basic technique because it tends to be the easiest to incorporate into our work. But there's a lot more to camera movement than just following our subjects. And we will see when and why they can be used to enhance our stories. Over several short movies, we will cover many different types of camera movement from big budget gibs, to much simpler do it yourself variations that can be quickly and easily incorporated into smaller budget projects. There are essentially five motions we can do with a camera. Back and forth, side to side, up and down, around the subject, and pivoting the camera, which we normally refer to panning and tilting. Lets look at some examples of these motions. Pans and tilts are accomplished by shifting the direction of the camera. Up or down. Side to side. These are examples of back and forth movement, which in cinema are called dolly in and dolly out. The camera moves forward and backward to increase or decrease the distance from the action. A similar move can be accomplished adjusting the focal length if using a zoom lens. We will cover the difference between moving the camera and zooming in our out in a later chapter. On a tracking shot, the camera moves alongside the action of the scene. The distance between the camera and the subject does not change. The pedestal is somewhat similar to tilting. But here, the height of the camera changes. This is a very effective way to reveal additional visual clues. An arc is created by moving the camera around an object, or more often, a subject. The Arc is accomplished through a combination of the moves mentioned earlier. The distance, height, and the camera direction can shift to move the camera around the subject. On chapter four, we will discuss stabilizers and share several different examples of this movement. Each of these camera movements can be accomplished in multiple ways. As we will see, we don't always need tons of super fancy and expensive gear to achieve these motions, but having the right tools and most importantly, understanding when and why to use them is the key. Along with these essential types of motion, we will cover less conventional camera movement techniques. As well as the artistic difference between shooting a handheld as opposed to stabilizers or fixed camera shooting.

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