cinematography

Camera Dynamics Methods for Moving the Camera

What is the narrative / emotional impact of your choice of camera movement?

● The movement itself, the style, trajectory, pacing and timing in relation to the action all contribute to the mood and feel of the shot: they add a subtext and an emotional content independent of the shot.

● Camera placement is a key decision in storytelling, it determines what the audience sees and from what perspective. What the audience does not see can be as important as what they do see. And then what the movement reveals, can add another emotional overlay.

Camera Movement

● Pan / Tilt

● Tracking (e.g. on Dolly)

● Zoom

● Handheld

● Steadicam

● Crane

● Mounted on vehicle (rolling shots)

Pan / Tilt

● Pan/tilt = turning on axis (like turning head)

● Camera stationary (on tripod)

● Pan – camera looks left/right

● Tilt – camera looks up/down

● Tilting is different from “booming” (or “pedding”)

Tracking

● Tracking = camera actually moves

● Moving shot terminology ● Alongside and parallel to subject

● Leading ● Following ● Counter-move ● Reveal ● Circles – using circular track

Zoom

● Zoom vs. Tracking = zooms change focal length, and depth of field. With zoom your basic POV stays the same, but with dolly, the camera moves in relation to your subject (background moves behind the subject), adding a sense of motion.

● Zoom changes the perspective from wide angle (deep focus) to long lens (compressed background, smaller field of view), or vice versa, and changes the depth of field.

Zolly

Jaws: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW23RsUTb2Y Goodfellas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWRncNMEhLw

● Zolly - dolly in while zooming out, or visa versa. The image size stays the same, but there is a dramatic change of perspective and background - feeling of disorientation. Examples: Jaws, Goodfellas

Handheld

● Qualities of Handheld shots

● Subtle push-in / pull-out

● Dirtier, more frenetic

● Sense of immediacy and energy (Saving Private Ryan was shot 90% handheld)

● Often the right choice for a true POV shot.

● Suggests a documentary approach, implies that "you are there," and "this is really

happening," verité.

● Can convey a sense of honesty, immediacy and simplicity that makes it popular in

many commercials.

Steadicam ● Allows moves where dolly would be

difficult or impossible - stairs, rough ground, sand.

● Floaty movements, dreamy ● Can almost be an additional character

in the scene.

Steadicam

● Operator Garrett Brown invented it in the 1980s, first used on The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)

Tree of Life (Malick, 2011)

Steadicam movement contributes to the tone of this film’s philosophical and existential rumination on the meaning of family and childhood.

Camera Support & Movement

● Tripod (“sticks”) - pan / tilt

● Dolly / Slider – tracking, push in/out - combining wide w/tighter shot, focusing the viewer's attention even more effectively than just cutting into the scene.

● Handheld rig, Easy-rig

● Jib / Crane

● Steadicam

● Other camera stabilizers – e.g. Glidecam, Movi, Ronin DJI

● Drone

History

● Introduction of Sound – The “Talkies”

● Singing In The Rain (Kelly and Donen, 1952) – illustrates some of the early problems with introduction of the Talkies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTFCctdiS04

I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba) (Kalatozov, 1964)

● Four vignettes about the lives of the Cuban people set during the pre-revolutionary era.

● Movement – Camera on pulleys – what camera moves from/to, what is revealed has meaning

Jules and Jim (Truffaut, 1962)

● As cameras became smaller and mic placement advanced, liberated the camera to move again.

SnorriCam A special device that mounts the camera directly on the actor’s body. Most often used to show a character in an altered state

SnorriCam is named after two Icelandic filmmakers, Einar Snorri and Eidur Snorri (no relation).

Popularized by Darren Aronofsky, especially through his early movies Pi (1998) and Requiem for a Dream (2000), but the use of such devices dates back to at least Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973) and John Frankenheimer’s Seconds (1966).

Motivation and Invisible Technique In narrative films, typically you want to strive for motivated camera moves. Documentaries can be more flexible, but still it is often more effective and immersive if you use the movement of your subject to motivate a camera move.

● Motivation - the action itself may motivate a move. Both the start and end of a dolly move or pan should be motivated. Must arrive at a new frame, with new information composed in a meaningful way.

● Camera should "settle" at the end of any move. Rest at the new frame a beat before the cut point. Dolly grip should "feather" in/out of the move.

● Camera movement itself may have a purpose, e.g. reveal new information or a new view of the scene. Camera move may meet someone or pull back to show a wider shot.

● Unmotivated moves can pull audience out of the moment and make them conscious that they are watching a film, but can have their uses, in more stylized filmmaking. E.g. Wes Anderson films.

Unmotivated Camera Moves

Moving Master Shots

● The moving master shot (or “oner”) is a shot that covers the entire action in one shot, often achieved with a steadicam or on a dolly, but it can be handheld or even on a tripod (through panning, tilting, zooming). If done correctly, it has the ability to cover a variety of “coverage” shots within this one moving master.

● The key to a good moving master shot is that there is interesting blocking that keeps the frame constantly active, such as characters crossing in front of camera, or revealing new information as the camera tracks with characters.

● It is important to pay attention that all the beats of the scene are captured and that the camera is in the right place for each of these beats by the placement of the frame on the subject.

● Moving Master shots TAKE TIME to rehearse and shoot.

● Lighting for moving master shots can be difficult as the field of view is greater, and therefore it is more difficult to hide lights.

● Again, the shot should always service the story.

NOT Moving Camera

● What is the narrative purpose, or emotional effect, of NOT moving the camera?