Before the 1920s, cameras were usually too big to move and would cost the production more money to set up, stop production, and move the camera. All this takes time. Time in film production cost lots of money.
But now times have changed. German experiments have permitted filmmakers to use the mobile camera to communicate subtleties that were once thought impossible. Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot began filming in July 1980 for Bavaria Studios in Munich, and completed filming July 9, 1981. Cinematographer Jost Vacano used a hand-held Arriflex camera for tight interiors, with a special gyroscope mount.
Seven Basic Camera Shots
- Pan
- Tilt
- Dolly shot
- Crane shot
- Zoom shot
- Aerial shot
- Hand held shot
Pan Shot
The camera scans a scene horizontally, usually taken from a stationary axis point with camera mounted on a tripod. The reaction pan shot is when you show the President speaking to a large audience. We need to see the reaction of the crowd. The swish pan or flash pan is used for transitions between shots, and is already very common in most editing software. To get this effect, you twirl the camera rapidly to blur the images recorded. Pan shots emphasize the contiguity of people and objects sharing the same space.
Tilt Shot
These are vertical movements up and down. They're used to keep subjects in frame, or used subjectively in point of view (P.O.V.) shots. If a character's P.O.V. is at eye level, then looks down at another character, the person filmed appears more vulnerable.
Dolly Shot
Also called a tracking shot (because tracks are laid) or trucking shot, dolly shots are shots taken from a moving vehicle. Beginning filmmakers may use skateboards, grocery carts, cars, trains, or bicycles to move in, out, or alongside a moving figure or object while action is being filmed. The traveling shot is used in Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt (1963), when he places a camera on tracks and moves it forward into the foreground of the image, following a woman reading. When the track meets the foreground, the camera turns and aims its lens directly at us, the audience.
Crane Shot
An overhead shot is an airborne dolly shot, using a mechanical arm, such as a cherry picker or telephone/cable repair truck. Usually 25 feet in length or more, the airborne dolly can lift cinematographer and camera in and out of scenes. It can move up, down, diagonally, in, out, or any combination of shots.
Zoom Shot
In the 1960s the zoom shot became fashionable, then overused, and finally one of the most abused devices in cinema. Desperate directors use zoom shots to zap up materials, create urgency in a dull shot, or zoom out on static scenes. Using a rack focus or pulled focus, the focus shifts rapidly from one object to another, such as refocusing from the face of a woman to the figure of a policeman approaching from behind her.
Aerial Shot
Taken from a helicopter, airplane, or balloon, aerial shots are variations of the crane shot. Moving in many directions, this shot is usually used for exterior locations for a grand, more extravagant feeling. Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) produced a Godlike sense from aerial shots. Swirling helicopters annihilate Vietnamese villages in a kinetic tour de force of sequences through scenes edited brilliantly by Walter Murch.
Hand-Held Shot
These are more noticeable than vehicular shots, mounted with a harness on a cinematographer's shoulder to move in or out of scenes with flexibility and speed. Hand-held shots were originally used by documentarians to shoot various locations. They create jumpy and ragged shots. Hand-held shots stitch the viewer into the horror in The Blair Witch Project.
Daniel Kazel - Kazel produces Stress-Free Living TV shows for Discoverhelp, Inc. and cooking food recipes for NY Times website About.com. He lectures ...
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