Film School: Camera Movement

Camera Movement Guide (via reddit) Camera Movement Guide (via reddit)

Handy guides to knowing how, when, and most importantly why, to move the camera.

In Depth Cine covers Four Camera Moves Every Filmmaker Needs To Know – the types of moves, the equipment used to achieve them, and how each can be used to convey different emotions:

When planning shots, In Depth Cine advises, ask yourself:

  • What is the focus of the scene?
  • What information do we need to present?
  • In what order?
  • Whose perspective is the story being told from?
  • Should the movement be motivated?
  • Does the camera need to move at all?

Director Dave Mullins keeps this camera moves cheat sheet handy while storyboarding:

For a much deeper dive, here’s a long, impassioned thread on Types of camera movements (via Reddit):

Further Viewing

A shot from The Exorcist (1973), and how they filmed it (via All The Right Movies):

As a case study, here’s a look at director David Fincher‘s particular use of motivated camera movement:

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