Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film

CAMERA MOVEMENT
Camera movement is one of the most expressive tools
available to a filmmaker. It alters the relationship
between the subject and the camera frame, shaping the
viewer’s perspective of space and time and controlling the
delivery of narrative information. As the camera frame
orients the viewer within the mise-en-scène, movement
of the frame provides the illusion of the viewer journeying
through the world of the narrative. The camera
height and angle, the distance to a subject, and the
composition of a shot may change during camera movement,
as the framing travels above, below, around, into,
and out of space. Types of camera movement are distinguished
by their direction and the equipment used to
achieve motion. Although the basic forms of camera
movement were in place by the 1920s, the equipment
that facilitates camera motion continues to evolve.
The moving camera can function in a variety of ways
and, when used in a long take, is uniquely able to depict
uninterrupted stretches of time and space. Camera movement
may follow objects in transit within the frame, or
may act independently; it may reveal offscreen space, or
deliberately suppress access to space; it may objectively
witness events, or suggest the subjective perspective of a
character; it may advance the narrative, develop themes,
or create patterns; and it may contribute to kinetic or
rhythmic effects. Fluid camera movement within shots
sustained for unusually long periods of time can not only
serve as an alternative to editing, but can also punctuate
changes in narrative action within the shot and participate
in formal patterning across the entirety of a film.
The film critic André Bazin was one of the great champions
of camera movement within long takes, believing
that such shots had the potential to record the reality of
the world in front of the camera more accurately than
sequences constructed through editing.
TYPES OF CAMERA MOVEMENT
The two most basic forms of camera movement are
panning and tilting; both involve the rotation of the
camera while it is attached to a fixed stand. A pan (from
‘‘panorama’’) moves the camera from side to side on a
horizontal axis, providing the sense of looking to the left
or the right. A tilt moves the camera up and down on a
vertical axis. During panning and tilting, the camera is
typically attached to a tripod, a three-legged stand topped
with a camera mount and an arm to direct the rotation of
the camera. The location of the tripod or other camera
support does not change when panning or tilting; rather,
the camera rotates on the mount attached to the support.
Because most early motion picture tripods had fixed
camera mounts, panning and tilting were extremely rare
before 1900, when more camera operators began using
rotating tripod heads. Panning was initially established as
a cinematic device after the turn of the century with the
emergence of panoramas, documentary films that contained
a slow pan providing an extended view of a single
location. During the first decade of the 1900s, narrative
films also began featuring pans to reveal offscreen space,
while tilts were used in conjunction with pans to follow
characters in motion. An example of an early pan occurs
in The Great Train Robbery (1903), when the camera
moves to the left to follow the bandits as they flee the
train.
A tracking shot (also known as a dolly or trucking
shot) propels the camera through space parallel to the
SCHIRMER ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM 189