Camera movement

Learning goal

When shooting video, you will be able to decide when to leave the camera still, and when and how to move it. You will explain why the static shot, unmoving on a tripod, is the most reliable starting point, show a space or a subject by slowly turning the camera horizontally and vertically, and see that every movement should start with a still frame and end with a still frame. You will apply the stance and walk that reduce shake when shooting handheld, understand why a wide-angle lens shows shake less, and know what a motorized holder, the gimbal, solves and what it doesn't. In a tracking shot that follows a person as they walk, you will respect their space, plan the route together with them, and look for an angle in which their face is seen too, instead of a shot that shows only their back.

The question

One shot is missing from the video: the steaming tray's walk from the counter to the street window. Your friend from the club, camera in their palm, follows the baker from two steps behind. When they watch it, the image bounces up and down with every step, the framing swings around the corner, and nothing but the baker's back can be seen. When they try the tripod, on the other hand, the image is perfectly steady, but the baker walks out of the frame in a few steps.

They think about the smooth, gliding images in promotional videos and wonder whether an expensive rig is needed for this. How does handheld footage look professional? When should the camera move, and when should it stop?

Context

You worked long ago on the bodily ways of holding the camera without moving it and on the stabilization mechanism in the lens (Lesson 3.6). The technique of swinging the camera after a moving subject to leave it sharp and the background streaked came later (Lesson 8.5). In video, camera movement combines these two ideas: while the camera itself moves, the image needs to stay calm and controlled.

In photography, a momentary movement of the camera affects only that frame. In video, on the other hand, every movement becomes part of the flowing image, and the viewer feels it directly. A good camera movement isn't noticed; a bad one pulls the viewer out of the story.

Simple explanation

Why a static shot first?

A static shot is a shot in which the camera doesn't move at all, on a tripod or a solid surface, and only what is inside the frame moves. Composition, the photographer's strongest side, is preserved best in a static shot: the frame is set up like a photo, and the subject's movement happens inside that frame. The baker enters the frame from the left, stops at the counter and exits on the right; the camera does nothing, but the shot is still alive.

Many successful short videos are made largely of static shots. Movement is added only when there is a reason: to reveal a space, to follow a subject, to show the relationship between two things. Movement without a reason tires the viewer's eye and leaves an amateur impression. That is why, when starting a shot, the first question is this: does the camera have to move here?

How is the camera turned?

A pan is turning the camera to the right or left around an axis so that it scans the scene horizontally. A tilt is turning the camera down or up; it is used to go from the bottom of a shelf to its top, or from the baker's hands to their face. Both movements are done most smoothly on a tripod head.

Turning has two basic rules. The movement should be slow: a fast pan looks choppy even in video shot with the 180 degree rule, because the scene shifts too much in each frame. An object entering the frame reaching the opposite edge in a few seconds is a speed the eye can follow. The movement should also start with a still frame and end with a still frame: pressing record and waiting a few seconds, then starting to turn, finishing the movement and again waiting a few seconds, makes it possible to cut the shot at a clean point in editing.

How do you shoot handheld and with a gimbal?

When shooting handheld it isn't possible to remove shake completely, but it is possible to reduce it. Resting the elbows against the body, holding the camera close to the chest and keeping a neck strap taut creates a third point of support. While walking, bending the knees slightly and rolling the steps from heel to toe softens the jolt of each step. The lens's image stabilization reduces small tremors but can't remove the ups and downs of a walk.

Lens choice matters too. The same hand shake shifts the image much more at a long focal length, because the lens magnifies the shake too. Shooting close with a wide-angle lens is the way that shows shake least in handheld tracking shots.

A gimbal is a holder that balances the camera with motors on three axes, freeing footage shot handheld or while walking from jolts. It largely removes rotations and tilts, but it doesn't completely remove the up-and-down bob of a walk; a soft walk is needed with a gimbal too. And because it turns every movement into a gliding image, a video shot with a gimbal can also fill up with movements that have no reason.

A tracking shot is a shot in which the camera follows a moving person as they walk. In a tracking shot it is easy to show only the person's back, but then the viewer can't see their face, their expression or what they are looking at; the person becomes not the subject of the story but a silhouette. Shooting from beside or in front of the person, walking backward, brings the face into the frame. For this you need to plan the route together with the person, ask them how close you will walk to them, and set a safe pace; walking backward in front of someone carrying a hot tray requires an assistant to guide you. Because the person will move from light to shadow during the tracking, locking exposure and white balance for their face keeps a dark-skinned face from darkening at the doorway and opening up in the shop's bright light.

Visual evidence

You shoot the shots inside the bakery on a tripod, as static shots: the baker enters the frame, takes the tray out of the oven, exits. You add a single movement: a slow pan from the oven's mouth toward the shelf; you press record and wait three seconds, turn, and again wait three seconds.

For the walk to the window you switch to a wide-angle lens and talk the route through with the baker. A friend guides you by touching your shoulder; you walk backward in front of the baker, knees bent. You have locked exposure and white balance for the baker's face; passing through the door, their face doesn't darken, and in the shop's light it doesn't blow out either.

Playing the old and the new walking shot one after the other, the gap between them is clear. In the first shot the frame bounces with every step, swings at the corner, and only a back can be seen. In the new shot the image glides slightly, the baker's face smiles as they look at the tray, and the shot ends with a still frame in front of the window.

Common mistakes

Summary

The static shot is the most reliable starting point that preserves composition, and the camera is moved only when there is a reason; pans and tilts are done slowly, and every movement starts and ends with a few seconds of still frame. When shooting handheld, elbows resting on the body, a soft walk and a wide-angle lens reduce shake, and a gimbal removes rotations but doesn't solve the ups and downs or movement without a reason; in a tracking shot the person is shown not only from their back but also with their face, the route is planned together with them, and exposure is locked for their face.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will record a single event separately with a static, a turning and a following camera.

1. Choose a short event in which a person walks from one place to another, and first shoot it only with static shots, so that they move within the frames.
2. In the same space, shoot a pan or a tilt; leave a few seconds of still frame before and after the movement, and compare turning once fast and once slowly.
3. Shoot a handheld tracking shot once with a normal walk and once walking with bent knees and from heel to toe; if you have one, note how the shake changes with a wide-angle lens.
4. Plan the tracking shot together with the person and shoot it once from behind and once from beside or in front; write the difference made by their face being visible, and how their skin held up as they moved from light to shadow.

Check yourself

• Can you give a reason for every camera movement?
• Are your turns slow and with still frames before and after them?
• In the tracking shot, can the person's face be seen, and did you plan the route together with them?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. What is the first question to ask when starting a shot?

• A) Does the camera have to move here?
• B) Is there a gimbal?
• C) Which frame rate should be chosen?
• D) How many stops of ND are needed?

2. Why does a fast pan look choppy even when shot with the 180 degree rule?

• A) Because the white balance changes
• B) Because the sound recording breaks down
• C) Because the scene shifts too much in each frame
• D) Because the resolution drops

3. Which lens choice shows shake least in a handheld tracking shot?

• A) A long focal length lens
• B) A wide-angle lens, up close
• C) A macro lens
• D) Lens choice has no effect

4. Only the back of the baker walking with a hot tray can be seen. Which change makes them the subject of the story?

• A) Speeding up the shot
• B) Walking closer from behind
• C) Switching to a long focal length lens
• D) Planning the route with them and shooting from beside or in front, bringing their face into the frame

Answers

1. A — Movement without a reason tires the eye; movement is added only when it has a purpose.
2. C — In a fast pan each frame shifts the scene a lot and the eye perceives the flow as choppy.
3. B — A long focal length magnifies shake; a wide angle up close shows shake least.
4. D — The face and expression take the person out of being a silhouette; the route is planned together for safety.

Summary card

• Static shot first; movement only with a reason.
• Turn slowly; leave still frames before and after.
• Handheld: elbows to the body, knees bent, wide angle.
• A gimbal solves rotations, not the ups and downs or movement without a reason.
• In a tracking shot, show the face, plan the route with the person, lock exposure to the face.

Bridge to the next lesson

When all the shots were filmed, your friend had forty clips and twelve minutes of footage in total on their computer. The baker, on the other hand, wanted a video of only half a minute that would play on the small screen in the window. Fitting twelve minutes into thirty seconds seemed impossible: which shots would stay, how long would each last, in what order would they be lined up? A 30-second video from 10 clips: the next lesson tells about building it, simple editing with short shots and rhythm.