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Digging Deeper:  Camera Movement in Film

In this section, you will focus on popular types of camera movements film directors use to tell their stories.

Important: The numbers provided in brackets beside each type of camera movement in the Note It section refer to the time stamp, directing you to cue your video viewer to a particular minute and second in the video.  For example, you are prompted to cue your video viewer to 1 minute and 52 seconds to see when the pan shot begins.  The time stamp appears as 1:52, in brackets after the term.  You will see time stamps throughout the unit.

Watch this short video clip from Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor.  Remember to use the information in the Note It section to focus your viewing.  You can add your observations about the effect of each type of camera movement in your Elements of Film Handout (in Word, Google doc, or PDF format) if you wish.

While you view The Last Emperor video . . .

• Watch the short video clip from start to finish.  As you watch, pay attention to how the camera moves in each shot.
  
  
• Watch the video clip a second time. This time, stop at the time stamp provided for each camera movement listed.
• pan (1:52)
• push-in (2:10)
• tilt (2:25)
• pull-back (2:30)
  
  
• Consider the effect of each type of camera movement.  You can record your observations about the effect of each type of camera movement in your Elements of Film Handout.
  
  

Remember, you can pause, rewind, and re-watch the video clip as often as you like.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Next, you will view the Elements of Film video to learn about other types of camera movement.