Motivated Camera Movement

Motivated Camera Movement

Pans and crane shots are often used in movie making as establishing shots or as a transition between scenes. In this example from Peter Pan (2003), the camera pans to the left from behind a bush to display an extreme wide shot of Peter and Wendy. This shot is referred to as a "discovery shot," and could have been made with a dolly or crane. I'm more inclined to guess that is was made with a crane seeing as the camera looks as if its right above the water of the pond. The composition of this shot creates a good transition between scenes as well as set up the next scene of the story to display Peter and Wendy as they are very close.

This scene is full of camera movement, including pans and tilts, to follow a car chase between Marty and the Libyans in Back to the Future. These movements are obviously very motivated as they keep up with the action that is happening. In order for the car chase to seem real, there needs to be movement so that the audience gets a feel for the fast pace of the scene and the intensity of every turn they take.

Everyone loves a great basement circle scene from That '70s Show. This camera movement is quite the opposite of your typical spin around the table scene as it works from the inside and quickly pans from one character to the next between dialogue. I feel like this technique works very well for a TV sitcom, especially That '70s Show seeing as this is one of its signature scenes. The rapid pan from left to right or vice versa really separates the thoughts of the different characters as they are speaking.

Documentary Storytelling

Blogs I Enjoyed Reading

Blogs I Enjoyed Reading

Each of the blogs shared to the right side of the course blog are extremely useful and informative! However, I really enjoyed reading Philip Bloom's blog as well as No Film School.

Philip Bloom seems to use a wide variety of cameras and equipment and shares his honest thoughts and opinions on each to inform the camera community what works well for him. Something I noticed upon reading his blog post on the Canon 5D was that in each blog I have read thus far (as well as reading No Film School's DSLR Cinematography Guide) this is a very highly talked-about camera. Hopefully, when I can afford to upgrade to a better camera (a girl can dream!) this will be the one. I also love how he includes screenshots of items he is using in each post from B&H -- this way the reader can get a sense of how much these items cost and what a few of their highlights are.

This video from his post about using the Sony FS5 in the snow is beautiful. And I love how he details every step it takes to get to this, including everything he used and everything he had to do with his equipment to make this happen.

No Film School's blog is also a great, resourceful site with a lot of information on all aspects of film. They've got a great post about Canon's new C700, which is another new camera for all of these blogs we are reading to rave about. I like how they've reviewed the specs and price as well as compared it to other similar or competing cameras.

Apart from blog posts about cameras in particular though, I especially liked this video they've included in their blog about what it takes to be a "good" cinematographer. Its inspiring and helps those of us looking to get into this field know the qualities we need to have in order to progress.