Selecting Camera Movements

Beginners normally tend to move around the camera either because they don't know why they should do it, or because they want to have one lengthy shot that will cover all the action or simply because they can move the camera! But one ought to remember that every camera movement has a reason.

The camera movements that one sees on the screen are as follows:

PAN, TILT, ZOOM IN /OUT, DOLLY IN/ OUT, TRUCK LEFT/ RIGHT, ARC LEFT/ RIGHT, TONGUE UP/ DOWN.

Pan/tilt: To follow action. To include or exclude subjects. To show spatial relationships. To shift attention. To build or clear suspense. To show panoramic views.

Zoom in/out: To adjust framing by removing or including certain objects. To get a bigger view of far away objects or get a wider shot when the normal lens cannot provide the desired field of view. Increase or decrease depth of field. To increase flexibility in terms of production. To produce distorted images or otherwise.

Dolly/track in: To exclude some objects. To focus attention on part of action. To shift emphasis on an object or part of action. To create subjective movements. Increase emotional tension within the frame. To decrease field of view. To get closer to objects.

Dolly/track out: To increase field of view. To go farther away from objects. To include more objects. To create subjective movements. Decrease tension.

Truck right/left: To Follow moving subject across the screen. To reveal context. To create subjective movements. To emphasise depth of field.

Arc left/right: To provide fresh point of view. Exclude or include background or foreground. To reframe a shot. To provide subject’s position vis-à-vis the set/ location. To avoid transitions and maintain continuity.

Tongue up/down: This movement is normally used in all gameshows, quizzes etc. when the camera on a crane/jib moves over the anchor on to the audience or vice-versa.

Way to focus

If you want to zoom in in the midst of a shot, you would notice that as you zoom in the image gets out of focus. So how do you get around the problem?
First zoom in completely, focus the image & pull out. Now press the record button & begin zooming in. The image is in focus now!

Procedure to begin recording on tape

Amateurs/students normally begin recording without the colour bars & get frustrated on the edit suite when they can't get a pre-roll! How does one get around it?

It is always useful to record 20 seconds of colour bars after you insert the tape into the camera. Access the colour bars from the Menu on the camera; some cameras have an exclusive button for colour bars) After 20 seconds of colour bars, record another 10 seconds of black (undo the colour bars & keep the lens cap closed). Some prefer to record an additional 10 seconds of black. This is important to avoid pre-roll problems while editing.

What is pre-roll? Simply put, it is the time taken by the VTR to stabilize itself before it can recognise the exact in-point frame to begin editing. Some machines need only 2 seconds pre-roll but some others take as many as 7 seconds to stabilize.

Always record colour bars & black on a new tape. Also, remember to label the tape once it's exhausted.