Camera Work Techniques

 


Static Shot
        A static shot is as described. A shot with no movement. Since I decided to use my cat for this project, I decided to start simple. Ironically enough, it was harder to get my cat to stay still than to make him move.


Tracking Shot
        A tracking shot involves physically moving the camera horizontally through a scene. Much like a pan, which is probably why I confused it with one while I was filming these. I think this would've been fun to have tried with my cat if my house wasn't such a mess right now, but I was able to use a beautiful landscape that my stepdad took when we were back in Canada.


Dolly Zoom
        A dolly zoom involves zooming in while physically moving the camera away from the subject, or vice versa. I did the latter. This one was fun to make but quite challenging on an iPhone. I chose to zoom out and dolly in because it was more noticeable on camera. I'll take this into account next time I try to do this with my phone.


Handheld
        A handheld movement is messy and chaotic. I definitely risked a few scratches on this one. I tried to get my cat to run away from the camera to make it feel more chaotic but he was too lazy, so like any good screenwriter, I had to make the drama up myself.


Pan
        A panning movement is moving the field of view of the camera horizontally. Unlike in a tracking shot - as I learned during this shoot - panning doesn't require physically moving the camera. 


Boom Shot
        A boom shot is just like a tilt, except that you physically move the camera on this one. This shot was harder to make than I thought. I wanted to make a smooth transition from ground to pitch black and then slowly move up to the cat, but it was hard to do so without missing part of his face. Animals move too much.


Zoom
        Zooming is really just that, zooming the camera in or out to make the subject appear larger or smaller respectively. This was a cute one to make. I'm always happy when I can make a subject's face fit the frame well, especially when we're talking about an animal. However, because it's an iPhone camera, I don't like that the quality worsens significantly when zooming in.


Pull Out
        Pulling out is physically moving the camera away from the subject. Very dramatic movement, but not more dramatic than the next one.


Push In
        Opposite to the "pull out" movement, pushing in is physically moving the camera closer to the subject. This one took a couple of tries to get right since my cat kept getting scared.


Tilt
        Tilting is moving the frame of the camera vertically. Last shot I do for this project and the last time I work with an untrained animal. My cat decided to go under the table and I had to film him from the ground. What a Booger (literally, that is his name).

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