A primer of film grammar: Camera movement
in the final instalment of our film grammar series, Dora Fitzgerald explores the impact of camera movement
In the final instalment of our visual language series, we take a look at the impact that camera movement can have on a scene
In this third and final instalment of our visual language series, we will examine the function of camera movement. As much as anything you can do as a director, the movement of your camera through virtual space is your chance to covertly narrate your story. Because your camera movement speaks through space, and the audience is sometimes unaware of it, it is one of the most powerful cinematic devices you have at your disposal.
Camera movement is one of the great narrative strategies available to filmmakers – whether animators or live-action directors. To be successful you must turn your attention to how camera movement speaks to its potential audience. As much as dialogue, voice-over or editing, camera movement can work to tell your story in compelling and deeply psychological visual metaphors.
If the basic shot is how you pour your ideas or drama into the consciousness of your viewer, then camera movement is the locomotive that powers their experience. Paired with considered editing, and the knowledge that animation is not bound by the laws of physics, there is almost nothing you cannot achieve.
We will examine camera movement from sequences in Pixar’s Up. In this drama a lost old man grieves the passing of his wife, hunkering down in his home – the epitome of a grumpy old senior. That is until a sweet boy scout invades his life and together they embark on a fantastical journey, in a house that flies, courtesy of helium-filled balloons. They will travel far and have great adventures, but the real journey they take is the one that will open the old man’s heart again.
Mise-en-scene and The long Take
In the first article of this series, we defined mise-en-scene as everything that is photographed in front of the camera as well as the actions of the filmic apparatus.
“CAMERA Movement CAN work To Tell your STORY in Compelling AND Psychological visual METAPHORS”
When a director chooses to hold the duration of a shot, it is called the long take. The most elegant long takes are ones that travel gracefully over the scene, usually divulging visual information. Many times, a long take will take place at the beginning of a film and can serve as a type of establishment shot. Take a look at the beautiful long take at the beginning of Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice. Once Keira Knightley’s character crosses the bedsheets on the clothesline, the camera first follows her, then goes solo to enter the house to give us a brief but telling introduction to her sisters, before again teaming up with Keira outside the house to introduce her squabbling parents at the other end of the house. All without a cut. This same scenario is employed at the beginning of Tran Anh Hung’s The Scent of Green Papaya.
At the other end of the spectrum is the fast-paced long take in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children
of Men, in which Julianne Moore’s character is killed inside of a moving car. This scene is a marvel of fast-paced action without a detectable cut. In fact the action and camera work move so fast, it feels as though plenty of cutting has taken place. Take a look, it is on Youtube. This is what the long take can do at its best. In live action the long take must be painstakingly choreographed. In animation, it is simpler to construct but must still be planned out as to the effect you want to produce.
Make no mistake, editing is a mainstay of cinema with its ability to change the rhythm of your work. But camera movement has a big place at the table also. It can move up, down or over an object, person or landscape. It can push or zoom, in or out, fast or slow, as the narrative demands. It lends the subjectivity of a human eye, the glance or gaze of your character or audience in a way no cut can. A beautifully rendered camera move at just the right moment can seduce your audience and leave them breathless.
Tilt and Pan
In addition to zooming or pushing your camera/lens in or out, you can obviously move up and down to tilt [Fig 1.1], or left to right in a pan [Fig 1.2]. Pans and tilts are shots that originate from a fixed position, usually approximating the movement of a human head in whatever direction. The tilt can be an exciting shot, since many times it can take the measure of a tall structure. Such is the case with the waterfall shot in Up. When Carl and his young accomplice Russell reach
Paradise Falls, it is appropriate that we receive a lingering shot of the falls. This is supplied by a moving tilt that begins at the top of the falls [Fig 1.3] and ends at the bottom [Fig 1.4] where we are rewarded with a hint of a rainbow. Although his wife Ellie is no longer with him, Carl takes in the beauty of the falls for both of them. He speaks to the deceased Ellie at this point, letting her know that they’ve done it – they’re realised a life-long goal and Carl will savour it for both of them.
The Mesmerising swish Pan
“THE Tilt is An exciting SHOT, AS it CAN Take THE MEASURE of A Tall STRUCTURE”
Later in the drama the importance of the swish pan is in evidence. A swish pan is simply a shot that has fast camera movement between two static shots. The result is a shot, then a blurred shot, then a shot. When Kevin the bird (who is actually a she) is being chased by the angry dogs through the jungle, Kevin reaches an impasse. The jungle appears to end and she is trapped by a wall of stone [Fig 1.5]. She looks up, but the height of the rocks is too high to scale. She looks over in a swish pan [Fig 1.6] to find only more insurmountable stone. Finally her gaze swishes again quickly to the left [Fig 1.7] to find an opening in the forest, and that is where she rushes to save herself. In this case the swish pan device is well used. It ramps up the dramatic tension enfolding the audience in the rush to escape the clutches of the dogs. The rush of the camera movement mimics the urgency of the bird to find an escape. The rhythm and timing of the sequence are enhanced by the choice to select camera movement rather that cutting.
By its very nature this technique is used when the director tries to approximate a fast turn of the
head. The goal is always to reveal something more, something in the space that the looker has to assess quickly. Something has turned the eyes of the observer. Another example of this: in a darkened room [Fig 1.8] something has called attention to another side of the room. The gaze of the camera moves swiftly in a swish pan with eyes open [Fig 1.9] to land in another corner of the room [Fig 1.10]. What are the many varied reasons for this? Perhaps a sound called from the other side of the room, the sensation of another presence in the room, or perhaps wind is coming in from the outside chilling the room. There are myriad reasons for which a swish pan can be justified. The audience effect is always worth the effort.
The swish pan can also serve as a magical device. Instead of cutting, a swish can be used not only to take us to another side of a room – it can instead move the audience to another time or place. The blur of the swish acts as a supernatural force to take us anywhere. A nice technique to have in your back pocket.
The dramatic import of slow and Fast camera Movement
Rhythm and tempo take centre stage when we observe how the velocity of camera movement punctuates a narrative. The two examples mentioned earlier in
Pride and Prejudice and Children of Men produce two completely different effects, exhorting us to be mindful of the speed of the camera. Witness in Up a fairly emotional scene in which Carl begins to have true affection for Russell. The camera movement is kept deliberately slow. In fact, the push in of the camera is painstakingly slow beginning with a full shot of both characters [Fig 1.11]. As their conversation takes an intimate turn, Carl realises that Russell’s father is too busy to make time for his son while the camera moves in for a closer shot [Fig 1.12]. The camera movement is so delicate here that you almost do not notice its movement. It has crept in so covertly and after a cut, we see an extreme close-up of Carl’s face as he listens to Russell [Fig 1.13].
camera stability: Tripod, dolly and handheld
In animation a camera is not mounted on an actual dolly or
“A beautifully Rendered CAMERA Move AT JUST THE RIGHT Moment CAN SEDUCE your Audience AND leave THEM BREATHLESS”
“Here THE DIRECTORS Have CRAFTED THE Scene with More Tension by Adding UNSTEADY CAMERA Movement”
tripod obviously, but the effect that is created mimics these mainstays of cinema apparatus. The same is true of shots that are produced in animation that appear to be handheld shots. This is one area where animation utilises the visual techniques of traditional live-action cinematography. Why? Because they produce effects that are apropos to the narrative. Want a shot that is smooth and unobtrusive? Use a dolly or tracking shot and your result will be a smooth and detection-less ride through the space. A shot conducted with a tripod will result in the same outcome, except that a tripod is held in one space and cannot move as a dolly shot can. But what if your desire is to have your camera make a statement – perhaps express the nervousness of a character, or to simulate a bumpy chase scene? This is the desired goal in the following sequence from Up. In one of the later chase scenes our party of four is running for their lives through a rocky canyon landscape. As we hear a soundtrack composed of music and shattering rocks, we feel the characters’ jarring escape which is echoed by camera movement that is not quite steady [Figs 1.14 & 1.15]. Here the directors have rightly crafted the scene with more tension and uncertainty by adding unsteady camera movement, very much like handheld if filming live action. The camera echoes the bumpy ride through the topology of the canyon, but especially echoes the shaky and uncertain outcome of the characters in this sequence.