In this article, we are going to look at 14 types of camera movements, shots, and angles you can use in cinematography.
The key to having perfect cinematic shots is to have smooth camera movements, shots, and angles. Your aim as a cinematographer should be to keep your audience or viewers’ attention swinging in several directions, and the end goal is to not leave them bored.
Imagine if you were watching a film, event, or TV show that is shot with the camera placed in one position. No matter how interesting the storyline might be, you are going to get bored all through the session.
That is why several camera movements, shots, and angles are used to help you understand every other little detail that is ongoing in the video you are watching.
And without wasting any more time, let’s get to the heart of this article, so you can get to know the 13 Types Of Camera Movements, Shots, And Angles In Cinematography.
14 Types Of Camera Movements, Shots, And Angles In Cinematography.
Below are the 13 types of camera movements, shots, and angles used in cinematography:
- The reveal.
- The napkin slide.
- The free fall.
- The slow pushing
- The creep out.
- Turning Away.
- The distracted camera.
- The camera yelling.
- The poor man’s dolly.
- The tripod shot.
- The computer chair.
- Cool transitional shot.
- Over the shoulder shot.
- Frame for the kiss.
1. The reveal.
Ths type of camera movement involves sliding the camera out from behind something. The easiest example being a hall or doorway.
You can also use a tree, or plant or even your hand. Just slide it in front of the camera to reveal something.
This is a fantastic way for you to establish your scene or make a transition from one scene to another – or use it in a number of ways.
Put something in your foreground and see how that motion and camera movement will add to your shots.
2. The napkin slide.
This is also a sliding type of shot in cinematography, and it works well when you are shooting a product or food or anything you can place on a table.
Simply place the item you want to shoot on a table, and then grab a napkin or clothe or even a T-Shirt. Put your camera on top of it on a table, just pull the fabric or napkin and let the camera slide along showing the item you are shooting.
3. The free fall.
This involves holding the camera steady and using your hand to create the movement.
One of the ways you can do this is to start falling and catching yourself at the last minute.
You can do this by getting your camera in focus, then pull away or fall back and let your object fall out of focus.
Now when you are editing the video clip, you can reverse the footage y pushing the shot into focus or into the frame that you want.
4. The slow pushing.
This kind of camera shot involves creeping the camera slightly closer. This is used between someone gazing and its object.
To do thepushing will connect the meaning just as it connects emotions, and the outcome is a special moment happening between the man with the gaze and the object of his gaze.
This is used to show the desire or interest that the gazer feels towards the person or thing, without a word of exposition.
5. The creep out.
This causes a figure to grow smaller compared to the world around them.
This movement also makes the camera feel as if it is abandoning the character; as if we are backing away and protecting ourselves from their pain or giving up hope.
Use this camera movement when a character in your story is backing away or abandoning other character or thing.
6. Turning away.
This type of camera movement is used to spare the viewer from seeing something horroful or unwanted or explicit that is about to happen.
For instance, if couples are about to have sex, we turn the camera away from them once they finish undressing and leave the rest for imagination as we jump onto a new scene.
7. The distracted camera.
This movement makes the camera to lose focus on the main character, the main plot, the main action and decides to wander away.
Here we see no character movements or whatever relates to them.
This makes us lose interest in the story for a moment to explore another part of the world.
This camera movement is particularly special because it’s as if the camera is speaking how it normally does.
It whispers to us ‘look at this’ but then there is hardly anything there and in the absence of an object we certainly notice the looking mechanism, there is a vacuum within which the turn can be felt, it bridges our normal expectation.
And ask us to interpret on it’s own merit and personally we find it terribly moving lonely, empty, detached; similar to the creep out but not quite the same, the camera is simply saying ‘this main part is not important.
Indeed searching, wondering, drifting, exploring like these the camera becomes it’s own character and speaks with it’s own voice.
8. The camera yelling.
Loud, nosisy, noticeable, saying now, something just happened. It could be from a fast dolly rushing in or quick expected dodge.
You can use this camera movement when a character makes a statement that indicates something bad has happened.
The trick is to make the whole scene change visually. Flip the close-ups from screen right to screen left, and vice versa.
And since everything has changed visually, naturally we must conclude that everything has changed everywhere too.
And the trick is, if you take take the camera out of the scene all that moment, the particular event will seem rather minor.But the camera moving and sliding all the way, across the line, it’s like a big sign pointing at that moment saying “look here dummies, there is something important happening here, and that’s alright that camera moves, that’s the merit, the director piping up and giving you the real big clue.
This camera movement indicates or makes the camera say the things the character wants to say.
You can use this technique to flash words on a newspaper building up to a certain reality.
9. The poor man’s dolly.
Put the camera on top of a towel that is placed on a table, then move it side to side, forward or backward, left or right to create interesting shots.
10. The tripod shot.
Loosen one of the tripod legs and slide the tripod up and down. Make sure you are holding on to the tripod with the other hands so that it wont fall off.
You can also lean it forward to create a crane shot.
11. The computer chair.
Sit on a computer chair and have someone move you around with it while you take your shots.1
12. Cool transition shot.
Set your focus on a particular object and quickly slide the camera from left or right to another subject.
In post-production, you can cut blurred part and put the objects (shots) together and it will look as if you are making a transition from one scene to another.
13. Over the shoulder shot.
Set the tripod up over the persons right or left shoulder, when positioning the person staring at the camera, make sure they are in the middle of the frame opposite the person who you are looking at the back of the head.
14. Frame for the kiss.
Us the profile shot and tape to set markers so when the two people run in and they are about to ksiss each other, they kind of stop in opposite angles over the marker.
