TECHNOLOGY FEATURE VIDEO GUIDE On the Move
Moving camera shots bring extra drama and atmosphere to a film and, combined with surround sound, give a sense of what is happening beyond the constraints of more static shooting. Kevin Hilton looks at the development of this technique and the hardware involved.
THE MOVING camera has long been an integral part of filmmaking, something that all sound recordists have to either work with or around. A shot with lots of movement can sometimes seem like a gimmick, done for no other reason than it is possible; but more usually the director will have a clear purpose in having the camera move. This can be to add more excitement to chase sequences, give scale to a setting, and generally increase the sense of drama, often in an extravagant, obvious manner but also almost imperceptibly. Either way the aim is to move and engage the audience. The most basic of camera
moves is the panning and tilting that can be done on a pedestal support. Panning is the horizontal movement of the point of view, allowing the camera operator to follow the action from left to right or right to left. Tilting is the vertical equivalent, following the action from down to up or up to down. As pedestals have become
more sophisticated a new move has been added to the repertoire: ‘Pedding’ is when the camera maintains a level shot but is raised up using the screw and handle mechanism that supports the camera plate. This gives a higher – if limited – point of view. The leading manufacturers of pedestals are Vinten and Sachtler. Both companies also produce fluid heads, which are also manufactured by O’Connor, Miller Camera Support and Ronford Baker. This camera mount has liquid forced between its moving parts to make camera
48 October 2013 The HandyMan from ABC Products
movement smoother. Cameras can also be mounted on a track known as a slider to give a greater degree of horizontal movement. While all this gives some
freedom in changing angles and perspective, the goal has been to free the camera from a fixed point. The era of silent cinema saw creative experimentation in moving the camera, some of which is now firmly part of the grammar of filmmaking. The German expressionists in particular pushed the technology available to them. In the opening of FW Murnau’s Last Laugh (1924) the camera rides down in a lift and then travels across the hotel lobby to the revolving doors. During the early sound era in Hollywood the horror film
that with a moving camera. Rope (1948) was filmed in continuous takes so dolly shots provided the rhythm that editing would have brought. A dolly is a wheeled mobile platform on which the camera and operator, sometimes with an assistant, will sit. The dolly is either pushed (by someone known as the dolly grip or pusher) or propelled mechanically to follow the action. Often dollies are mounted on tracks for a smoother run, producing what is called a tracking shot. This technique is also known as dollying or travelling (or a dolly or travelling shot). For more extended sequences, particularly on location, cameras are mounted on moving vehicles to give a trucking shot. Microdolly Hollywood, Matthews, Panther, and Vinten are prominent manufacturers of dollies. A dolly often runs
directors of the 1930s combined moves pioneered by the expressionists with dramatic editing and eerie noises and music to produce such landmark films as Frankenstein (1931). With the coming of the 1940s and into the 1950s directors relied more on continuity editing to give a sense of pace and movement. Alfred Hitchcock used cutting for effect in his thrillers but often merged
alongside actors, parallel to the action. The tracks can also be laid so that the camera and dolly move either
GLOSSARY
towards or away from the subject being shot. This, combined with changing focus, has produced one of the most dramatic and best known of camera moves: the contra-zoom. By tracking in and
zooming out at the same time the perspective of the image stretches, conveying a dizzying sense of a character’s emotions. The first use of the contra-zoom was on Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). The picture elongates as James Stewart looks down the stairs in a bell tower (in fact a model), giving a visceral sense of his character’s fear of heights. Hitchcock and his cinematographer Robert Burks pioneered the technique but it was Jaws (1975) that brought the contra-zoom to even greater attention. The scene is now famous: as Chief Brody sits on the beach he sees the shark is approaching the swimmers. The camera tracks in on Roy Scheider’s face at the same time the camera zooms out, emphasising Brody’s emotions with the background blurring behind him. Since then the move has become something of a cliché, used by countless
Camera movement The general heading for any shift in position by the camera that results in the image appearing to move, alter or change viewpoint. It can be as straightforward as following a character walking along or a vehicle or object as it moves. A moving camera can also give the audience the point of view of a character, becoming his or her eyes. Another major reason for moving the camera is to direct the viewer’s attention to another part of a scene or give a different view or angle of what is happening. Over the years a range of hardware has been developed to make moving cameras easier, from sliders and angled heads on pedestals to mobile platforms (dollies), cranes, Steadicam rigs, and wire systems.
www.audiomedia.com
Sign up for your digital AM at
www.audiomedia.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52