Traditional Film Camera Techniques

The following are the camera elements in any scene:

Field of View
Transitions
Camera Angle
Camera moves
Panning
Dolly shot
Crane shot
Lenses
Zoom Lenses and the Vertigo Effect
Depth of Field Effects


Basic camera shots
Extreme long shot - Characters are small in frame; all or major parts of buildings appear establishes physical context of action; shows landscape and architectural exteriors.

Long shot - All or nearly all of the standing person; large parts of a building shows a large scale action; shows whole groups of people; displays large architectural details .

Medium shot - Character shown from waist up; medium-sized architectural details small groups such as two or three people.

Close-up - Head and neck of character; objects about the size of the desktop computer fill frame focus on one character; facial expression very important
Extreme close-up The frame filled with just part of a character or very small objects facial features in a character or small objects.

Transitions
In film or video scene consists of a sequence of shots. The joining together of the individual shots to make a particular scene is accomplished through transitions.

The transition may be from one camera angle to another camera angle or from one camera to another camera. The editors task is to put together a set of individual shots into a scene. The simplest transition between shots is a straight cut, which is an abrupt transition between two shots. Another type of transition is called a fade, in which the overall value of the scene increases or decreases into a frame of just one color. For example, a fade to black may indicate the end of the sequence. When one scene fades out as another scene fades in this is a dissolve. These dissolves are used frequently to indicate a passage of time. For example, you might have a shot moving down a hall and then a dissolve as it moves into a different part of the building.

Another type of transition is when one scene wipes across the frame and replaces the previous seen. Wipes can move in any direction and open one side to the other or they can start in the center and move out or the edge of the frame and move in. Wipes are very noticeable and best not used often.

Camera Angle
The camera angle helps to determine the point of view of the camera. Viewers expect the camera to show a level horizon. High and low angled shots give variety to the camera angles and both give away different perspectives. High angled shots may force the viewer to look down upon a character and make them appear vulnerable whereas low angled shots makes a character loom above us and make them appear important and superior to us. The shots will not always show characters but building or objects for example.

Camera movement
There are several fundamental camera movements that were developed right after the invention of motion picture cameras and are still used today. Using a virtual camera you can make almost any move, however, it is still a good idea to use these real world moves. These moves include the following:

Panning and Tilting
For both of these shots the camera is stationary and rotates in a horizontal (panning) or vertical (tilting) plane.

Panning is used to follow a moving object or character, or to show more than can fit into a single frame, such as panning across a landscape. It is also used as a transition between one camera position and another. Tilting is slightly different in the sense that the camera is moved in a vertical director up or down used for example to look up at a tall building from the ground.

Dolly and Tracking shots
A dolly is a small wheeled vehicle, piloted by a dolly grip, that is used to move a camera around in a scene. A dolly shot is a move in and out of a scene, i.e. the movement is parallel to the camera lens axis. A tracking shot is a movement perpendicular to the camera lens axis.

Crane or Boom shot
This is when the camera moves up or down, as if it were on a physical crane. The same considerations for panning and tilting apply for crane shots.

Zoom Lenses and the Vertigo Effect
A Zoom lens has a variable focal length and so camera "moves" can be made without actually moving the camera. Professional cinematographers use the zoom very sparingly and generally prefer to move the camera. Amateurs love the zoom and can create some very nauseating motion by combining zooms and rapid pans. A zoom changes the angle of display so spatial relationships also change.

In the movie "Vertigo", Alfred Hitchcock took advantage of this feature to create a what is now known as the vertigo shot. This involves synchronizing the movement of the subject with the zoom so that the subject is always the same size, but the background changes. Here is an example of a vertigo shot.

Depth of Field Effects
Real cameras have a depth of field, i.e. only part of the image is in focus at anyone time. Many CG cameras have an infinite depth of field, i.e., everything is in focus, and this looks unnatural. More advanced CG systems have cameras that emulate real lenses this way.

One way to change the center of attention in a scene is to have one object, e.g., in the foreground, in focus, with the background out of focus. Then an object in the background is brought into focus, with the foreground object now out of focus.