Camera Angles & Transitions

Camera Angles

- Zoom/Reverse Zoom: The camera is fixed and a zoom lens is used to move in closer (at variable speeds), or out, further away, from the subject(s). this is used to involve the audience or to focus the expression of the character, by zooming into a close-up to heighten suspense.
- Stead Cam: A camera that is on a lightweight counterbalance harness to the camera operator, producing a smooth, flowing show which can follow action.
- Focus: How clear an image is. if it is soft focus it is slightly blurry. this Is usually used for romantic effect.
- Pan: Originally 'Panorama' meaning view: a pan shot is a horizontal movement left or right by the camera on a fixed axis (of variable speed depending on the desired effect). it affords a more extensive effect view of a sector location and makes spatial relationships clear to the audience.
- Handheld: The use of a camera without a tripod to produce a 'shaky' effect to convey immediacy and excitement.
- Track: The movement of a camera angle on a dolly (tripod on wheels, usually on a rack) which affords the smooth following of a character.
- Tilt: A movement of a camera either up or down on a fixed axis to afford a high or low view by movement.
- Dolly Crane: This shot is from a camera on a crane, which can move horizontally, vertically or diagonally, from a high to low position to afford a variety of views. it can be used to draw the audience right into the centre of the action.
- Composition: The arrangement of visual elements within the frame, for clarity, balance of aesthetic effect.


Transitions

- Cutting: The most basic type of shot transition, it is the most common way to join two shots.
- Cutaway: The interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else.
- Jump Cut: This cut is usually the result of a continuity error, and not a stylistic choice by the director. A jump cut occurs when a cut, designed to act merely as a camera angle change (less than 30degrees), reveals a continuity error between two shots.
- Parallel Editing: The technique of altering two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations.
- Wipe: This shot involves one shot replacing another, travelling from one side of the frame to another. think of a vertical line passing from the right side of the frame to the left. on the left side of this line, we have shot A, and on the right side of this line, we have shot B. when the line reaches the left edge of the frame, shot B will completely fill the scene, and the transition is complete.
- Fade: Occurs when a picture gradually turns into a single colour, usually black, or when a picture gradually appears on the screen.
- Dissolve: The shot gradually changed the visibility of the picture. however, rather than transitioning from a shot to colour, it is when a shot changes into another shot gradually. it can be used to create a link between two different objects, a man telling a story, and the visual of his story, for instance.