Just like the actors in a film, the camera can have its own viewpoint, style, and even personality. It can go deep into a character's inner emotions with an intimate closeup, or make us watch from a helpless distance as our hero is threatened. Cameras can be still and patient, epic and sweeping, or hectic and unpredictable. Thoughtful camera work can help drive your story forward, match the style and tone of your source material, and increase interest and engagement with your audience.

Study some of these basic camera movements and techniques below. Then, use your storyboard to help you plan out not only what will be in each shot or scene, but also how your camera can be used to tell a better visual narrative.

Static Camera Sometimes, you don't want your camera to be moving at all. This is especially useful when capturing objects that don't move around too much, or where there's not a lot of action in the shot. Many videographers mount their cameras to a stationary tripod to help keep it still while they zoom in on something far away or capture changes over a long period of time, like this timelapse. By default, your virtual camera in your editing program will be perfectly still. This will probably work well for many of your shots, since having too much unnecessary camera movement can be distracting. In your storyboard, think about which shots should be motionless, and which ones might look better with some movement. Pan One of the more simple and popular camera moves is the pan. Panning means moving your camera horizontally to capture movement. This is great for filming along a horizon or landscape, or for following a character or car as they travel by. Pans can also be used to simulate a character's point of view as they look around, or to study something like a map or photograph more closely. Notice how this camera pan lets us get a highly detailed view of an audio mixing board. To recreate a pan in digital editing software, you can move an image side to side within your frame. Tilt When you rotate your camera up and down, that's called a tilt. Tilting is great for establishing the scale of objects or surroundings, and can sometimes have an unexpected, disorienting feeling to it. An alternative to a tilt is called a pedastal-- this is when you move the camera in space up and down, instead of just rotating it on a vertical tilt. To recreate a tilt or pedastal in digital editing software, you can move an image up and down within your frame. Tracking A tracking shot (also called a dolly) rolls alongside the subject of the frame, matching its speed and movement or going in for a closer look. Tracking shots are great for following your subject as it moves through a crowd, or for scanning across an interesting scene. Many times, tracking shots are carefully planned out, with camera operators even building custom tracks and rails to glide their cameras across. This allows for stable, smooth, dynamic motion and often results in beautiful shots. To recreate a tracking or dolly shot in digital editing software, you don't need to build your own railway. Some programs let you move your camera through virtual space along custom motion paths, a feature we'll look into later in this course. Handheld For a more organic, natural look, sometimes you need to pick your camera up off the tripod or dolly and move it around more freely. This kind of footage is called, appropriately enough, handheld. Handheld shots are perfect for following unpredictable action, or giving your shot a more unpredictable, intense feeling. Even when you're shooting handheld footage, however, you should generally try to be as stable and controlled as possible. Too many jerky, fast movements will cause your image to blur, and may even make your viewer feel seasick. Even the smallest movements of your hand or arm could come out looking really jittery in the final cut. Notice how stable, smooth, and in focus this shot is, even though it's handheld. Recreating a handheld look in digital software can surprisingly difficult, and sometimes requires careful, time-consuming animation to create something that feels spontaneous and fluid. Zoom Cameras can not only fly around through space, they can change the way light reaches the film by adjusting their lenses. This includes the ability to zoom in on distant objects without having to move the camera at all. Zooms are a great way to bring an audience into a scene, as if pulling them into the story from another world. You can also use zooms to attract attention to a part of a scene, or zoom out to suggest closure or distance. To recreate a zoom in digital editing software, you can simply make an image larger by scaling it up within the frame. Focus What's it called when we really pay attention to something? We focus on it. In the world of video, a subject is in focus when it is sharp and clear. But having images out of focus is not always a bad thing. You can use focus to help draw a viewer to something important. Notice how the front of this camera lens comes into focus as it rotates, attracting our eye to the main subject. You can even change focus in the middle of a shot from one subject to another. This clip alternates focus between two different characters, redirecting our attention. One simple way to fake camera focus is to adjust the blur of an image over time inside your video editor.