Camera Movement, More Than a Talking Head

Hello All -

Ready to take your business videos a step higher? A while back we were talking about viewer's short attention spans and how to get around that. Adding different scenes, B-roll, and graphics all work and here's a new idea for your next video: camera movement. There are about 10 different camera moves that are available to you. These two articles do a great job of covering them:

While your business videos don't need all of these moves (and if you incorporate all of them in your video you are really doing yourself a disservice) but I think you should be aware of, and be able to pull off three of them: the pan, the tilt, and the zoom.

Panning is the easiest, so let's start here. This is a simple side-to-side movement of your camera. Unless you have a motorized unit attached to your camera, you will need a helper for this. When writing your script, give yourself a reason to pan. While you are in one-third of the frame (remember the rule of thirds?), hold your hand up flat as if you were holding something in your palm. Pan and zoom (and possibly tilt) over to your hand and in post production add a product, a graph, or if you are feeling tricky, even a person! Be sure you have a smooth pan; jerky pans are not allowed. And if you are doing a long, sweeping pan, the rule of thumb is one edge of the frame to the other in 7 to 9 seconds.

Here is a great article on panning:

To zoom or not to zoom? Hollywood does not zoom. But you see the zooming camera movement in almost every Hollywood movie. So what gives? Your eye does not zoom. Hence, Hollywood does not zoom. They dolly. Dollying is physically moving a camera closer or farther away from the subject. Since we are not Hollywood, we zoom. Get in a little closer for detail, go a bit wider for a sense of place. A nice zoom every once in a while will add variation to your video.

A "cinematic" move is one that most professional videographers strive for. For us, panning, tilting, and zooming at the same time is tricky, can lead to a big pay-off, and can leave you with a sense of satisfaction if done correctly.

Keep in mind you need a reason (or motive) for a camera move. When writing your scripts keep in the back of your head these camera moves and how you can use them in your upcoming videos.

So now, when reviewing my past articles, you know where to place yourself in the frame, why you need to add B-roll and visuals, how to achieve good audio, and why and when you should be moving your camera around. You are turning into a video producer!

As always, if you have any questions about your video, if you need tips, or if you would like to engage me in your video production, please let me know. You can contact me in San Jose at 415-720-9551 or by email: [email protected]

BONUS - contact me to learn how to get a healthy discount on your next video!

Happy shooting!

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