Camera movement is one of the most expressive tools available to a filmmaker.

It alters the relationship

between the subject and the camera frame, shaping the viewer's perspective of space and time and
controlling the delivery of narrative information. As the camera frame orients the viewer within the
mise-en-scène, movement of the frame provides the illusion of the viewer journeying through the world
of the narrative. The camera height and angle, the distance to a subject, and the composition of a shot
may change during camera movement, as the framing travels above, below, around, into, and out of
space. Types of camera movement are distinguished by their direction and the equipment used to
achieve motion. Although the basic forms of camera movement were in place by the 1920s, the
equipment that facilitates camera motion continues to evolve.

The moving camera can function in a variety of ways and, when used in a long take, is uniquely able to
depict uninterrupted stretches of time and space. Camera movement may follow objects in transit within
the frame, or may act independently; it may reveal offscreen space, or deliberately suppress access to
space; it may objectively witness events, or suggest the subjective perspective of a character; it may
advance the narrative, develop themes, or create patterns; and it may contribute to kinetic or rhythmic
effects. Fluid camera movement within shots sustained for unusually long periods of time can not only
serve as an alternative to editing, but can also punctuate changes in narrative action within the shot and
participate in formal patterning across the entirety of a film. The film critic André Bazin was one of the
great champions of camera movement within long takes, believing that such shots had the potential to
record the reality of the world in front of the camera more accurately than sequences constructed
through editing.

TYPES OF CAMERA MOVEMENT

The two most basic forms of camera movement are panning and tilting; both involve the rotation of the
camera while it is attached to a fixed stand. A pan (from "panorama") moves the camera from side to
side on a horizontal axis, providing the sense of looking to the left or the right. A tilt moves the camera
up and down on a vertical axis. During panning and tilting, the camera is typically attached to a tripod, a
three-legged stand topped with a camera mount and an arm to direct the rotation of the camera. The
location of the tripod or other camera support does not change when panning or tilting; rather, the
camera rotates on the mount attached to the support.

Because most early motion picture tripods had fixed camera mounts, panning and tilting were extremely
rare before 1900, when more camera operators began using rotating tripod heads. Panning was initially
established as a cinematic device after the turn of the century with the emergence of panoramas,
documentary films that contained a slow pan providing an extended view of a single location. During the
first decade of the 1900s, narrative films also began featuring pans to reveal offscreen space, while tilts
were used in conjunction with pans to follow characters in motion. An example of an early pan occurs in
The Great Train Robbery (1903), when the camera moves to the left to follow the bandits as they flee the
train.
A tracking shot (also known as a dolly or trucking shot) propels the camera through space parallel to the
ground and can travel forward, backward, from side to side, diagonally, or in a circle. Whereas a pan or a
tilt reveals what one might see when standing still and rotating one's head, a track provides the
impression of actually advancing into space. Tracking shots are often produced with the camera
mounted on a dolly, a small, steerable platform with rubber tires. Tracking shots receive their name from
the railroad-like tracks that are frequently laid on the ground to guide the dolly during long camera
movements.

KENJI MIZOGUCHI

b. Tokyo, Japan, 16 May 1898, d. 24 August 1956

One of the most acclaimed directors of world cinema, Kenji Mizoguchi created elegant, precisely staged
long takes in films that examined the circumscribed choices of women in Japanese society. His tightly
controlled camera movement, recessed foregrounds, and depth staging served to subordinate characters
to the overall composition, positioning the viewer as an observer to highly emotional yet distanced
subject matter.

Having directed more than forty silent-era films, during the 1930s Mizoguchi began to develop a visual
style of systematic long-shot long takes. Naniwa erejî (Naniwa Elegy, 1936), considered his first
masterpiece, selectively incorporates camera movement to shape the viewer's understanding of the
protagonist, a young woman pressured into a series of ruinous indiscretions. When the heroine runs into
her former boyfriend in a department store, other customers and objects in the foreground frequently
block the couple from view during a long tracking shot, preventing the viewer from scanning their faces
for emotion. Without direct access to the heroine's subjectivity, the viewer is forced to imagine her
shame, embarrassment, and fear of discovery.

Throughout the rest of Mizoguchi's career, camera movement was a favored tool to define the rhythm of
his scenes and the viewer's response to the narrative. The mobile camera is dominant in Zangiku
monogatari (The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, 1939) and participates in segmenting narrative
action. Camera movement is typically motivated by character movement, revealing new space and
connecting static tableaux within the long take. Mizoguchi's use of camera movement within long takes
has been linked to the rhythmic structure of other Japanese arts.

Although Mizoguchi's aesthetic of long-shot long takes tends to de-center characters within the frame
and de-dramatize action, his use of camera movement encourages more active participation by the
viewer. Denied direct access to his characters' subjectivities, we can only witness their suffering, and in
witnessing it, imagine their pain. Saikaku ichidai onna (The Life of Oharu, 1952) provides a key example
of how Mizoguchi's camera offers viewers a perspective of narrative action that is objective yet at the
same time full of emotion. When Oharu and her family cross a bridge on their way into exile, the camera
looks up at them from a low-angle long shot below the bridge, panning to follow their progress and
pausing as they bid their friends farewell. As the family turns out of sight behind the bridge, the camera
tilts down and tracks in, revealing a glimpse of the family walking into the horizon through the arch of
the bridge. The movement of the camera situates the viewer as an observer within the scene, initially
content to watch the family retreat but ultimately so sorrowful as to be unwilling to relinquish sight of
them.

RECOMMENDED VIEWING

Naniwa Elegy (1936), Gion no shimai (Sisters of the Gion, 1936), The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
(1939), Genroku chushingura (The Loyal 47 Ronin, Parts 1 and 2, 1941–1942), Utamaro o meguru gonin
no onna (Utamaro and His Five Women, 1946), The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of
Ugetsu, 1953), Sanshô dayû (Sansho the Bailiff, 1954)

FURTHER READING

Andrew, Dudley, and Paul Andrew. Kenji Mizoguchi: A Guide to References and Resources. Boston: G. K.
Hall, 1981.

Kirihara, Donald. Patterns of Time: Mizoguchi and the 1930s. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,
1992.

McDonald, Keiko. Mizoguchi. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984.

O'Grady, Gerald, ed. Mizoguchi the Master. Toronto: Cinémathèque Ontario, 1997.

Lisa Dombrowski

Tracking shots came into use at the end of the 1890s when filmmakers mounted cameras onto moving
vehicles for "phantom rides" through actual locations. By 1903 narrative films started to incorporate
parallel tracking shots, in which the camera moves at a fixed distance from and the same rate of speed as
objects advancing in the same direction. During the next decade, a few films exhibited tracks into and
out of a scene independent of movement within the frame, but nonparallel tracking shots did not
become popular until after they were used to flaunt the sumptuous sets of the Italian epic Cabiria
(1914). By the 1920s filmmakers expanded their use of the tracking shot and began exploring more
adventurous means of moving the camera, including strapping it to the cinematographer's chest for Der
Letzte Mann (The Last Laugh, 1924) and swinging it on a pendulum for Napoléon (1927).
Although holding the camera allows for much greater freedom of movement than mounting it on a dolly,
handheld shots were difficult to achieve during the first half of the twentieth century owing to the
tremendous bulk and weight of professional 35mm cameras. After World War II, however, compact,
lightweight 16mm cameras originally designed for training and combat use entered the market, leading a
variety of filmmakers to embrace handheld shooting. Television news cameramen and direct cinema
documentary filmmakers took advantage of the smaller, lighter cameras to record material
spontaneously in close quarters. When shooting Primary (1960), the cinematographer Richard Leacock
(b. 1921) held his camera above and behind John F. Kennedy while following him through a crowd at a
campaign stop, providing the viewer with an intimate sense of actually "being there" and rubbing
shoulders with the candidate.

Handheld shots often appear shakier and blurrier than those produced by a camera mounted on a
support, and thus lack the level of perfection found in high-quality commercial cinema. Some young
filmmakers of the 1960s "new cinemas" considered this visual distinction an advantage, however, as
handheld camera movement challenged staid orthodoxy. The cinematographer Raoul Coutard (b. 1924)
shot several scenes in À bout de souffle (Breathless, 1960) while sitting in a moving wheelchair and one
in Jules et Jim (Jules and Jim, 1962) while running across a bridge; his unfettered camerawork identified
the French New Wave with a spirit of freedom and vitality. Because of its early adoption by nonfiction
filmmakers and its absence of visual polish, handheld camera movement is often associated with
increased authenticity. Later use of the handheld camera, in movies such as Festen (The Celebration,
1998) and The Blair Witch Project (1999) reinforce the suggestion of an unmediated filmed experience.

In the early 1970s the cameraman Garrett Brown, with engineers from Cinema Products, Inc., developed
the Steadicam system to integrate the responsiveness of handheld camera movement with the
smoothness of a dolly. The Steadicam features a camera mounted on a movable, spring-loaded arm that
is attached to a weight-bearing harness worn on the upper body of the operator. A handgrip moves the
camera up and down and side to side in front of the operator's body, while the camera itself can tilt and
pan in any direction. An attached video monitor allows the operator to view the image without looking
through the camera eyepiece, while zooming and focusing are remote-controlled. The Steadicam arm
absorbs the shock of sudden movements, enabling operators to walk, run, jump, and climb stairs while
still producing the level, bounce-free camera movements previously exclusive to dolly-mounted shots.
Although Steadicam shots tend to act as tracking shots, they may also involve other support structures
that carry the operator into the air.

The primary means of moving the camera above ground is with a crane. During crane shots, the camera
rises and lowers on a platform connected to a mechanical arm, much like utility company cherry-pickers.
A crane enables the camera to traverse great distances up and down, as well as forward and backward
and from side to side. Although in use as early as Intolerance (1916), crane shots became a signature of
the 1930s musicals of Busby Berkeley (1895–1976) and multiplied following technological improvements
after World War II. In the late 1970s the introduction of the Louma crane further increased shooting
options. The Louma operates like an oversized microphone boom, with a rotating arm and a remote-
control camera mount at the end. The Louma transmits the image from the camera to the operator in
another location, enabling the camera to move through very tight, narrow spaces that were previously
inaccessible.

Aerial shots taken from a plane or helicopter are a variation of crane shots. A camera mounted on an
aerial support can move into space in all directions while achieving much greater heights than can a
crane. Filmmakers began exploring ways to mount a camera on a plane during the 1910s, and in the
1950s helicopter mounts created additional shooting possibilities. An aerial shot may frame another
flying object, as during the Huey helicopter battle sequences of Apocalypse Now (1979), or it may
provide a "bird's eye view" of the landscape, as in the swooping helicopter shot of Julie Andrews in the
Alps at the opening of The Sound of Music (1965).

A cinematographic technique that is frequently mistaken for a form of camera movement is the zoom.
Zooms are produced by a zoom lens, which can vary focal length during a single shot from wide angle to
telephoto and back. Although rudimentary zoom lenses were available in the late 1920s, technological
advances and increased location shooting encouraged filmmakers to use zooms more frequently
beginning in the 1950s and 1960s.

Audiences often confuse a zoom shot with a track or crane shot, but careful viewing reveals distinct
differences. A zoom in to an object will magnify it and decrease the apparent distance between the
object and surrounding planes, whereas a zoom out from an object will demagnify it and increase the
apparent distance between planes. As with zooming, tracking and craning can alter the size of objects
within the frame, but the latter two will also affect spatial relationships; a zoom merely magnifies or
demagnifies a portion of the image. For example, during the party sequence in Notorious (1946), a crane
propels the camera down from the second-floor balcony and into the lobby for a close-up of the key in
Alicia's (Ingrid Bergman) hand; in the opening of The Conversation (1974), a zoom slowly isolates Harry
Caul (Gene Hackman) and enlarges him within the frame as he tries to escape a mime in the park. Both
the crane shot and the zoom highlight a detail within the image, but where the crane physically moves
the camera through space, the zoom creates only the illusion of movement.