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The Moving Camera

Camera Movement: An Historical Overview

Any discussion of the technical aspects of cinema and the possible ties between technique and narration needs to be prefaced by an account of the most significant passages in the evolution of filmmaking techniques.

Framing, that is to say selecting the portion of space and the viewpoint in order to follow a certain moment of the action from the best possible position, implies making a selection on the basis of ability to portray the events that are occurring and fulfil the narrative aims. Actually, this is only true for films that aspire to be ‘straightforward’ and ‘descriptive’. In other cases, framing may not have illustrative potential as its sole concern, but will involve artistic taste and dramatic devices such as arbitrarily altered proportions, the desire to render the subject unrecognizable and so on.

Staying in the realm where the criterion of choice is the desire to relate events as they occur, an important early realization – in 1896, Eugene Promio, the operator for the Lumière Brothers, was impressed with the beauty of the images of Venice captured by his camera while he travelled along the canals on a gondola – was that perhaps the shot which is determined by and determines the point of view cannot be made from only one spot. The camera may need to move, rotate, elevate or otherwise alter its position or angle relative to the object of our interest in order to catch all desired aspects. Furthermore, this must not be done only by moving the camera from one spot to another and keeping it immobile during shooting; it is natural to catch the movement of the scene also with the movement of the camera.

Right from its beginnings, cinema aimed to entertain and amuse the public. At first, films told stories using only one shot, then a number of shots in sequence, while at the same time adding a diversified point of view with respect to the subject.

In the early years of filmmaking, shooting was done in the studio. The studios were housed in open or glass-ceiling buildings that provided natural illumination for the sets. Only later was artificial lighting used:

The surface of the stage was slightly tilted, like in regular theatres, in order to exaggerate the size of the objects and the depth of the scene. No one had realized yet that placing the camera in a slightly higher position and varying the angle of the optical axis could achieve the same result. The tilted floor had the drawback that after a few hours of work, the actors and technicians complained of aching ankles and were noticeably tired. Nevertheless, it was still difficult to understand the mechanics of certain situations.

For a long time, in fact, dolly shots continued to be made by moving the scene on rollers, with all the difficulties that this engendered, instead of simply putting the camera on three or four wheels to be able to move it freely relative to the scene.¹

The earliest movies consisted of one shot with the camera fixed in a hypothetical central seat in the audience, which was considered the ideal position. Later, at the end of the nineteenth century and in the early years of the twentieth century, films with multiple shots were made, which lasted longer and had more complex stories. The subjective vision of the character was used as a motivation for the cuts between frames and to link various situations. Thus, a movie showed first a character and then what the character was seeing, with perhaps some visual tricks to underline the subjectivity of the vision, such as a view through binoculars using a cut-out.

In 1910, cameras on tripods that previously could only perform horizontal pans were provided with movable heads, which allowed them to execute both horizontal and vertical movements. Experiments began to be made with moving the camera; it was put on impromptu wheeled conveyances or on cars, ships and trains, in order to give the illusion of movement.

In 1912, the arrival of the very first real dollies, movable platforms on wheels that supported the camera, its operator and at times an assistant, further increased the possibilities of filming with a moving camera.² The dollies moved on tracks, at first made of wood and later metal, allowing motion over rough or uneven surfaces. They could also be pushed on four rubber-coated wheels by the grips, using a steering device.

The camera was no longer glued to one spot, a mere witness to the action taking place before it; now, with these means of support, it could move giving a range from long shots to very close-up shots. The need to attract the public and arouse their interest reveals itself in the early filmmakers’ efforts to find new effects and narrative devices as they developed techniques that would allow them to fulfil the intentions of the author. In addition, filmmakers began to be more aware of lighting, using it not simply to expose the film but as an active contribution to the construction of the story.

To explain the action frequently required giving the audience a series of different viewpoints and often a viewpoint that moved. Cameras were pushed, pulled or mounted on any moving contraption imaginable, in order to follow, pass, overlook or stop beside the subject – techniques developed by trial, error or inspiration to tell the story in the best possible way, whether by mechanical or organic means.

Besides the problem of creating the image, there was also that of recording the sound. The music and explanatory captions that accompanied the first films were no longer sufficient to illustrate the stories, the public needed to hear the ‘dialogue’; therefore, a system for synchronizing the film and the soundtrack was invented. The soundtrack was attached along one edge of the film between the perforations and the frames,³ guaranteeing the synchronization of sound and image. The tools required to put such a system into practical use were considerably improved as a result of research done on radio technology and, in 1927, Warner Bros released the first ‘talking’ film: The Jazz Singer. From this point on, the camera had an electric motor to synchronize it with the sound-recording device and, as it now needed to be connected to a power supply, it ceased to be an object held freely in the operator’s hands.

The advent of sound had a revolutionary effect on filmmaking techniques and camera design, which was still basically that of the pre-war models, changed accordingly in terms of both concept and use. During the 1930s, both the camera crank (which relied on the constant and uniform movement of the operator’s hand for the advancement of the film) and the spring (mechanical advancement of the film by winding up a spring), were replaced by an electric motor. Because of the motor, the sound camera was quite noisy and consequently the operator had to stand with the camera and tripod in a soundproof box during shooting. This led to the development of the sound blimp, a sound-absorbing covering for the camera that allowed the operator and the camera greater freedom of movement.

Throughout the 1930s a number of technological advances were made in tripods and camera accessories in general. Whereas the early tripods could only accommodate horizontal and vertical movement of the camera (pans and tilts), the modern ones developed in those years were also capable of roll movement. The camera could be moved practically in any direction imaginable.⁴

To hear and see better, to know more … films attempt to satisfy these narrative requirements in order to provide the most complete artistic realization possible. Camera movements became more complex as, in its turn, the narrative tone became more complex and symbolic.

The use of the dolly became widespread; a version called the ‘railroad’ dolly was built for use in train corridors and, in 1929, the crane made its debut – a more imposing structure than the dolly with an arm that could reach as high as 15 m. The crane was created in response to the need for spectacular camera movement and to give the spectator a better view of the action. It consisted of a large trolley with a long projecting arm, at the end of which was a platform that held the camera and the operator. This machine made it possible to combine a number of camera movements in more complex dynamic arrangements (i.e. to pan and boom together). The spectacular images that resulted made it an indispensable tool.

The camera now moved through space: it could be moved forward, backward, to the right or left, up and down and also diagonally and in a circle. It is important to remember that all this movement was achieved through the work done by grips, who had to deal with the bulky and heavy equipment and counterbalances necessary for the various manoeuvres and which only later was made lighter and easier to use.

The end of the 1940s saw the development of the crab dolly, which provided even greater flexibility for manoeuvring:

a crab dolly can be steered by all four wheels interconnected to turn together, as well as by the usual two-wheel steering. Hence it can be instantaneously turned from a movement tracking straight forwards to a ‘crabbing’ movement sideways at 90 degrees to the original path.⁵

This process of optimization of all equipment used on set and on location continued, so that it slowly evolved in those years to respond to various needs. However, even after the Second World War the fundamental aspects of such equipment still mirrored the structures that had been defined with the advent of sound.

The official debut of television in 1936 conditioned the course of technical research in the years that followed. Having established itself during the 1950s as a means of providing both entertainment and information with news programmes and services following events around the world, television found that in order to be present at events and report them, it needed to film quickly and efficiently, using camera operators who could go anywhere.

The new kind of reportage made it necessary to shoot with more agility, which required more easily handled equipment and smaller crews for location shooting. Consequently, research aims now included the building of lighter cameras and better accessories.

In 1953 a lens was introduced to the market, destined only for the 16 mm camera, but which would later become an indispensable accessory of every movie camera: the zoom lens. As it is a lens with a variable focal length, it can give the illusion of movement by passing from one degree of magnification to another, i.e. by going from a short focal length (wide-angle) to a long focal length (telephoto lens) it appears that one is moving closer. Actually, as opposed to the dolly that really moves through space and maintains a consistent sense of depth and a natural variation of perspective, the zoom lens only appears to make a travelling shot as the observation point does not change and only the magnification varies, enlarging or diminishing the object viewed.

Looking back, we can see that cinematic equipment was evolving in the direction of ever-greater freedom of camera movement. In fact, the 1960s saw the development of many different devices and techniques in this sense, which also gave new inspiration to filmmakers who were quick to take advantage of the new technology.⁶ For example, the camera car (a truck set on shock-absorbing springs and adapted to hold the camera) was increasingly used for shots of automobiles and of objects seen from the passengers’ point of view.

Filmmaking profited from various technical developments such as the zoom lens, lighter-weight cameras and improved lighting equipment. Since these had the effect of speeding up filming, they were particularly useful in the production of low-budget movies. A perfect example is the use of the hand-held camera, which came to embody various movements in the history of cinema, such as ‘free cinema’ and ‘nouvelle vague’.

The movement of the hand-held camera moves with leaps and bounds, jerking in a discontinuous and irregular way. This type of movement, which is necessarily present in many films of ‘reportage’, becomes widespread during the second half of the 1950s with the diffusion of ‘cinema verité’, which used it to create a more direct and immediate relationship with reality.⁷

The advantage of this kind of shot is that it does not require the positioning of a tripod, the responsibility for the shot being entirely the operator’s, who can act without delay, using existing light or a fairly approximate lighting set-up. In addition, as there is no significant presence at the location, the need to obtain permits is eliminated and the crew can leave the site as soon as the shoot is finished.

Various braces and harnesses were developed to fix the camera to the operator’s body so that he could hold the camera without fatigue. However, these did not prevent the camera from jerking, and so devices for smoother movement, such as the gyro stabilizer, were designed. One of these, built originally for military binoculars, was positioned under the camera and guaranteed a certain horizontal stability for hand-held shots. The inconveniences of this set-up were that it was impossible simultaneously to shoot pans and tilt shots owing to the direction of rotation of the gyroscope, and it resulted in considerable extra weight for the operator to carry on top of the already substantial weight of the cameras of that time (also because the average production used the 35 mm camera and not the lighter 16 mm).

At the same time, research continued into the remote control of camera angle, which made it possible to obtain shots in positions and situations previously considered impossible. The Louma, a crane with varying lengths of ‘arm’ that can be put together on location, was the first to provide a remote-controlled pan and tilt head for the camera at its end. This increased the expressive possibilities for filmmakers, since it was sufficiently light and portable to be erected in places where it would be impossible to erect a normal crane.⁸

In the 1970s researchers focused on further separating the camera from the man and began using computers to automate various functions. This meant, however, giving over much of the responsibility for making the shot to machines and computers, as happened with John Dykstra’s motion-control work in Star Wars (1977).

At this time, Garrett Brown’s work on the Steadicam finally (and paradoxically) made it possible to obtain a true reunion of man and real-time image-capturing machine: hand-held and movable, as if a direct part of the operator’s body; smooth as a dolly shot, but without the arbitrary mechanical constraints of rails and wheels. As Garrett Brown says

Camera as Fonteyn, operator as Nureyev would be the ideal – a dance partnership capable of any vector of graceful motion within the range of the operator’s hands, arms and legs. Camera as simply an instrument of the operator’s expression in three dimensional space – capable, as operators get increasingly skilful, of going nearly anywhere and doing nearly anything that can be imagined …⁹

Types of Camera Movement

The importance of camera movement varies according to the narrative requirements of the shot or sequence. It often plays a fundamental role in the construction and development of the story. The main types of camera motion are:

1. Angular
   • Pan shot – the camera is rotated around its vertical axis.
   • The whip pan is a very quick pan, in which it is almost impossible to perceive the intermediate images between the beginning and the end.
   • Tilt – the camera turns, from a fixed point, towards the top or the bottom (the horizontal is blocked).
   • Roll – the camera is rotated around an axis along the line of sight of the lens.
2. Spatial
   • Boom – the camera is moved up and down on its vertical axis.
   • Tracking – linear motion of the camera by means of a dolly (the platform on which the camera is mounted on rubber wheels or rails according to the type of ground and desired effects); a translational movement. Tracking can be:
     • forward – to give the effect of forward movement or to approach a subject and focus the viewer’s attention on it; to precede the character
     • backward – to pull away from the subject to reveal the larger scene, to diminish the subject’s importance; to follow
     • transversal or circling – the camera moves transversally or laterally on its own axis to place the subject in three dimensions, to see various sides of the subject or to simply pass by
     • to accompany – both the camera and the actors are moving.
   • Camera car – the tracking can be done from a camera car.
   • Aerial shot – the camera is on an aeroplane, helicopter, etc.
   • Crane and dolly – the camera is fixed above the arm to facilitate upward and downward movements or 360° rotation, thus combining various movements. The crane and dolly are very stable, mounted on a wheeled platform that holds a mobile arm. They differ in the size of the arm and the maximum height reached, the dolly having a maximum of 4 m and a crane more than 15 m. There are also mini-dollies of more reduced dimensions, which are easier to control.
   • Zoom – although an optical movement, zoom gives the illusion of moving closer to and further away from the subject by magnifying the image.
     • zoom in – the camera seems to close in on the subject
     • zoom out – the camera seems to move away from the subject
     • snap zoom – a zoom movement into the subject done at maximum speed.

The Function of Camera Movements

When discussing camera movements, it is necessary to explain their function in movies. In fact, besides following the actor’s movements, illustrating and depicting the setting and travelling through space, they may also serve the purpose of generating the ‘sense of creation’ of the film. The film unfolds before our eyes in a certain way thanks to the camera, which chooses for us what is ‘important’: it enters a room, lingers on certain objects, exits through a window, descends three floors of a building and in the doorway picks up again a character who is just coming out … Merely by how it moves, it creates suspense, tension and is able to convey the feeling of time and space.

There are many ways to use camera movement that aid in the construction of the story and, as with framing, in obtaining the best possible portrayal of what is happening.

Camera movements, whose main purpose is that of maintaining the central element of the ‘profilmic’¹⁰ and directing the viewer’s attention to it.¹¹

As well as the ‘justified’ use of a camera’s movement, such as in following a character, it can also be used as a cinematic device to indicate the presence of the narrator, the person who holds the threads of the story, organizes the spaces, knows what is happening. In this case, the movement chosen no longer appears to serve the purposes of the story, but is used by the narrator to evidence his otherwise subdued presence. The camera movements may respond to such a need by anticipating events, waiting, abandoning the action before its conclusion, following the ‘internal movement’ of the creator of the story.

Camera movement can thus be divided into two main categories: ‘motivated movements’, those that follow the path of a character or a moving object whilst maintaining a certain distance, viewpoint and speed relative to the subject; and ‘free movements’, in which ‘detached from the action of the scene, the camera moves independently through space’.¹²

Within a film, this division is not clear-cut, precisely because often a movement begun in one way (i.e. following a character) is transformed into another, so changing its function. Furthermore, this might not be particularly noticeable, so that it is difficult to catch the meaning of the camera moves unless one is analysing them in detail. As with other manifestations of cinematic technique, there can be various levels of interpretation; consequently, the result is tied to a sequence of meanings and the value assumed by a move is determined by the role the move has been given. For example, the camera may seem to be following a character but it will then linger, even if for just an instant, on the empty space from which the character has just departed (for example, in The Shining, Danny in the corridor … see Chapter 2). Although this seems to assign a descriptive role to the movement, it is actually evidence of the presence of a gaze from above, pointing to something which, precisely because the spectator can not clearly identify it, creates tension.

Often, in fact, the role of the camera movement is to take on ‘the gaze of the character’, to create that mechanism by which the movement of drawing nearer or further away is determined by what the character is seeing (as for example in The Untouchables). Thus, the gaze of the character is incarnated in the structure of the movement itself of the camera towards, or away from, something. Such movements take on particular characteristics according to the situation. Each encounter is a surprise, mitigated by slowness if the movement is one of measured discovery, or exaggerated by frenzy if the movement forward has the rapid, jerky style of the hand-held camera.

Numerous effects can be obtained. In the subjective shot, in which the character’s gaze and the camera’s vision coincide, the movement gains a particular tension and the development becomes imperative, exactly because greater or lesser knowledge is dependent on its going forward: the viewer tends to identify with what he or she sees and his/her gaze moves and learns synchronously with the camera.

Film, intended as a large-scale look at life and objects, is a transposition onto the screen of precisely that movement of the eyes and person which is natural in real life but exceptional when depicted on film. Normally we pay selective attention to what we see, unlike the global and total vision of a film. A shot catches many more elements than does the human eye; consequently, the time the spectator needs to perceive and comprehend it must be taken into account.

Camera movement, like other cinematic elements such as editing, should not exceed a certain speed (unless it is justified by narrative requirements) because the time needed to ‘read’ the image is determined by the physiology of the eye and the brain. The speed involved in the process of building the rhythm of the film, on the other hand, can exceed perceptible levels and exacerbate the viewer’s appreciation of the image, in order to follow the rhythm of ‘creative time’.

Notes

1    Bernardo, M. (1983). La macchina del cinematografo. Gruppo Edit, Forma, p. 82.

2    ‘Cabiria’ Giovanni Pastrone, 1914. Pastrone was the first to use the dolly with new narrative intent that showed the three-dimensional effect of the huge scenographies. A new name was given to the dolly shot – ‘alla Cabiria’.

3    System patented by A.C.G. Petersen and A. Poulsen in 1924.

4    This was due to various new kinds of heads: friction heads, in which the operator’s movement is blocked by a series of gears that are regulated separately; and gear heads, in which the horizontal and vertical rotation movement is assured by two cranks that precisely reduce the movements, decreasing the amount of physical effort necessary.

5    Salt, B. (1992) Film Style Technology: History and Analysis. 2nd edition. London: Starwood, p. 231.

6    The Spider Elemac, a little dolly which can be moved in any direction.

7    Rondolino, G.-Tomasi, D. (1975) Manuale del film. Torino: Ed. UTET, Libreria, p. 122.

8    Salt, B. (1992) Film Style Technology: History and Analysis. 2nd edition. London: Starwood. ‘Film style and technology in the 1980s: The idea of using the panning and tilting movements of cameras gained more and more ground during this decade. The Louma crane, … was joined by various other devices incorporating electric motors driving a pan and tilt head that could be attached to any standard camera support system. These came to be called generically “hot heads”… ’.

9    Personal communication, February 2000.

10  Rondolino, G.-Tomasi, op. cit. p. 50 ‘Each shot is always the result of choices made at two levels. The first is that of the profilmic, meaning everything which is in front of the camera, which is there for the purpose of being filmed and is a concrete part of the story being told (settings, characters, objects). The second level which determines the characteristics of a shot is the filmic, which has to do with discourse, properly called the language of cinema, or, more simply, the ways in which the profilmic elements are portrayed’. op. cit.

11  Rondolino, G.-Tomasi, op. cit.

12  Rondolino, G.-Tomasi, op. cit.