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As non-English speaker, the terms connected with camera movement are not always clear to me, and I believe that they are technical enough to be confusing even for some English speakers.

Please write what are the terms (eg. pan, tilt), what they mean and what is that specific movement used for while shooting.

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For the three main rotations of the camera you have pan (rotation around the vertical axis), tilt (rotation around the axis passing left to right through the camera), roll (rotation through the axis passing through the center of the lens).

Then there are the three main movements along those same axis. Pedestal is a movement along the vertical axis. Tracking, trucking and dolly shots are all roughly synonymous and refer to moving the camera along either horizontal axis (or both). Tracking generally involves maintaining a constant distance from the subject.

A crane shot is a shot where the camera is on the end of a boom that is being rotated around one or more axis. In other words, the camera is moving around the outside of a sphere created by a boom mounted on a central point.

Follow shot is a shot that follows a subject at a set distance as they move. Ie, the subject remains roughly stationary in frame but the rest of the surroundings move.

Dolly Zoom isn't exactly a specific kind of camera movement, but it involves doing a dolly shot at the same time as adjusting the zoom to keep the subject the same size. This results in an exaggerated perspective shift while the subject remains the same size or roughly the same size.

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  • Wow! Nice summary, AJ! May 14, 2014 at 19:19
  • Ditto Ditto Ditto (must have minimum number of characters.)
    – filzilla
    May 14, 2014 at 23:33

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