Using the Camera to Tell a Story

[sonnyboo]

This is from my PBS show on Filmmaking, this one focusing on using the camera to tell a story

 

[Kim Welch]

Thank you Peter!! This is awesome stuff. Sometimes just the slightest moves can have considerable effects. Like during a revelation if the camera ever so slowly pushes in on the actor from a close up to just the start of the extreme closeup it creates an emotionally amplifying effect. I can't think of the scene now but I think the last time I noticed this kind of movement was in the House of Cards with Spacey. I found some simple examples of camera movements online but I wonder if there is some kind of definition of movements dictionary of some kind that lists different camera movements and what they mean? I think it is something that changes with each scene mostly based on what comes before. If all the scenes have fixed camera positions in an apartment for example and then the actor start out the door and instead of using fixed camera positions you start following with a steady cam it will mean something different than if you used a steady cam from the start.

 

[sonnyboo]

Thanks.

Yeah, I notice all the time how the camera movement and angles take great performances and enhance them greatly.