Six different things I'm thinking about when I move a camera.
1. Candy floss and icing. What I often say in my head is, "either movement of the frame, or movement in the frame". And what I mean is: either whatever the camera's looking at should be moving (like a person, or wind blowing leaves), or the camera itself should be moving.
And this is mainly just to avoid boredom. It's a technique I've seen many documentaries employ.
Now, definitely, static shots of static objects have their place -- they make the viewer stop and reflect. But usually the story of a video is on the way to somewhere, so the shots should feel like they're going somewhere too.
These kinds of movements -- especially when nothing's really happening -- can be like icing. Beautiful, light, sometimes sickly sweet and too much.
2. Key frames. Most people, including me, aim for compositions that feel balanced, ordered, structured -- or compositions that feel like they intentionally break the rules.
With movement in particular, I like tidy shots. I like the camera to start from a well-composed frame and end on a well-composed frame. And if you can't have both, then the ending is more important than the beginning.
This applies to the edit as well. I pay attention to where every cut ends -- and I think the viewer senses that.
3. Motivation. I didn't like the film school I went to, but I did learn from it. And one thing I learned was the idea that movement is inherently distracting. It can take away from the story. People use tripods for a reason.
So, if you move the camera, ideally there should be a reason. For instance, maybe you're following a person walking from point A to point B.
4. Slow and controlled movement also helps avoid distraction -- and it sets a mood.
I usually prefer to take the operator out of the shot. If the camera is even a bit shaky, then the audience becomes conscious of the person holding it. But if the camera is smooth and controlled, their focus shifts more to the content than the camerawork -- and I think that's important for weddings.
5. Multi-axis gimbal and drone moves are inherently interesting. For instance, not just moving the camera upwards, but tilting it down at the same time as moving it up.
I don't know where the interest comes from. Maybe the viewer can feel that it's more unusual or harder to perform such a move than a single-axis move. Or maybe it's that such moves are more alive -- because, in the real world, people don't move in straight lines like robots.
Or maybe there's some sort of symbolism or association.
Stefan once tried to make his Steadicam feel like a bird swooping, gracefully banking as it approached a target.
6. Lastly, movements have their own meanings. Going in feels like pulling people into a scene, walking back feels like departure.
Slowly circling someone can express their thoughts going round and round, or can express the audience's feelings of cautiously circling, getting to know this new character.
Pushing in on a face can express the build up of their emotion; pulling back can express the release.
I find such meanings very hard to talk about, but I do think that they're what movement's really about.
