(moving) camera techniques – instruction?

[Todd Mcmullen]

Hey Pat,

I am not aware of any dvd’s or books on “camera moves” because a “camera move” is usually an act of emotion and it’s intention is to motivate some response to/from the viewer. Other than general mobility hand held usually creates an edge to the look and feeling of the image. Steadicam is great for smooth mobility and the ability to follow a subject through a scene. Anyway, I hope you get the point. I think each application is motivated by whatever emotion you want to convey to the scene. You may want to consult some photo books on composiiton if I have totally missed the point of the question however.

cheers,

Todd McMullen
Flip Flop Films
Austin

[Tony]

The art of learning how to shoot handheld or steadicam is all about real world practice and experience.

You just have to get out there and do it!! That said however one great tool to learn what to shoot is to watch your favorite TV shows and analyze the handheld,steadicam and/or dolly shots to see how the shot is done.

Then just go out and practice those moves yourself ie (handheld- walking forward and backward, in a circle, shooting on the long end of a lens, the proper method of breathing to stabilize your shots, proper placement and use of your arms,elbow feet etc, Steadicam- walking up stairs, down stairs, low mode, high mode etc etc.

The list goes on and on but the best instruction is experience itself.

Good luck,

Tony Salgado

[Joel Kay]

For handheld and steadicam I don’t know of any DVDs… but for general camera work (static, dolly and jib) the DVDs at http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/ are really good – but kinda expensive. Very comprehensive regarding framing, blocking and motivation.

[Elnewny]

I can think of two sensational books that provide good conceptual underpinnings for camera movement:

24P -Make Your Digital Movies Look Like Hollywood, by Pete Shaner and Gerald Everett Jones

and

Matchmoving The Invisible Art of Camera Tracking, by Tim Dobbert

“Contents
Chapter 1 The Basics of Matchmoving 1
A Typical Matchmove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
From 3D to 2D and Back Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Matchmoving Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Evaluate the Footage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Applying Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Define the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Set Fitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Testing the Matchmove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Delivering the Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Matchmoving in the Production Pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Perspective Matching Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Gathering the Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Setting Up the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Adding Rough Geometry and Refining the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Creating a Camera Rig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Moving Toward Moving Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 2 Matchmoving Software 23
Using Matchmove Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Photogrammetry 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Optics of Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Building a Better Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Parallax: A Matchmover