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Camera Movement
By Maurice Voltkofsky

We know you're on tight budgets and even tighter schedules, but let's all remember one thing. What we produce is called a "motion" picture. Separating cinema from television is this thing called motion.

This doesn't mean that you have to keep your camera spinning and bobbing around like a cork on the ocean. Good filmmaking is about not drawing attention to your camera. Motion can be slight - sometimes a movement from point A to point B can be a few inches - but you'll be astonished how this slight motion will lend power to your shot, and increase the audience's focus on your performance.

Try to see what motion will give you in each shot you set up. There's going to be plenty of times when motion will work against you - when the moment demands absolute stillness -- the implacable, unwavering view of the camera -- but don't go there first. Go for the movement. And if you can't move the camera, please try to move the actors. Walk them into shots. Walk them out. Find legitimate reasons to move them during the scene.

Block with movement not with -- "Fred, you sit on the couch, and Mary...why don't you sit in the chair?" Let's keep it moving, guys -- and if you can't afford to rent the Fischer 10 dolly , then go with the skateboard and the sandbag - or run around every junk store in town until you find an old wheelchair.

   
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