Set the Shot and Hold It: Beyonce (p. 111)

From How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck, Page 111:

If you watch professionally shot film, you’ll be surprised how often the camera stays still. Practice keeping the camera locked.  That way the action in the frame becomes the most important thing.

A static camera doesn’t mean a boring video.  Most of this recent Beyonce video consists of static camera shots of Beyoncé and two other women dancing. What camera moves there are are infrequent and deliberate– and lead to another static framing.  Most simply keep the women in frame as they dance. Yet the video, like the … Read the rest

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The static camera: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene (p. 111)

From How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck, Page 111:

You gotta walk before you run, and in video, you gotta learn how to compose a shot before you start waving the camera around.

Film is motion, but motion doesn’t always mean a moving camera. Moving objects in the frame, a static camera and film cuts convey enough motion and emotion to be authoritatively exciting in ways that a vaguely meandering camera won’t.

Until you’re a pro, you’ll shoot better video if you don’t move the camera.  But don’t worry—a static camera doesn’t mean a boring video.

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