Tracking And Panning Shots
A tracking shot is when the person or object is moving and the camera follows him. It is a good shot because it focuses the audience on a particular action or object, and shows the audience what they have to be looking at during a scene. Here's an example of a tracking shot from Pulp Fiction:
A panning shot a similar as it has the same purpose as a tracking shot - to focus the audiences attention on an object or action but a panning shot could be used to view an environment of speed such as car chases, but is often used to determine a setting by shifting the camera from one side of a room to the other. Here's an example of a pan shot that worked really effectively:
Crane, Aerial and Bird's Eye View Shots
Crane, Aerial and Bird's eye view shots are quite similar, but still different in terms of how they're used an what effect it has on the audience. They are filmed from either planes or helicopters to show a larger setting such as a city, town, village etc. These types of shots are establishing shots. They are made so the audience can see the setting of things the way the people in the movie don't see it, so it could also add suspense. Here is an example of a bird's eye view shot:
Tilt, Cant, Roll Shots
Tilt, Cant and Roll shots are not used as often as the other shots listed, but could be very effective if needed. These shots are when the camera gets tilted to one side to create a certain effect of fear if the camera suddenly tilts to one side or give actors power if taken from a low angle. It could also be a shot to reveal something slowly which builds on the suspense for the audience. If the camera also rolls from one side to the other it could mean confusion such as a person is drunk and we want to see what he feels like. Here's an example of a tilt:
Zoom, Whip Pan and Trombone Shot
These shots are more unusual than the others. Each one could have a lot of different effects. The zoom could either reveal different things or add a dramatic suspense depending on the speed or direction of the zoom. If it is a slow zoom inwards it would add a dramatic effect to the audience and if the zoom is fast and inwards it could be to scare the audience or make the audience feel certain things the character is feeling. The shots can all manipulate the audience to feel different things, but mainly add suspense. Here's an example of a trombone shot:
Handheld and POV Shots
There are numerous effects of having a handheld or POV shot in a movie. Firstly it depends if the shot is a subjective POV which is when we know who's holding the camera and we would have to take the place of that person holding the camera and as an audience pretend we are them or a POV shot which is still handheld but we don't know who's point of view we are viewing it from. There are whole movies that could be examples of this type of shot. It makes the setting in movies seem more realistic and natural such as a documentary and makes people view it in a more believable and realistic way rather than other movies. An example of a movie that uses this type of shot is Project X. The whole movie uses subjective POV shots.
