The Story Behind Handheld Camera Movements

Published on April 24, 2018

Cinematography tips

Camera Movements, dolly zoom, dutch angle, hand held, iconic shots, story behind the camera movments, trunk shot

Good day to all who is reading this or maybe goodnight. I probably don’t have to say it because you are already here, but it’s Creative Tuesday. And that means it’s time again for some creative tips and tricks. This weeks video will go about handheld camera movements and the meaning/story behind it. We already did a video like this in the past, but we then explained 5 movements with a gimbal. So we thought “let’s do one for handheld”, which makes it more accessible for everyone.

But what are the most iconic camera movements you might ask yourself? Well let me show you a few and maybe you can use them in your next video. The first one is maybe one of the most popular ones, The Dolly Zoom. The camera movement became famous because of vertigo and jaws. The shot is the perfect choice to convey paranoia, sinking, uneasiness and horrifying revelations. Simply explained how the shot works, you do a dolly movement and at the same time you zoom in or out (depends on the dolly movement). We also made a video about this movement.

Another famous shot is the Low Angle Trunk Shot, completely mastered by Quentin Tarantino. And as you could already guess, it’s a shot from a low angle made in a trunk of the car. Most of these shots are faked, with a fake set trunk.

The last iconic shot I’m going to explain is the Dutch Angle. Also a very simple shot made by tilting your camera to the side. This will make everything skew and will communicate disorientation, desperation and intensity. And you will be amazed how many times they use the specific camera movement.

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