This document discusses various camera techniques including whip pans, whip zooms, searches up, back to front shots, focus outs/passes, focus transitions, fades, ceiling twists, flip overs, and shifting angles. Each technique is defined and examples are provided of famous films that have used certain techniques like flip overs in Cape Fear and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Videos from YouTube and Vimeo are cited that demonstrate techniques like search ups from Terminator 2 and back to front shots.

1. Camera
Techniques
Anuj Gupta, Julia Kim, Chantel Romero
Hernandez, Matt Sutton

2. Whip Pan, Whip Cut
• Whip Pan is when the camera moves quickly from
one angle to another causing the image to blur
from the motion
• Whip Cut can be created from Whip Pan when it it
cuts into another Whip Pan.

3. Whip Zoom Look
• Whip Zoom is created by quickly zooming towards an object.
• It allows us to focus our attention on a specific object /
character in the scene.

4. Search Up
• Search up is a
technique that’s used
to visually and
gradually describe a
character or an object.
• It’s as if your eyes
were to scan over a
person’s body from
their feet to their head.

5. Back To Front
• Back to Front is when we see an action taking
place in the background then see an action that
happens close to the camera.
• It emphasizes depth and is used to compare two
related scenes without moving the camera.
http://vimeo.com/15533975

6. Focus Out, Pass Out
• Focus Out, Pass Out is an
point of view (POV) shot.
The audience sees the
world through the POV
of someone passing out.

7. Focus Transition
• Focus Transition: A specific type of transition achieved by
changing the focus over time.
o Brightness
• Out of focus techniques:
o Starts a new scene
o Blurry
o As the camera focues in, the scene is revealed
• Another version of Focus Transition
o Focuses out to prepare for the end of a scene
o When combined, the first scene is focuses out and then the film cuts to a
new scene that is out of focus and then the new scene gains focus.

8. Fade
• Two experimental techniques that can
change the exposure over time
• Controls the brightness of the film image
• Over expose Fade
o Gradually overexposes the picture
o Film looks washed out
o This technique has been used to give a sense of
enlightenment, or something significant is beginning to
change
• Underexpose Fade
o Gradually underexposes the image
o Its difficult to make out details because of the dark
image.

9. Ceiling Twist
• Ceiling Twist: is achieved by
rotating the camera whenever
it’s pointed up at something
interesting
o Usually a ceiling
o The camera may also move towards the
object or away from it to add another
dimension.
• This technique is used because
a view of a ceiling by itself can
be somewhat static and boring
o This technique makes ceiling more
interesting to look at.

10. FLIP OVER
A flip over “starts out looking at the world and ends up
looking at the world upside down”
The camera can be tilted panned craned, dollied, and spinned. - The flip
over can be used to accompany these techniques by an inverse.
- This is done often to convey some sort of emotion, like uneasiness or
suspense.

11. A shifting angle is when the camera continuously
changes the viewing angle, inducing a dizzying
effect.
- A shifting angle is related to the “Tilted Horizon technique”
- For a tilted horizon, the camera always stay tilted at the same
angle.

12. Featured in:
-Army of Darkness
-Natural Born Killers
- Dangerous Liaisons
The technique can add “an incredible kinetic energy to the film” but can also “make
you sick if you are prone to dizziness.” (89, Shots)

13. OVER
FLIP
Famous
The flip over is most notably featured in:
- Cape Fear
-Mission to Mars
-2001: A Space Odyssey
- In 2001: A Space Odyssey, The flip over is used to “[emphasize] the lack of a horizon
in space.

14. Bibliography
• Videos taken from Youtube and Vimeo
• Videos edited at cellsea.com
o Search Up: Terminator 2 Judgment Day (3:23-3:37)
o Back to Front: Deep Focus Lens System Demonstration (0:06-0:16)
o Focus Out, Pass Out: Obsessed (5:18-5:24)