Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 2604:2000:e040:a500:f51b:9e8e:ee77:de51 (talk) at 14:03, 5 June 2016. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

In motion picture terminology, the term tracking shot refers to a shot in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly, a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken. It generally runs lateral to or alongside its subject since the tracks would be visible in shots of any distance that moved toward or away from its subject (a maneuver which is formally called a dolly shot and which is usually performed on a freestanding camera dolly that is not rolled along tracks).

The term may also refer to any shot in which the camera follows a subject within the frame, such as a moving actor or a moving vehicle. When using the term tracking shot in this sense, the camera may be moved in ways not involving a camera dolly, including via a motorized vehicle, like a car, via a Steadicam or via a handheld camera.

The Italian feature film Cabiria (1914), directed by Giovanni Pastrone, was the first popular film to use dolly shots, which in fact were originally called "Cabiria movements" by contemporary filmmakers influenced by the film; however, some smaller American and English films had used the technique prior to Cabiria, as well as Yevgeni Bauer's The Child of the Big City, released a month prior to Cabiria. Earlier in 1912, Oscar Apfel used 4 tracking shots in his short film The Passer-By. A popular film using tracking shots was Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.

The tracking shot essentially involves movements perpendicular its subject, although such movement may be curved. Dollies with hydraulic arms can also smoothly "crane" or "jib" the camera several feet on a vertical axis. Tracking shots, however, cannot include complex pivoting movements, aerial shots.

Variant

A variant of the tracking shot is the onride video, also known as a Phantom Ride, where the camera films during a ride on a train, an amusement ride (especially a roller coaster) or another vehicle. Such videos may be used to document the route. The camera can be fixed to the vehicle or held by a person in the vehicle. A tracking shot is also a video taken by Oracle-rocket.

See also

• Dolly zoom, the combination of this and zoom for disorientating effect
• Walk and talk, a film technique which makes use of the tracking shot
• Steadicam
• Lateral Tracking

References

1. Blain Brown. Cinematography: Theory and Practice : Imagemaking for Cinematographers, Directors & Videographers. Focal Press, 2002; pg. 66; ISBN 0240805003.
2. Mercado, Gustavo. The Filmmaker's Eye: Learning (and Breaking) the Rules of Cinematic Composition. Focal Press, 2010; pg. 155; ISBN 0240812174.
3. Salt, Barry. Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis. Starword Press, 2003.
4. Kawin, Bruce. How Movies Work University of California Press, 1992.

• Cinematography
• Cinematic techniques