# Technique library | AIM Previz https://aimpreviz.com/learn/techniques [Previz](https://aimpreviz.com/) / [Learn](https://aimpreviz.com/learn) / Technique library # The named moves. The technique library explains 53 camera, lighting, composition and effects moves — a Dutch angle, a Rembrandt key, a dolly zoom: what the move does to the frame, when a director reaches for it, and which PREVIZ control it sets. Picking one moves the camera or the light; it does not paste text into a prompt. Each page below says what the move does to the frame, when a director reaches for it, which studio can perform it, what it contradicts, and what sits beside it. Every technique here resolves to a real setting: a pose on the Camera Rig, a shot size, a lighting setup or mood, a lens, a film stock, a filter, a camera move. That is the whole point of a library over a list of adjectives — a setting can be re-run, checked against the settings beside it, and carried into the next shot. A director asks for these by name, and each one is explained in a few lines, with the control it moves in PREVIZ. ## Camera Where the lens sits and how it moves: angle, distance, and the moves that carry a shot through time. Basic · Dramatic, Cinematic ### Low Angle The camera sits below the subject and looks up. Reach for it when someone should read as powerful, imposing, or in control of the room. Basic · Dramatic ### High Angle The camera looks down on the subject. The inverse of a low angle — it diminishes, and is the standard way to make someone read as vulnerable. Intermediate · Artistic, Cinematic ### Bird's Eye View Straight down from directly overhead. Flattens the scene into pattern and geometry, and detaches the viewer from the action entirely. Intermediate · Dramatic, Artistic ### Steep Overhead Steeply down but not fully vertical. Keeps faces readable while a true bird's eye loses them — the usual choice when you want the detachment but still need performance. Basic · Artistic, Dramatic ### Profile Shot Dead side-on, ninety degrees to the subject's facing. Reads as formal and observational — you are watching rather than being addressed. Basic · Cinematic, Documentary ### Three-Quarter Angle Between straight-on and profile. The default flattering angle for faces — it gives the head volume that a square-on shot loses. Intermediate · Cinematic, Dramatic ### Behind the Subject Directly behind, seeing what they see. Puts the viewer at the character's shoulder and makes the environment ahead the subject of the shot. Basic · Cinematic, Dramatic ### Over-the-Shoulder From behind and to one side, with the near shoulder in frame. The workhorse of dialogue coverage — it fixes who is looking at whom. Basic · Dramatic, Horror ### Extreme Close-Up A detail filling the frame — eyes, hands, an object. Removes all context, which is exactly why it reads as intense or claustrophobic. Basic · Dramatic, Cinematic ### Close-Up Head and shoulders. The standard shot for performance — close enough that the face carries the scene. Basic · Documentary, Cinematic ### Medium Shot Waist up. Holds the figure and enough of the room to read body language — the neutral shot most scenes are built from. Basic · Cinematic ### Wide Shot The whole figure with the space around it. Establishes where everyone is standing before the scene tightens in. Intermediate · Cinematic, Artistic ### Extreme Wide Shot The figure is small against the landscape. Scale is the subject — the person is there to give the environment a size. Advanced · Horror, Dramatic ### Dolly Zoom Track in while zooming out (or the reverse). The subject stays the same size while the background rushes — the standard visual for dread or realisation. Basic · Dramatic, Cinematic ### Push In The camera moves steadily toward the subject. The most reliable way to tell an audience that this moment matters. Basic · Cinematic ### Pull Back The camera withdraws, revealing context that was outside the frame. The reveal is the point. Intermediate · Action, Horror ### Crash Zoom A violent snap to a tighter framing. Punctuation rather than movement — it hits a beat. Intermediate · Action ### Whip Pan A pan so fast the frame smears. Usually used to cut between two places without cutting. Intermediate · Cinematic, Action ### Orbit The camera circles the subject while holding them centred. Shows an object from every side, or builds pressure around a person. Intermediate · Cinematic ### Crane Up The camera rises through the shot. Conventionally an ending — it lifts away and lets the scene go. Intermediate · Cinematic, Documentary ### Steadicam Float Smooth walking movement with none of the jitter of true handheld. Follows a subject through space without calling attention to itself. Basic · Documentary, Action ### Handheld Visible operator movement. Reads as immediate and unstaged — the reason news and vérité look the way they do. Intermediate · Cinematic, Action ### Tracking Shot The camera travels alongside a moving subject, holding them in frame. Keeps them the fixed point while the world moves past. Advanced · Dramatic, Cinematic ### Rack Focus Focus shifts from one plane to another mid-shot. Redirects the viewer's attention without moving the camera or cutting. Basic · Horror, Dramatic ### Dutch Angle The horizon is tilted. Signals that something is wrong — the most legible unease cue in the language. Advanced · Horror, Dramatic ### Snorricam The camera is rigged to the actor, so they stay locked in frame while the world lurches behind them. Disorientation, or dissociation. Basic · Artistic, Documentary ### Locked Off The camera does not move at all. A deliberate choice, not an absence of one — stillness reads as composure or as unsettling patience. ## Lighting Where the light comes from and what it leaves in shadow — the setups and the moods of the day and the night. Advanced · Dramatic, Artistic ### Chiaroscuro Extreme contrast between light and dark with very little in between. Borrowed from Baroque painting; the darkness does as much work as the light. Intermediate · Dramatic, Cinematic ### Rembrandt Lighting Key light high and to one side, leaving a small triangle of light on the shadowed cheek. The classical portrait setup. Intermediate · Dramatic, Horror ### Split Lighting The light comes from ninety degrees to the side, so half the face is lit and half is in shadow. Reads as division or duplicity. Intermediate · Romantic, Cinematic ### Butterfly Lighting Key light high and dead centre, casting a small butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose. The classic glamour light. Basic · Cinematic, Dramatic ### Rim Light Light from behind that traces a bright edge around the subject, separating them from the background. Almost every night exterior uses it. Intermediate · Artistic, Dramatic ### Silhouette The subject is unlit against a bright background, reduced to outline. Identity withheld — shape carries the whole shot. Basic · Horror ### Under-Lighting Light from below the face, inverting every shadow you expect. The campfire-story look, and the fastest way to make a face read as wrong. Basic · Romantic, Nostalgic ### Golden Hour The hour after sunrise or before sunset. Low, warm, and very soft — flattering to almost everything, which is why it is worth the wait. Intermediate · Nostalgic, Artistic ### Blue Hour The twilight window after the sun is gone but before full dark. Cool, even, and just bright enough to hold detail in the sky. Intermediate · Documentary, Dramatic ### Harsh Noon Overhead midday sun. Short hard shadows and blown highlights — usually avoided, which is exactly why it reads as unglamorous and real. Intermediate · Cinematic, Documentary ### Practical Light The scene is lit by lamps, screens and signs that are visible in the shot. Motivated light — the viewer can see where it comes from. Intermediate · Cinematic, Artistic ### Neon Lighting Saturated coloured light from signage, usually two clashing hues. The look of a city at night in almost every film made since 1982. Advanced · Romantic, Nostalgic ### Candlelight Lit only by flame. Very warm, very soft, and falls off fast — faces glow and everything a metre away is gone. Intermediate · Horror, Artistic ### Moonlight Cool, dim, directional light with deep shadows. Cinema's moonlight is a convention — real moonlight is far dimmer and has no colour at all. Basic · Romantic, Documentary ### High Key Bright and evenly lit with almost no shadow. The look of comedy, commercials and daytime television — nothing is hidden. ## Composition What the glass does to the frame: how much of it is sharp, how wide it reads, what the edges do. Basic · Cinematic, Romantic ### Shallow Focus Only a thin slice of the scene is sharp. Isolates the subject from its surroundings and is most of what makes an image read as 'cinematic'. Advanced · Dramatic, Documentary ### Deep Focus Everything from foreground to horizon is sharp. Lets action play out on several planes at once instead of directing the eye by focus. Intermediate · Cinematic ### Anamorphic Squeezed capture that yields a very wide frame, oval bokeh and horizontal blue flares. The most recognisable 'big film' signature there is. Intermediate · Nostalgic, Romantic ### Vintage Glass Older uncoated lenses: lower contrast, swirling backgrounds and flares that bloom easily. Imperfection used deliberately. Advanced · Artistic ### Tilt-Shift The focus plane is tilted off perpendicular, leaving a narrow band sharp across the frame. On a wide view it makes real places look like models. Advanced · Dramatic ### Split Diopter Half the lens carries a close-up element, so a near face and a far face are both sharp with a visible seam between them. ## Effects The photochemical and optical textures a frame wears — grain, bloom, halation, a print process, a filter. Intermediate · Nostalgic, Cinematic ### Halation A red bloom around bright lights, caused by light scattering back through film stock. The signature of tungsten film shot at night. Advanced · Dramatic, Action ### Bleach Bypass Skipping the bleach step leaves silver in the print: contrast climbs, colour drains, grain hardens. Harsh and metallic. Basic · Nostalgic, Documentary ### Film Grain Visible photochemical texture. Reads as film rather than video, and hides the plastic smoothness generated images tend toward. Basic · Romantic, Nostalgic ### Diffusion A filter that lifts blacks and blooms highlights, taking the edge off digital sharpness. The standard way to soften a face. Advanced · Cinematic, Horror ### Day for Night Shot in daylight and graded to read as night. Sun becomes moonlight, which is why the shadows are always too crisp for real darkness. [The glossary](https://aimpreviz.com/glossary) [The studios that perform them](https://aimpreviz.com/product/rooms) [Try the platform](https://aimpreviz.com/signup)