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.
What it does to the frame
The camera does not move at all. A deliberate choice, not an absence of one — stillness reads as composure or as unsettling patience.
- Reads as
- Artistic, Documentary
- Difficulty
- Basic
- Runs in
- Director · Infinitum
The control it moves in PREVIZ
- Camera motionDirector
Static Lock
Perfectly locked tripod shot, zero movement.
Speed: very slow · intensity: subtle · motion: static
Best for: Dialogue scenes, establishing shots
Picking the technique sets these controls; it does not paste text into a prompt. The setting can be re-run, checked against the settings beside it, and carried into the next shot.
Also in camera
Where the lens sits and how it moves: angle, distance, and the moves that carry a shot through time.
- Low AngleBasic · Dramatic, Cinematic
- 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.
- High AngleBasic · Dramatic
- 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.
- Bird's Eye ViewIntermediate · Artistic, Cinematic
- Straight down from directly overhead. Flattens the scene into pattern and geometry, and detaches the viewer from the action entirely.
- Steep OverheadIntermediate · Dramatic, Artistic
- 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.
- Profile ShotBasic · Artistic, Dramatic
- Dead side-on, ninety degrees to the subject's facing. Reads as formal and observational — you are watching rather than being addressed.
- Three-Quarter AngleBasic · Cinematic, Documentary
- Between straight-on and profile. The default flattering angle for faces — it gives the head volume that a square-on shot loses.
- Behind the SubjectIntermediate · Cinematic, Dramatic
- Directly behind, seeing what they see. Puts the viewer at the character's shoulder and makes the environment ahead the subject of the shot.
- Over-the-ShoulderBasic · Cinematic, Dramatic
- From behind and to one side, with the near shoulder in frame. The workhorse of dialogue coverage — it fixes who is looking at whom.
- Extreme Close-UpBasic · Dramatic, Horror
- A detail filling the frame — eyes, hands, an object. Removes all context, which is exactly why it reads as intense or claustrophobic.
- Close-UpBasic · Dramatic, Cinematic
- Head and shoulders. The standard shot for performance — close enough that the face carries the scene.
- Medium ShotBasic · Documentary, Cinematic
- Waist up. Holds the figure and enough of the room to read body language — the neutral shot most scenes are built from.
- Wide ShotBasic · Cinematic
- The whole figure with the space around it. Establishes where everyone is standing before the scene tightens in.
- Extreme Wide ShotIntermediate · Cinematic, Artistic
- The figure is small against the landscape. Scale is the subject — the person is there to give the environment a size.
- Dolly ZoomAdvanced · Horror, Dramatic
- 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.
- Push InBasic · Dramatic, Cinematic
- The camera moves steadily toward the subject. The most reliable way to tell an audience that this moment matters.
- Pull BackBasic · Cinematic
- The camera withdraws, revealing context that was outside the frame. The reveal is the point.
- Crash ZoomIntermediate · Action, Horror
- A violent snap to a tighter framing. Punctuation rather than movement — it hits a beat.
- Whip PanIntermediate · Action
- A pan so fast the frame smears. Usually used to cut between two places without cutting.
- OrbitIntermediate · Cinematic, Action
- The camera circles the subject while holding them centred. Shows an object from every side, or builds pressure around a person.
- Crane UpIntermediate · Cinematic
- The camera rises through the shot. Conventionally an ending — it lifts away and lets the scene go.
- Steadicam FloatIntermediate · Cinematic, Documentary
- Smooth walking movement with none of the jitter of true handheld. Follows a subject through space without calling attention to itself.
- HandheldBasic · Documentary, Action
- Visible operator movement. Reads as immediate and unstaged — the reason news and vérité look the way they do.
- Tracking ShotIntermediate · Cinematic, Action
- The camera travels alongside a moving subject, holding them in frame. Keeps them the fixed point while the world moves past.
- Rack FocusAdvanced · Dramatic, Cinematic
- Focus shifts from one plane to another mid-shot. Redirects the viewer's attention without moving the camera or cutting.
- Dutch AngleBasic · Horror, Dramatic
- The horizon is tilted. Signals that something is wrong — the most legible unease cue in the language.
- SnorricamAdvanced · Horror, Dramatic
- The camera is rigged to the actor, so they stay locked in frame while the world lurches behind them. Disorientation, or dissociation.
Reads the same way
Other techniques that read as artistic or documentary — a light or a lens to pair with this move.
- ChiaroscuroAdvanced · Dramatic, Artistic
- Extreme contrast between light and dark with very little in between. Borrowed from Baroque painting; the darkness does as much work as the light.
- SilhouetteIntermediate · Artistic, Dramatic
- The subject is unlit against a bright background, reduced to outline. Identity withheld — shape carries the whole shot.
- Blue HourIntermediate · Nostalgic, Artistic
- The twilight window after the sun is gone but before full dark. Cool, even, and just bright enough to hold detail in the sky.
- Harsh NoonIntermediate · Documentary, Dramatic
- Overhead midday sun. Short hard shadows and blown highlights — usually avoided, which is exactly why it reads as unglamorous and real.
- Practical LightIntermediate · Cinematic, Documentary
- 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.
- Neon LightingIntermediate · Cinematic, Artistic
- Saturated coloured light from signage, usually two clashing hues. The look of a city at night in almost every film made since 1982.
- MoonlightIntermediate · Horror, Artistic
- Cool, dim, directional light with deep shadows. Cinema's moonlight is a convention — real moonlight is far dimmer and has no colour at all.
- High KeyBasic · Romantic, Documentary
- Bright and evenly lit with almost no shadow. The look of comedy, commercials and daytime television — nothing is hidden.
- Deep FocusAdvanced · Dramatic, Documentary
- Everything from foreground to horizon is sharp. Lets action play out on several planes at once instead of directing the eye by focus.
- Tilt-ShiftAdvanced · Artistic
- 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.
- Film GrainBasic · Nostalgic, Documentary
- Visible photochemical texture. Reads as film rather than video, and hides the plastic smoothness generated images tend toward.