Smoother pans & jib moves
So this is just a quick thingee that came to mind at my last shoot, when I was coaching a crew member to operate the head on a jib move since he’s 6’10″… we also got to freak out the studio manager by having him hit the switches on some grid-mounted lights without a ladder, ha.
Yeah so anyway, while helping him work through the move I got to remember something that’s just second nature to me now:
- When doing a pan/tilt or jib move, always set up your body’s position to be most comfortable & natural feeling at the end of the move, with the uncomfortable twisted pose at the beginning, so that your body will just naturally finish at the planned end point, at a nice ease out velocity.
- If the move requires moving your feet, mark your footsteps and generally approach the move as a dance rather than fixating on the viewfinder… focus more on the timing and movement of your body than that of the camera.
If you’re old then you probably think of that as common knowledge, but I see people executing long pans without this simple technique all the time. I assume with all the internet-educated film/video people out there, old fundamental stuff like this just gets lost in the tech/gear-centric shuffle. I actually remember learning it when I was 19… at the public library amongst old filmmaking books from like the 70s where all the guys in the photos had big beards and tight corduroy clothes.
