The Aerial Shot
An exciting variation of a crane shot, usually taken from a helicopter. This is often used at the beginning of a film, in order to establish setting and movement. A helicopter is like a particularly flexible sort of crane - it can go anywhere, keep up with anything, move in and out of a scene, and convey real drama and exhilaration.
Tracking Shot
Sometimes called TRUCKING or DOLLY shots. The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object. Complicated tracking shots will involve a track being laid on set for the camera to follow, hence the name. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a shopping trolley (good method for independent film-makers looking to save a few dollars). A tracking shot may be a good way of portraying movement, the journey of a character for instance, or for moving from a long shot to a close-up, gradually focusing the audience on a particular object or character.
Crane Shot
Basically, tracking-shots-in-the-air. A crane is a useful way of moving a camera – it can move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it.
Hand-held shots
The hand-held camera (despite its name, a heavy, awkward piece of machinery which is attached to its operator by a harness) was invented in the 1 950s to allow the camera operator to move in and out of scenes with greater speed. It gives a jerky, ragged effect, totally at odds with the organised smoothness of a dolly shot, and is favoured by filmmakers looking for a gritty realism (eg Scorsese), which involves the viewer very closely with a scene. Much favoured by the makers of NYPD Blue.
Zoom Lenses
The zoom lens means that the camera need not be moved (and saves a lot of time and trouble). The zoom lens can zip a camera in or out of a scene very quickly. The drawbacks include the fact that while a dolly shot involves a steady movement similar to the focusing change in the human eye, the zoom lens tends to be jerky (unless used very slowly) and to distort an image, making objects appear closer together than they really are. Zoom lenses are also drastically over-used by many directors (including those holding palmcorders), who try to give the impression of movement and excitement in a scene where it does not exist.
Pans
A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.
Tilts
A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.
Arc Shot
A movement moving in a rough semi-circle around the subject. Similar to a tracking shot. In some definition it means to tracking and dollying at the same time. For example, simultaneous side to side or in and out movement.