An Introduction to Film

Orson Welles’s The Magnificent Ambersons(1942;
cinematographer: Stanley Cortez), where he used
several pan shots that moved almost 360 degrees.

Tilt Shot A tilt shotis the vertical movement
of a camera mounted on the gyroscopic head of a
stationary tripod. Like the pan shot, it is a simple
movement with dynamic possibilities for creating
meaning. Orson Welles makes excellent use of this
shot in Citizen Kane(1941; cinematographer: Gregg
Toland). When Susan Kane (Dorothy Comingore)

finally summons the psychological and emotional

strength to leave her tyrannical husband, he reacts

by destroying her bedroom. At the peak of his vio-

lent rage, he seizes the glass globe with an interior

snow scene; the camera tilts upward from the ball

to Kane’s (Welles) face; he whispers “Rosebud” and

leaves the room. The tilt links the roundness and

mystery of the glass ball with Kane’s round, bald

head; furthermore, it reminds us that the first place

we saw the glass ball was on Susan’s dressing table

in her rooming-house bedroom, thus further link-

ing the meaning of Rosebudwith her.

Dolly Shot A dolly shot(also known as a track-

ing shot or traveling shot) is one taken by a camera

fixed to a wheeled support, generally known as a

dolly. The dolly permits the cinematographer to

make noiseless moving shots. When a dolly runs on

tracks, the resulting shot is called a tracking shot.

The dolly shot is one of the most effective (and con-

sequently most common) uses of the moving cam-

era. When the camera is used to dolly inon (move

toward) a subject, the subject grows in the frame,

gaining significance not only through being bigger

in the frame but also through those moments in

which we actually see it growing bigger.

This gradual intensification effect is commonly

used at moments of a character’s realization and/or

1

2

Tilt shot In Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane(1941;
cinematographer: Gregg Toland), the camera presents the
first half of this shot [1], then tilts upward to present the
second half [2]. Of course, Welles could have shown us both
halves, even Kane’s entire body, within one static frame. The
camera movement directs our eyes, however, and makes the
symbolism unmistakable.

FRAMING OF THE SHOT 267

A dolly in actionCamera operators race alongside a

speeding chariot on a dolly during the filming of Ridley

Scott’s Gladiator(2000; cinematographer: John Mathieson).