Media Revelation #2 (Camera Movement)

A second major revelation I had during this semester of studying media was how much the movement of the camera impacts a viewers reaction to a video clip. Hilliard explains the camera's different movement patters, and what particular situation they are usually used for on page 22 in his text. It never really dawned on me how important the movement of the camera is to any video clip until we were assigned in class to create a script for a 30 second video commercial. For this assignment, I chose a Panasonic television commercial that aired during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. By having to break down and document every scene change and camera movement in the clip, I came to realize that the camera is moving around and influencing the way a viewer perceives the video clip a lot more than most people realize. I feel that by watching this commercial and trying to keep track of every scene change and camera movement one can come to understand what I mean.