Filming & Production

Arc shot

Also called: orbit shot, circle shot

Walk a half circle around somebody with the camera pointed at them and you have an arc. The subject stays roughly centred, the world behind them moves, and the shot reveals depth and separation that a locked-off frame cannot. Gimbals made it ordinary, and it turns up in product b-roll, interview cutaways and almost every drone reel ever posted. The craft is in the footwork. Hold the distance to the subject steady or the framing swells and shrinks as you go, walk heel to toe to take the bounce out, and start rolling before the move and keep going after so the editor has clean handles. Slow quarter arcs usually beat the full circle.

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