Filming & Production
Pan
Also called: panning, panning shot
A pan turns the head of the tripod. Nothing travels, which separates it from a tracking or dolly move where the whole camera changes position, and viewers read the two differently.
Pans work when the movement has a reason: following a subject, revealing something at the end of the sweep, or connecting two things inside one shot. Speed is where they go wrong. Too fast on a rolling-shutter sensor and vertical lines skew and judder, too slow and the shot just sits there. Start and end on a composition that would hold up as a still.