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106 A PRACTICAL MANUAL OF SCREEN PLAYWRIT1NG
the meat and substance of camera technique as it pertains to the screen-play writer.
The pan shot
The word "pan" is a contraction of the word "panoramic," which was used in the early days of motion-picture making to describe the swiveled action of the camera, as it was swung slowly from one side to another to obtain a complete view of a distant scenic vista, usually a mountain range or closer foothills.
It is this sidewise motion of the camera, to obtain a continuous, moving, panoramic image, that is now known as a "pan shot."
But the present-day use of the pan shot is not confined strictly to scenic panorama, for which purpose, incidentally, it is still ideally suited. Nor is it confined to any other type of panorama. The pan shot, nowadays, is any shot in which the camera moves from one side to another in order to follow the action taking place in front of it.
Follow action only. Note well the italicized words: follow the action. They tie in with the rule given at the opening of this section. For no pan shot is justified unless there is a definite reason for using it. And one of the most important reasons for using a pan shot is to follow significant action. Note now the italicized word significant. Not all actions are significant. Their importance depends on the nature of the action and its place in the screen play. But only when the action is significant should the pan shot be used.
The pan shot is used considerably in Western pictures to follow the action of cowboys on horseback as they chase each other over the floor of a valley, or as the stagecoach goes hurtling down a narrow mountain road or hangs precipitously over the edges of hairpin turns.
An extraordinarily effective pan shot is the one in which a speeding vehicle advances to the camera, which holds on it until it is almost head on. Then, as the vehicle passes by, the camera is pivoted quickly and follows the speeding vehicle as it continues down the road. The effect here— of catching the vehicle first when