As a DP, I'm always looking for ways to enhance the story, and more often than not, the best way to bring that extra emotion, clarity, or focus to a frame is by executing the simplest of moves.
For instance, I love a good push-in. Not a zoom, mind you, and not an optical enlarging of the frame, but an honest-to-goodness, tell your AC to get ready, dramatic dolly toward the subject.
You see this move all the time in films like A Few Good Men, American Beauty, Jaws, and countless other great pieces of cinema. No 12-minute oners, no complicated camera hand-offs mid-flight... Just a simple push-in to tell the audience that "THIS" is important.
What are some of your favorite, yet simple, camera techniques to amplify the story? Tell me in the comments.
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Good, simple medium shot where we can see much of the character and their emotion. Especially for a hard emotional hit or silent revelation. Many times there's a close up cut to capture the emotion when it's unnecessary.
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I agree, the amount of emotion in something as small as a push in is so impactful. I also love a good tracking shot to convey energy and motion, nothing too fancy like from the show Adolescence but something to keep the scene flowing and moving.