Media Glossary : Camera Movements...

A director may chose to move actionh along by telling the story through a series of cuts (this involves going from one to another) or the camera could be moved along with the action to tell the story. The actual movement of the camera takes a great deal of time, and can make the action seem slower. When thinking about camera movement it is not only the style that must be chosen but also the method of actually moving the camera, altogether there are five key camera movements :

PANS

This is where the camera pivots horizontally from either right to left or left to right across the scene, this movement can allow a set or scene to be revealed. For this movement the camera can be placed on a tripod which acts as the stationary axis point, the camera is then turned to either follow a moving character or object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

TILTS

This moveent is similar to a pan movement, however this time the camera scans the scene vertically by moving up and down

DOLLY SHOTS

This is also known as tracking shots. It involves the camera moving alongside the action, generally the camera follows a moving figure or object. More complicated dolly shots will involve a track being laid on set for the camera to follow, the canera nay also be mouted on a car and for those creating short film so low budget shopping trolleys can even be used! A dolly shot is a good way of portraying movement, for example the journey of a character or for moving from a long shot to a close-up, which in turn gradually focuses the audience's eye on a particular object or character. This type of movement is common in documentrarys as it portrays the journey of the character.

CRANE SHOTS

This is basically dolly-shot-in-the-air. A crane is a large havy piece of equiment, but is a useful way of moving a camera. A crane can move up, down, left, right, swooping on on action or moving diagonally out of it.
 
THE ARIEL SHOT

This is a vartiation of a crane shot, and usually taken from a helicopter. This is ofen used at the beinging of a film, in order to establish the setting and movement. A helicopter is seen a flexiable crane, as can go anywhere and keep up with anything, and covery real drama and exhilartation.