Crane Over The Head

The camera rises past somebody and then looks back down at them, so the audience goes from being with a person to being above them in one move. The shift in position is a shift in sympathy.

It also hands over information. What the person can see is replaced by what the person cannot see, which is the usual reason to end a scene this way.

The camera starts at or below head height, climbs past the shoulders, and tilts down so the subject stays in frame from above. The rise and the tilt run together.

The finish is the definition. This move has to end looking down, and if the angle at the top is the same as the angle at the bottom, it is an ordinary rise.

What surrounds the subject is what the top of the move is for. Say what appears around them once the camera is overhead.

Use it to leave a character behind, to reveal what is around somebody who cannot see it, and at the end of a scene where the audience should step back from the person they were with.

Avoid it mid scene when the audience still needs to be with the character. The overhead position is detached by nature.

An overhead top-down shot begins above and stays there. This move starts at head height and travels to that position while the audience watches, so the change is the content.

Watch the first frame. Starting overhead is a top-down shot. Arriving overhead is a crane over the head.

The camera rises and keeps a level angle, so the shot never looks down. Say it clears the shoulders and tilts down to a top-down finish.

The second failure is a top-down frame from the first moment, which skips the move entirely. Say the shot starts at head height.