Pedestal Down

The camera lowers and the lens stays level, so the frame drops to a new eyeline without ever looking at the floor. The audience changes position and keeps the same attitude.

It is how a shot joins a child, a seated person or an animal. The camera arrives at their height and treats them as an equal, which a tilt down never does.

The column retracts and the camera body drops straight down. Nothing pivots, so the horizon holds its place in the frame throughout.

The range is small and the landing height is the point. Seated height, table height, a child's eyeline, floor level. Name it.

Lowering also changes the foreground. A counter or a desk edge rises into frame as the camera drops, which is often the real reason to make the move.

Use it to come down to a seated or smaller subject, to follow somebody sitting down, and to put a foreground edge into the frame.

Avoid it when the move should be felt. A pedestal is quiet by design, and a dramatic descent belongs to a crane.

Crane Down travels through the height of a scene and changes the angle as it goes. Pedestal Down keeps the lens level and covers a metre at most.

Watch the horizon. It stays fixed in a pedestal and swings in a tilt or a crane.

The model tilts down as it drops, which points the camera at the ground. Say the lens stays level throughout and ban tilt down.

The second failure is a long fall from height. Give the start and the landing in human terms, such as from standing height to seated height.