Pedestal Up

The camera body rises and the lens stays level, so the frame climbs without ever looking down. The audience changes height and keeps the same relationship to what they are watching.

That level lens is the whole character of the move. It reads as neutral and observational, where a crane reads as a gesture.

The column under the camera extends, lifting the body straight up. No pivot happens, so the horizon stays exactly where it was in the frame.

It is a studio move by origin, and the range is small: from below waist height to above head height. Anything larger belongs to a crane.

Use it to change what is in the foreground. Rising over a desk, a counter or a row of seats clears the near obstruction without tilting.

Use it to rise from a seated eyeline to a standing one, to clear a foreground object, and to follow somebody standing up.

Skip it when the shot should feel like a flourish. The level lens gives the move no drama at all, which is the point of it and also its limit.

Crane Up changes the angle as it climbs and usually covers much more height. Pedestal Up keeps the lens level throughout and moves a metre or so.

The horizon is the test. If the horizon line stays put in the frame, the camera pedestalled. If it swings, the camera tilted or craned.

The model tilts as it rises, which is what a crane does. Say the lens stays level with no tilt through the whole move, and ban tilt up by name.

The other failure is an enormous rise, because most of the climbing footage a model has seen came off a crane. State the range in human terms: from seated height to standing height, or just clearing the counter.