Revolving Camera: Is There Such a Thing as Pan Right to?

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

There are tons of movies that used this kind of transition and scene-sequence shaping, but I can’t think of a single one right now. What I’m referring to is this: let’s say you have a garden-party scene and a woman is talking and at one point the camera pans right (or left, all the same) and we transition to another scene, for example, of the exact thing she is describing or a character she is talking about. Then again we pan right to her, and so on. It is as if the camera is revolving around an axis.

 

Is there a name for this?

 

Can it be combined with other types of transitions and are there names for that, too?

[Shawn Sagady]

Sounds like a whip pan and a wipe at the same time. Not sure if there is a technical official name.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Thank you, Shawn! :) “Whip pan” is an excellent starting point for further investigation.

[Max Field]

Yeah seamless whip pans were used a few times to give Birdman its "shot in one take" illusion.

[Clint Hulsey]

Guy Ritchie does this in the opening little character introduction montage scene in RocknRolla (he says in the commentary that he thinks he set a record for whip pans in a row). My favorite movie, My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done, uses a couple as well (along with some overlapping audio and repetitive dialogue to make the flashbacks transition more naturally).

[Nick Schafer]

Yep what you are looking for is a swipe pan or whip pan. I actually love using them to create a video that flows continuously. Up, down, left, right, it dosnt matter! You can really just use tour imagination with them. Check out one of my examples here, its got a really nice flow to it.

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