Chapter 8 — Exercises

Movement is a doing skill above almost all others in this book — you cannot learn the feeling of a push-in by reading about it, only by pushing in and watching it back. Do these with whatever you have; a phone braced against a mug, propped on books, or clipped to a cheap gimbal will do every single one. Take the starred items seriously, and above all, build the one habit that is this chapter: before every move you shoot, say its motivation out loud, in a sentence, without using the words "cinematic," "dynamic," or "bored." If you can't, hold still — and that's a correct answer, not a failure.

Exercises are graded by effort and depth:

• ⭐ Warm-up — a few minutes; locks in a concept.
• ⭐⭐ Core — the real practice; do as many as you can.
• ⭐⭐⭐ Stretch — deeper or more ambitious; the biggest gains.

Model solutions and critiques for the starred and odd-numbered exercises are collected in Answers to Selected Exercises at the back of the book. Attempt each one before reading its answer — a move you shot badly teaches more than an answer you only read. Keep every clip you shoot; several later exercises (and the Cut This section) reuse them.

A. Seeing movement (Eye & Ear Training)

No camera needed — just your attention. These build the eye and ear that the rest of the chapter depends on, and they feed your Frame Log.

1. ⭐ Move-spotting. Watch any five minutes of a film or a polished video. Every time the camera moves, pause and name the move out loud (pan, tilt, push-in, pull-out, track, handheld, gimbal, whip). Tally the moving shots against the still ones. Notice how many shots don't move — in well-made work, usually most of them. (Answer discusses what a healthy ratio looks like.)

2. ⭐ Motivated or arbitrary? Pick three camera moves from Exercise 1 and, for each, write one sentence naming what the move was for. If you can't find a reason the story shares, mark it "arbitrary" — and be honest, because even good productions occasionally move out of habit. Learning to spot the unmotivated move in others' work is how you stop making it in your own. (Answer provided.)

3. ⭐⭐ The still-frame audit. Find a scene you remember as "still" or "quiet." Confirm the camera holds — then list everything that is moving inside the frame (the subject, a hand, the light, the background, steam, traffic). Prove to yourself that a locked camera and a dead frame are two different things, and that a great still shot is usually full of internal motion.

4. ⭐⭐ Push or zoom? Watch for a shot where the subject gets bigger. Decide whether the camera pushed in (foreground and background shift relative to each other — parallax) or the lens zoomed (everything scales up flat and the background compresses). Write down the exact tell you used. Do it for three different shots. (Answer provided.)

5. ⭐⭐⭐ Handheld vs. gimbal in the wild. Find one clearly handheld sequence and one clearly gimbal/Steadicam sequence. For each, write two sentences on what the movement itself makes you feel, independent of what's being filmed. This is you learning to hear the camera's body language — the same action feels urgent handheld and serene on a gimbal. Add both, with one line each, to your Frame Log.

B. Reading the sequence (Read the Sequence)

6. ⭐ Picture the push. Re-read FIGURE 8.3 (the Café push-in). Without looking, sketch two boxes — the start frame and the end frame — and mark how the subject's size changes while staying on the same third. In one sentence: why does the move end on a composed frame rather than just "closer"?

7. ⭐⭐ Locked vs. moved. Compare FIGURE 8.1 (locked) and FIGURE 8.3 (push-in) of the Café reaction. In a short paragraph, name what each version does to the viewer, then give one specific production context where you'd deliberately choose the locked version over the push-in. (Answer provided.)

8. ⭐⭐ Diagnose the reveal. In FIGURE 8.7 (the reveal tilt), the text says a cut "would kill the discovery." Rewrite the beat as two locked shots joined by a cut instead of one continuous tilt, and explain in two sentences what's lost by cutting. (Answer provided.)

9. ⭐⭐⭐ Write your own Described Shot. Choose a moving shot you admire (15–30 seconds) and write a full seven-field Described Shot for it (Frame, Move, Light, Sound, Cut, Effect, Lesson). Pay special attention to THE MOVE — name the move precisely (not "the camera moves" but "a slow push-in from medium to close-up") and state what motivates it. THE EFFECT and THE LESSON should tie the move to a feeling and a transferable principle. (Model answer provided.)

C. Shooting the moves (Shoot This)

The heart of the chapter. Make things; keep every clip.

10. ⭐ Lock it off. Shoot a 15-second locked-off shot of an ordinary action (someone making coffee, a plant by a window) with the camera propped or on a tripod — dead still. Confirm the horizon is level and the frame is alive with internal movement. If it feels boring, resist adding a move: fix the frame or the action instead. (Critique rubric provided.)

11. ⭐⭐ The slow push-in. Shoot a slow push-in on a subject's face over about the length of a key sentence (6–8 seconds). Ease in and out; end on a composed medium close-up; hold two seconds at the end. Use a slider, a wheeled chair, or a slow braced heel-to-toe step, and watch your focus through the move. Then shoot the identical moment locked off as a safety, and compare — if the still version is actually stronger, that's a real, useful finding. (Answer discusses what separates a good push from a fidgety one.)

12. ⭐⭐ The motivated pan. Shoot two pans: (a) a following pan that keeps a walking subject in frame with correct lead room; and (b) a reveal pan that holds on a face, then swings to show what they're looking at. Start and end each on a strong composition, and ease in and out. Watch for the two classic faults: overshooting/correcting, and panning too fast (strobing). (Critique rubric provided.)

13. ⭐⭐ The tilt that reveals. Shoot one motivated tilt: from a detail (boots, hands, a note) up to a face, or up a tall object to reveal its scale. The opening frame must raise a question the tilt then answers — a tilt from nothing to nothing is just a camera moving. (Answer provided.)

14. ⭐⭐ Handheld, two energies. Shoot the same short action handheld twice: once tightly braced (elbows in, wide lens, minimal motion) for subtle life, and once with deliberate energy (looser, more active) for urgency. Watch both. Feel how the same content changes meaning with the camera's body language — and note that both must still be controlled; uncontrolled shake isn't "energy," it's a mistake. (Critique rubric provided.)

15. ⭐⭐⭐ The tracking shot / walk-and-talk. Have someone walk and talk while you travel with them (backing up ahead of them, or gliding alongside) on a gimbal or braced-handheld-on-a-wide. Keep them the same size and on the same third, with lead room ahead, matching their pace exactly. Shoot 30–45 seconds. Clear your path of hazards first — you can't see behind you. This is Case Study 2's core move; see it for the full method. (Model critique provided.)

16. ⭐⭐⭐ The one-move short. Make a 30-second piece with exactly one camera move in it — everything else locked off. Place the single move on the most important beat. Prove to yourself that one motivated move in a still piece hits harder than constant motion, because a move gets its power from the stillness it interrupts. (Answer discusses placement.)

D. One subject, many moves (Five Ways)

17. ⭐⭐ Six ways, one moment. (The §8.6 🎬 On Set assignment.) Shoot one 10-second moment six ways: locked off, slow push-in, slow pull-out, motivated pan/tilt reveal, braced handheld, and a gimbal/slider move. Motivate each aloud before you roll. Watch all six back to back with the sound off, and rank them for how well each serves the moment — noticing that the "best" one is defined by the story, not by which is fanciest. (Model discussion of the trade-offs provided.)

18. ⭐⭐⭐ Five feelings from one move. Take only the push-in and shoot it five ways — different speeds (very slow to brisk), different start/end sizes (wide→medium vs. medium→close-up), and on different lenses if you can. Note how speed and size swing the feeling from "gentle intimacy" to "aggressive pressure." Which serves a tender moment? Which serves dread? (Answer provided.)

E. Fixing broken moves (Fix the Shot)

19. ⭐ Fix the searching pan. A described clip: the camera pans to find a subject, overshoots, jerks back, hunts, and finally settles. Name exactly what's wrong (in terms of motivation) and prescribe the on-set fix. (Answer provided.)

20. ⭐⭐ Fix the seasick follow. A described clip: a walk-and-talk shot handheld on a long (85mm) lens, held for 90 seconds; viewers report feeling queasy. Give at least three specific changes — across lens, technique, tool, and duration — that would fix it, and name the root cause. (Answer provided.)

21. ⭐⭐ Fix the empty glide. A described clip: a brand video where the gimbal never stops — orbiting, gliding, floating around products with no destination. Diagnose the root problem and prescribe the fix in terms of motivation, including what the camera should do that it currently never does. (Answer provided.)

22. ⭐⭐⭐ Fix the broken whip. A described edit: an editor tries to join two locked-off shots with a whip-pan transition added in software, and it looks fake and mushy. Explain precisely why it fails and exactly what should have been done on set to make a real whip transition possible. (Answer provided.)

F. Settings and scenarios (Settings Drill)

23. ⭐ Settings for a smooth move. You want a slow, smooth push-in on a face at 24 fps. Write the shutter you'd use and why, and one lens/aperture choice that makes holding focus through the move easier. Explain the trade-off you're making. (Answer provided.)

24. ⭐⭐ The move-choice drill. For each scenario, name the move (or "hold still") and one sentence of motivation: (a) an interview subject about to say the hardest thing in the piece; (b) a hero product on a table for a brand spot; (c) a chef walking through a busy kitchen, talking; (d) the final shot of a documentary about someone who has lost everything. The one-sentence motivation is the point. (Model answers provided.)

25. ⭐⭐⭐ Rig the shot with what you own. You have only a phone and $30. Write how you'd get each of these, naming the cheap/DIY tool and the technique: (a) a dead-still locked-off shot; (b) a smooth 2-foot push-in; (c) a smooth walking follow shot. The lesson: the move was never the expensive part. (Answer provided.)

G. Stealing from the masters (Recreate It)

26. ⭐⭐ Recreate a push-in. Find a slow push-in in any film that moved you. Recreate it with your own subject and available gear — matching the speed and intent, not the content. Watch yours next to your memory of the original. What did you learn about how slow the professional version really was? (Answer discusses.)

27. ⭐⭐⭐ Recreate a reveal. Reproduce a reveal move (a tilt-up, a pan-to-disclose, a pull-back reveal) with your own subject. The rule: the audience must learn something at the end of the move that they didn't know at the start. Show it to someone and confirm they felt the "discovery"; if they didn't, diagnose whether the start frame gave it away, the move was too fast, or the end wasn't held. (Model critique provided.)

H. A first taste of the edit (Cut This)

Use any editor (DaVinci Resolve is the book's reference from Chapter 26; any tool works).

28. ⭐⭐ Cut the move to its safety. Take your push-in from Exercise 11 and your locked safety of the same moment. Build two 10-second cuts of the moment — one using the moving take, one using the safety. Which cuts more flexibly (can be trimmed anywhere)? Which feels better? Write why in two sentences. (Guidance provided.)

29. ⭐⭐ Marry a whip. Shoot two shots that each begin/end with a fast whip in the same direction, then cut them together at the blurriest frame to make one seamless whip transition. If it doesn't marry, diagnose why in order: direction, blur, cut-point, or speed match. (Answer provided.)

30. ⭐⭐⭐ The movement-and-stillness edit. Assemble a 30–45 second sequence from clips you shot in this chapter that deliberately alternates stillness and movement — several locked shots, then one motivated move on the key beat. Show a friend and ask where the piece "felt like it landed." If they point to your one move, you've learned the chapter. (Answer discusses.)

I. Bringing it together (Interleaved)

These mix Chapter 8 with earlier chapters so the skills fuse instead of sitting in separate boxes.

31. ⭐⭐ Move + shot size (Ch.7). Shoot the same push-in twice: once starting on a wide shot and once starting on a medium (Chapter 7's shot sizes). Watch how the identical move means different things depending on the size it starts from. Which push feels more intimate, and why? (Answer discusses.)

32. ⭐⭐ Move + lens + exposure (Ch.4, Ch.5). Shoot a braced handheld walk on a wide lens, then on the longest lens you have, in the same light. Note how much steadier the wide looks (Chapter 4), and — if you're outdoors and bright — pin your shutter at 1/50 s and use ND rather than a fast shutter (Chapter 5) so the walking motion doesn't strobe. Write down what each change did. (Answer provided.)

33. ⭐⭐⭐ Move + the 180° line (Ch.7 → Ch.9). Set up two people facing each other (respecting the 180° line from Chapter 7, §7.3). Shoot a tracking or panning move that curves around one of them. Watch it back: did the move cross the line and flip screen direction? This is the exact collision between movement and continuity that Chapter 9 is about — you're previewing it on purpose. (Answer discusses.)

34. ⭐⭐⭐ The full Project-1 movement decision. For your talking-head (Project 1), shoot the assigned Production Checkpoint — a locked-off version and a slow push-in — but this time write a three-line shooting card that carries everything so far: the concept (Ch.1), the shot size and framing (Ch.6–7), the lens and exposure (Ch.4–5), and the movement decision with its one-sentence motivation (Ch.8). Prove that Part I and half of Part II now fit on one card you can shoot from. (Model card provided.)

When you've done these — especially the shooting ones — go back and watch your very first clip from Exercise 10 against your one-move short from Exercise 16. The distance between them is the chapter. Next, Chapter 9 makes sure all these still and moving pieces actually cut together: continuity, screen direction, and the line you must not cross.