In this Premiere Pro video editing tutorial, we’ll talk about how to create five different types of subtle and beautiful camera movements in Premiere Pro. We’ll cover a simple pan/slide movement, a zoom with or without movement, an aerial rotation shot, a simple tracking/counter tracking style animation, and a 3D camera zoom through 3D space to add an additional dimension of visual awesomeness.
Cinematic Pan/Slide
The real key with all of these effects is to keep them subtle! If you overdo it, the animations end up looking forced and really, really bad. For the pan/slide select the video clip, open the Effect Controls panel and add a keyframe for the position of the clip and then move down the timeline to the end of the clip and slide the clip left/right/up/down as you see fit and Premiere will automatically add the second keyframe. PRO TIP: Don’t move the clip too much! Subtlety is key! PRO TIP #2: Scale the clip a little larger in the Effect Controls panel if you need additional video clip so your animation doesn’t reveal any black areas.
The Zoom Effect
The zoom effect is very much like the Pan/Slide effect except you use the Scale option in the Effect controls panel. You can begin with your video clip zoomed in 105% or so and slowly animate it back to 100% by adding a second keyframe further into your video clip and setting the Scale to 100% or you could start at 100% and zoom in until you get the effect you desire. Again, use subtle movements when creating these fake camera movements in post production. It just seems to look much better.
The Rotation Spin
The rotation spin effect works particularly well on shots looking downward whether from a building or from a helicopter. This effect works by using the Rotation option over in Effect Controls. Create a simple and slow animation across part of your video clip. I rotate my clips typically around 4-7% at most. NOTE: You may have to scale your clip upward a little so you don’t get blackness in the corners. Check out the video at the top of this post to see how I tackle this issue in a creative way.
Subtle Tracking/Sliding
This technique is a process of using Positioning and Scaling to track and follow the subject as they move around your video frame. Use the same animation techniques that we have to tweak and create a subtle animation that can either accentuate the camera movement or move against the movement of the subject to make things feel a little more still.
Moving in 3D Space
To add a 3D element to your animations open the Effects panel and go to the Video Effects>Perspective folder and choose “Basic 3D” this effect will appear in your Effect Controls panel and you can use the same animation options that we have right within this Basic 3D effect to create a tilt or spin 3D animation. Use these controls with whatever movement you’re adding to your video to add that added element of 3D movement. Check out the full video at the top of this post to see me walk through each of these techniques and more!
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