Film & Television vocabulary · Shots and Camera Movements
Tilt
Meaning in film & television, with examples
/tɪlt/verbCommon term
In film & television, tilt means: To move the camera up or down on a fixed point, like nodding your head. The movement itself is called a tilt.
In Turkish: tilt yapmak, dikey çevrinme
How it is used
Directors say tilt up and tilt down. A tilt up a tall building shows its height; a tilt down from the sky to a character is a classic opening. A pan is horizontal and a tilt is vertical.
Example sentences
Start on his shoes and tilt up slowly to his face.
The shot tilts down from the minaret to the busy square.
Common collocations
tilt up
tilt down
slow tilt
tilt shot
Related terms
panTo turn the camera horizontally from left to right or right to left while it stays in the same place. The movement itself is called a pan.
zoomTo make the subject look closer or further away by changing the focal length of the lens, without moving the camera.
camera angleThe position and direction from which the camera looks at the subject, such as from above, from below or at eye level.
tracking shotA shot in which the camera itself moves through space, for example on rails, a dolly, a vehicle or a stabiliser, usually following a character.
