Traveling Shots, Equipment for

(in cinematography and television), equipment used to move the cameraman and camera during filming. Such equipment can be used to film moving objects or to facilitate transition from one filming angle to another. Equipment used for traveling shots includes dollies, booms, and in some cases specially equipped automobiles, helicopters, boats, sleds, rafts, and so on.

Dollies are used to move the location point horizontally, with only slight changes (up to 1.5 m) in the mounting height of the motion-picture or television camera. Camera cranes are used in cases where the spatial position of the location point changes markedly. In terms of the lift height of the boom, cranes are designated as small (up to 2 m above the ground), medium (2–4 m), or large (above 4 m). Cranes are equipped with electric drive for all motions of the boom. Large camera automobiles are usually modifications of high-quality passenger cars with a quiet ride or of cross-country passenger cars that can be used for filming while moving over poor roads.