Whip pans

In classic discussions of editing, critics talk about how much more real a scene is when both the man and the lion are in the same frame in at least one shot. A sequence composed entirely of single shots of the man and the lion intercut just doesn't get our juices flowing. Cuts are always subject to jumps in space and time.

Whip pans can add energy to a scene, quickly connecting disparate pans yet maintaining a continuity of space and time, both of the action and the camera's relationship to it. The audience is in the middle of the action, and it's more real.

Alas, whip pans are tough to do well with the Steadicam, but there are some techniques that will make them easier.

Balancing the sled for a whip pan

The centrifugal forces generated ...

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