We learned at the beginning of this chapter that zooms allow a director to move the “camera” forward, backward and side to side. Sections 1.1 - 1.3 covered forward and backward movement. This Section will cover lateral and vertical movements, or “pans.”
There are two types of pans: inter-zone pans and intra-zone pans.
- Interzone pans (pans between two different zones) are achieved with this simple Donacode
@pan to zone X in S
i.e. @pan to zone 2 in 3 (the camera will pan from whatever zone it’s in to zone 2 in 3 seconds.)
Intrazone pans (pans within a single zone) are essentially an extension of the @zoom function.
@zoom on X Y to % in S
To achieve an intra-zone pan, you @zoom from one X Y coordinate to another at the same magnification %. The S value determines the length of this pan.
Let’s contextualize this with 3 examples...
Open the story “Advanced Directing Guide” and click button “1.4 Pans”
*To follow along in the script, open:
http://episodeinteractive.com/write/story/Advanced_Directing_Examples/1
Then jump to “label onefour”
Example A: In this shot, we pan up Marie’s body for a dramatic reveal.
Example B: In this shot, we pan from Marie to John during a conversation.
Example C: In this shot, we pan on a diagonal, from the upper left corner of the zone to the bottom right corner. This kind of shot can add a really great, dynamic feel to concert or party sequences.
*IMPORTANT*
The default pan speed is 2 seconds. You can use “fast pan to zone 1” or “slow pan to zone 1” for 1 or 3 seconds respectively, or “pan to zone 1 in S” for a slower or faster pan. S does not just have to be an integer: you could use 1.2 or 3.7, for example, for a pan speed.
CREATIVE NOTE
Pans are great for a big "reveal" moment. Let’s say Marie has just walked into zone 2 - and she spots that John is stealing something important over in zone 3. We might see her do a shocked animation, then pan FAST to zone 3 to show the reader what she’s seen John doing. In cases like these, you often want to speed up the pan to sell the reveal. The default for the pan is quite slow at 2 seconds. Play around with situations like these in the portal and see how it looks in the app!