Shots & camera moves

Scenes decide which part of the story you tell. Shots decide how that part is framed. Every scene has a shot row.

What it does

• Split shots: click + on the shot row header to cut a new shot at the playhead.
• Independent framing: each shot has its own position X/Y, scale and rotation. Cuts between shots are hard cuts.
• Camera keyframes: key the camera inside a shot to push in, pull out, pan or rotate. Camera keys are counted inside each shot.
• Storyboard panel: list the shots of the current scene in time order, jump by thumbnail, and drag cards to reorder them; adjacent shots can carry a shot-to-shot transition.
• Shot overlay: attach a UI document to one shot so the interface only appears in that shot.
• Reset camera: restore the default framing of the current shot when the numbers get out of hand.

How to use

1. Click + on the Shots row in the timeline. The playhead becomes a new cut point.
2. Select a shot. The dock switches to Shot and shows position, scale and rotation; the same group also has Keyframes, Camera moves and Shot overlay.
3. Put the playhead on a frame inside the shot, change the values, then click the keyframe button for the current frame. With Auto-key on, just change the values.
4. Drag either end of a shot to move the cut. To delete a shot, select it and press Delete / Backspace; there is no delete button on the clip.
5. Open Storyboard in the left rail to jump between shots and drag cards into a new order; use the capsule between adjacent shots for shot transitions.

::: note The camera only changes framing Camera moves do not change the scene duration, and they do not move audio or subtitles on the absolute frame timeline. :::

Boundaries

• Shot boundaries are hard cuts. Animated transitions happen inside a shot; shot-to-shot transitions are set from the capsule between cards in the Storyboard panel, and scene transitions from the Transition panel.
• Camera keyframes restart from 0 when you switch shots; frame numbers are local to each shot.

Next: Effects & filters, to shape the look of the frame.