Motion Prompt · 8 collections
192 motion examples
Find motion, camera, interface, landing page, and photo patterns. Each example has its full specification and a copyable prompt, with a detail page hosted here.
Pop-in
Pops into view with a small bounce. An app icon pops in with a bounce, then a notification badge pops in a moment later.
Stagger
Items appear one after another, slightly offset in time. Chart bars rise one after another from the left, each slightly delayed.
Burst
Lines and dots burst outward as something appears. A like heart fills in, and a ring, lines and dots burst outward at the same moment.
Line draw
A line extends as if it were being drawn. A chart line draws itself on, and is later erased from its starting end.
Mask reveal
Text rises into view from behind an invisible edge. Headline text slides out from behind an invisible edge marked by a single line.
Typewriter
Text appears one character at a time, as if typed. Text is typed into an input field one character at a time, then the send button lights up and is pressed.
Count-up
A number runs up quickly to its final value. A number races upward and locks onto its final value.
Kinetic typography
Words move, scale and turn in time with what is said. Words move the way they mean: one stretches, one bounces, one spins, one slams down.
Easing
Motion speeds up and slows down instead of moving at one speed. Two squares cover the same distance in the same time: the top one at constant speed, the bottom one eased.
Overshoot
Goes a little past the target, then settles back. A gauge needle swings past its target, comes back and settles.
Squash & stretch
Squashes and stretches so that it feels elastic. A bouncing character squashes on landing and stretches as it takes off.
Shape morph
One shape turns smoothly into another. A shape changes smoothly from circle to square to star to heart, with its colour.
Liquid motion
Shapes move and merge like liquid. A blob stretches out, breaks into drops and merges back into one.
Motion trail
A fading trail follows a moving object. A ball moving in a figure eight leaves a fading trail of copies behind it.
Particles
Many small pieces fly out and scatter. Particles keep shooting up from an emitter, spread out and fall.
Parallax
Near and far layers move at different speeds to show depth. A landscape pans sideways; near layers move more and far layers move less, creating depth.
Mask transition
The next scene appears inside a growing shape. A circle- or star-shaped window grows, showing the next scene inside it.
Shape transition
Shapes cover the screen and uncover the next scene. Coloured bands sweep across and cover the frame; when they leave, the next scene is there.
Liquid transition
Liquid flows in and replaces the scene. Paint-like liquid drips down from the top and fills the frame, becoming the next scene.
Zoom through
Zooms into an object and passes through it into the next scene. The camera pushes into the hole of a letter O and comes out in the next scene.
Flip
Turns over like a card to show the other side. A card turns over around its vertical axis and shows its other side.
Light sweep
A band of light crosses a surface. A band of light crosses the surface of a logo badge at an angle.
Glitch
The picture breaks up as if it were malfunctioning. Text slices shift sideways, colours split and small bars appear, with no brightness flashing.
Impact shake
The whole frame shakes when something lands. A heavy headline slab drops with a thud and the whole frame shakes from the impact.
Pan
Pivot the camera left or right. The camera stays in place and pivots from left to right; because it is a rotation, near and far layers slide sideways by the same amount.
Tilt
Pivot the camera up or down. The camera stays in place and pivots upward, from a person at ground level up to the top of a tower.
Dolly in
Move the camera toward the subject. The camera itself moves toward the subject; near objects grow and pass quickly while the distant mountains barely change.
Zoom in
Magnify with the lens (camera stays put). The camera does not move; only the focal length gets longer, so the whole picture enlarges by the same ratio.
Tracking shot
Move along with the subject. The camera moves sideways at the same speed as a walking person; the person stays centred while nearer posts sweep past faster.
Orbit (Arc shot)
Circle around the subject. The camera travels on a circle around the subject; the person stays centred while the trees and buildings behind sweep sideways.
Crane up
Lift the camera up. The camera rises while tilting down until it looks down on the person.
Dolly zoom (Vertigo)
Subject stays, background warps. The camera pulls back while zooming in by the same ratio; the person keeps the same size and only the background closes in.
Rack focus
Shift focus between near and far. The camera does not move; focus shifts from a flower in the foreground to a person behind it, swapping which one is blurred.
Handheld
A slight shake, as if the camera were held by hand. Adds a small, irregular shake to the whole frame, as if the camera were held by hand instead of on a tripod.
FPV drone shot
Fast, immersive fly-through. A first-person view flying low and fast between two rows of trees, banking from side to side.
Dutch angle
Tilt the frame diagonally. A level camera rolls around its lens axis and holds with the horizon on a diagonal.
Slow motion
Play the action slower. In front of a fixed camera a person rises and falls slowly through a jump while leaves drift down slowly; the whole action is stretched out.
Speed ramp
Change speed mid-shot. Within one shot the playback speed changes smoothly from fast to slow; a graph at bottom left shows the speed.
Time-lapse
Compress hours into seconds. With a fixed camera, 06:00 to 18:00 is compressed into a few seconds; sun, clouds, people and shadows move in fast forward.
Freeze frame
Pause the action for a beat. The picture stops at the moment a jumping person reaches the top, then resumes from the same frame 1.4 s later.
Jump cut
Same framing, skip ahead in time. Camera position and framing stay the same while the person's position and the clock jump; time is skipped inside one scene.
Match cut
Cut on a matching shape or motion. A thrown ball becomes, in the next shot, a sun at the same position and size; two different scenes are joined on a matching shape.
Whip pan
Fast pan blur into the next shot. The camera swings sideways very fast and the next scene is swapped in during the streaked blur.
Cross dissolve
Blend one shot into the next. The next picture is laid over the current one and its opacity rises until it takes over; both show through each other midway.
Wipe
A moving edge replaces the shot. A vertical edge moves from left to right and the next picture replaces the current one behind it.
Smash cut
Abrupt cut to a contrasting scene. A quiet scene of a person asleep cuts with no warning straight to an intense one; the volume meter jumps at the same moment.
J-cut
Next scene's audio starts first. The next scene's audio starts before the picture changes; the picture is shown on top with video and audio timelines below.
L-cut
Previous scene's audio carries over. The previous scene's audio carries on for a while after the picture has changed; the picture is shown on top with video and audio timelines below.
Modal dialog
A window opens in the middle while the page behind dims. Clicking "Open" dims the whole page and a small window scales up slightly into the centre; clicking × closes it.
Drawer (Off-canvas)
A menu panel slides in from the side of the screen. Clicking "Menu" slides a tall panel in from the left; clicking outside slides it back.
Bottom sheet
A panel slides up from the bottom of the screen. A finger taps "View details" and a panel rises from the bottom; dragging its handle down closes it.
Accordion
Click a heading to show or hide its content. Clicking the first of three headings opens its content and pushes the rows below down; clicking again closes it.
Dropdown (select)
Click a field to drop a list of options below it. Clicking the field opens four options below it; picking "Nagoya" closes the list and fills the field.
Tooltip
Hover over something to show a short label. Hovering over a "?" icon shows a short note in a dark bubble above it; it disappears when the cursor leaves.
Popover
Click a button to open a small panel pointing at it. Clicking "Details" opens a small white panel to its right with a pointer at the button; clicking OK inside closes it.
Toast notification
A short message appears in a corner and goes away on its own. Clicking "Save" slides a dark notice into the bottom-right corner; when its time bar runs out it slides away.
Tabs
Click a label to switch which panel is shown. Clicking the tabs "Overview, Pricing, Reviews" in turn slides a blue underline across and swaps the content below.
Carousel
Slides that move sideways to show one item at a time. Each click on the right arrow slides a row of three different images one step to the left, and the dot below moves.
Toggle switch
Flip a setting on or off. The switches on the first two of three setting rows are turned on in turn, then off again.
Segmented control
A row of joined buttons that switches the view. Clicking Day, Week or Month slides a blue highlight across and the bar chart below changes height.
Filter chips
Small pills you click to add or remove a filter. Clicking the "New" and "Free" chips adds a check mark and turns them blue, and cards that do not match fade out.
Range slider
Two handles on one track pick a minimum and a maximum. On a price slider, the left handle is dragged right and the right handle left to narrow the range, then both go back.
Stepper (+/−)
Plus and minus buttons that change a number by one. Pressing + three times raises the number from 1 to 4, and pressing − three times brings it back to 1; the number pops on each press.
Pagination
Numbered buttons that move between pages. Clicking 2 and then 3 in the page numbers moves the blue circle and swaps the list above; finally it goes back to 1.
Hamburger menu
A three-line icon that opens the menu. Clicking the three-line icon at the header's right turns it into ×, and a menu drops down from under the header; clicking again closes it.
Breadcrumbs
A trail of links showing where the page sits in the site. Clicking "Courses" in the breadcrumbs goes up to the list page; clicking a card there returns to the detail page.
Mega menu
A wide panel of grouped links that opens from the main menu. Hovering over "Products" in the header drops a full-width panel with three columns of links and an image; it closes when the cursor leaves.
Step indicator
Shows which step of a process you are on. Each click on "Next" turns the next of four step circles into a check and extends the blue line to the following step.
Skeleton screen
Grey shapes stand in for content while it loads. Clicking reload turns the list into grey blocks of the same shape with a sweeping shine; the content returns when loading ends.
Spinner
A spinning circle that means "please wait". Clicking "Send" washes the card white and a blue arc spins in the middle; when finished it changes to a check and fades.
Badge
A small dot with a number showing a count. Each time a notification arrives, the blue dot on the bell in the header counts up 1, 2, 3; clicking the bell clears it.
Empty state
The screen shown when there is nothing to list yet. Deleting the two list rows with their trash icons brings up an empty-box drawing, "Nothing here yet" and an "Add" button.
Parallax scrolling
On scroll, background layers move slower than the content. As the page scrolls down, the headline moves up normally while the sky and sun, far hills and near hills move more slowly.
Fade-in on scroll
Elements fade in as they scroll into view. As the page scrolls, the heading, the cards and the body text each rise into place and fade in when they enter the view.
Sticky header
The header stays at the top while the page scrolls. The announcement strip scrolls away, but the header below it stops at the top edge and the content scrolls underneath.
Pinning
A section stays fixed while scrolling advances its content. A navy section stops when it fills the view; further scrolling steps the number and photo through 1→2→3, then the section scrolls on.
Horizontal scroll
Scrolling down moves the content sideways. As the page scrolls down, the section holds still and four numbered work cards travel to the left.
Scroll snap
Scrolling settles exactly on the next section. After a small scroll, the page carries itself the rest of the way until the next section's top lines up with the top of the view.
Scroll progress bar
A bar at the top shows how far you have read. As the article is read a bit at a time, the line along the top grows from the left and reaches the far end at the bottom of the page.
Highlighter animation
A highlighter stroke is drawn under key words. As the copy scrolls into view, a yellow highlighter stroke is drawn left to right across the lower half of the key words.
Hover lift
On hover, the element rises with a deeper shadow. Only the card under the cursor lifts slightly and its shadow spreads; it settles back when the cursor leaves.
Image zoom on hover
The photo enlarges inside a fixed frame. The photo under the cursor slowly enlarges while its frame stays the same size, and shrinks back when the cursor leaves.
Cursor follower
A shape trails the mouse pointer with a delay. As the cursor moves around the page, an orange circle follows it a little behind.
Magnetic button
The button is pulled toward a nearby cursor. As the cursor comes near, the button is drawn toward it and follows; when the cursor leaves, the button wobbles back to its place.
Ripple effect
A ripple spreads from the point that was pressed. Each click sends a white circle out from the click point to fill the button, then it fades away.
Underline animation
A link's underline grows from the left on hover. Under the link the cursor is on, an orange line grows from the left; when the cursor leaves, the line shrinks away to the right.
Before/after slider
Drag a divider to compare before and after. Dragging the line in the middle of the photo left and right changes how much of the grey "before" (left) and the coloured "after" (right) is shown.
Exit-intent popup
A popup shown when the visitor is about to leave. When the cursor heads out through the top of the page (toward the tabs and close button), the page dims and a "Wait!" popup opens. The × closes it.
Preloader
A screen shown while the page loads. On a navy screen the number under the logo counts from 0% to 100%; then the screen lifts away and the page underneath fades in.
Lazy loading
Images load only when they come into view. As grey placeholders scroll into view, a spinner turns in each, and the images fade in as they arrive. The top row is loaded from the start.
Infinite scroll
More items load automatically at the bottom. Scrolling down to the end of the list brings up a spinner, then three new items are added so reading can go on.
Page transition
An animation that bridges two pages. Clicking a card in the work list sweeps an orange panel across from the left; the URL changes and the panel exits to the right on the detail page. "Back to list" returns the same way.
Smooth scroll
In-page links glide to their target instead of jumping. Clicking "Pricing" in the menu glides the page down to the pricing section; the up arrow at the bottom right glides it back to the top.
Marquee
Text or logos scroll across in an endless band. Inside a navy band, large service names separated by orange dots keep moving to the left without a gap.
Animated gradient
Background colours keep drifting and blending. Behind the headline, soft patches of orange, light orange, blue and light blue drift in circles and keep blending differently.
Floating animation
Elements bob gently up and down. Next to the headline, a phone, a heart badge and a rating chip each bob gently out of step, and the shadow under the phone grows and shrinks.
Backlighting
The light source sits behind the subject. The sun moves from outside the frame to directly behind the person's head; a thin bright edge appears around the figure, a pale warm haze covers the frame and the side facing the camera darkens.
Rim light
A light from behind that outlines the subject's edge. The surroundings go dark and two lights behind the person, left and right, draw thin bright edges only along both sides of the head and shoulders; the plan at the bottom right shows where the two lights are.
Silhouette
The subject shows as a black shape against a bright sky. As the exposure is set for the bright evening sky, the person, buildings, lamp and tree turn into flat black shapes with no detail and only the sky stays bright.
Split lighting
Light from the side splits the face into lit and dark halves. The light swings from near the front (20°) to directly at the side (90°); the shadow on the head grows from a crescent to exactly half, splitting the face down the middle.
Rembrandt lighting
High side light that leaves a lit triangle on the shadow cheek. A light 45° to the side and 45° up comes on; the right side of the face falls into shadow except for a small inverted triangle of light on the shadow-side cheek.
Butterfly lighting
High frontal light that casts a butterfly shadow under the nose. A light in front of the face and high above comes on; the face lights evenly on both sides and only a small symmetrical shadow falls under the chin.
Golden hour
The low, warm light just after sunrise or before sunset. The sun drops to just above the horizon; sky and ground turn orange, the left side of the person lights up and the shadows of the lamp and tree stretch far to the right.
Blue hour
The time after sunset or before sunrise when the sky turns deep blue. Once the sun has set, the sky turns two bands of deep blue, the windows and street lamp come on in amber and the person becomes a dark blue shape.
Bokeh
Out-of-focus points of light melt into soft discs. As the aperture opens, the in-focus person stays sharp, the buildings behind soften and the street lamps and distant lights spread into large, pale discs.
Tilt-shift
Blur top and bottom so a real scene looks like a miniature. The top and bottom bands of the street blur while only the middle band with the road, the car and the small people stays in focus, so the street looks like a model.
Long exposure
Keep the shutter open long so moving lights become lines. The street turns to night; the moving car fades to almost nothing, a red tail-light line stretches out behind it and white and amber lines run along the opposite lane.
Panning shot
Follow a moving subject so only the background streaks. The camera follows the moving car: the car stays sharp in the middle of the frame while only the buildings, trees and lamps behind it streak sideways.
Lens flare
Rings and spots of light from a bright source in the lens. As the sun comes out from behind a building, rays appear around it and a line of light dots, hexagons and a ring runs from the sun through the centre of the frame to the opposite side.
Fisheye lens
Ultra-wide lens that bulges the centre and bends straight lines. The middle of the street scene bulges out; the vertical lines of the buildings and the lines of the road bow outward while the corners stay where they are.
Chromatic aberration
Red and blue-violet colour fringes along high-contrast edges. The street scene is split into red, green and blue and the three are laid back together at slightly different sizes, so red and cyan fringes appear on the edges of the person, buildings and lamps, larger towards the sides.
Vignette
The corners darken and draw the eye to the centre. The frame darkens smoothly from the corners while the person and the road in the middle stay bright.
High-key
A bright, white-toned image with very light shadows. The landscape and the person turn to light, near-white colours with very faint shadows, and the hump of the histogram at the bottom right moves to the right end.
Low-key
A dark image where only the lit parts stand out. Most of the frame sinks into darkness and the sun goes out; only the right edge of the bust, lit from the side, stays bright. The histogram hump moves to the left end.
Black and white
Remove colour and show brightness only. The colour drains from the same landscape; the sun and the light on the figure turn grey and the shapes read only by their brightness.
Duotone
Show the image in two colours, one for darks and one for lights. The colours of the same landscape are replaced by a range between just two colours: indigo in the darks and pink in the lights.
Teal and orange
Pushes shadows to teal and skin and highlights to orange. In the same landscape the sky, hills, ground and the shadowed figure shift to teal while the sunlit edge of the figure and the sun shift to orange, a complementary contrast.
Film grain
Fine, film-like grain over the image. Fine grain appears over the whole of the same landscape and the colours lean slightly towards a warm cream.
Light leak
Red-orange glow as if light leaked onto the film. From the right edge of the same landscape a band of leaked light comes in, pale yellow on the inside and red at the edge, swaying slowly.
Double exposure
Two photos layered into one frame. The background turns white and the landscape of hills, house, trees and sun appears, scaled down, only inside the shape of the bust.
Anticipation
Pulls back briefly before moving forward. A square character pulls back against its direction of travel, squashes to wind up, then shoots forward.
Follow-through
Parts keep swinging after the body stops. A round character slides in and stops suddenly; only the flag on its head and its tail keep swinging, then settle.
Bounce
Falls and bounces lower until it stops. A ball drops and bounces lower each time until it comes to rest.
Wiggle
Shakes in small, random, continuous jitters. A bell keeps jittering irregularly: not one hit, but a small shake that never stops.
Pulse
Its size throbs like a heartbeat. A heart throbs like a heartbeat, a double beat each time, with rings spreading out.
Motion path
Moves along a curve that you define. A paper plane follows a dotted path, turning as it goes and looping the loop on the way.
Ping-pong loop
Plays forward, then backward, over and over. A square travels to one end, then comes back along the same path as if played in reverse, again and again.
Stop-motion style
Moves in choppy steps, with frames dropped. A star hops across in choppy steps at about 8 frames per second, each frame slightly off.
Text scramble
Letters shuffle at random, then settle. Random characters keep changing, then lock into the right word from left to right.
Wave text
Letters rise and fall in turn, like a wave. The letters of "WAVE TEXT" rise and fall one after another, like a wave.
Text on a path
Text flows along a line or curve. A line of text flows along a wavy line, each letter turning to follow it.
Variable font animation
The weight of the letters changes smoothly. The same word goes smoothly from thin to very bold and back, with a slider below showing the weight.
Text mask
Letters cut out to show a picture inside. Heavy letters are cut out so that a moving seascape shows only inside them; near the end of the cycle the whole picture appears.
Repeater
Duplicates a shape and turns the copies. One shape is duplicated around a circle, and the copies turn and pulse slightly out of step.
Kaleidoscope
Mirrored patterns spread out symmetrically. An 8-way symmetrical pattern turns and spreads out from the centre, like a kaleidoscope.
Line boil
Hand-drawn lines wobble frame to frame. A hand-drawn line picture wobbles every few frames while the picture itself stays still.
Push transition
The next scene pushes the current one out. The next scene slides in from the side and pushes the current one out with it.
Blinds transition
The next scene opens through thin strips. Gaps in a row of thin strips widen until the next scene is fully open.
Cube transition
Changes scenes like a turning cube. Like a turning cube, the front face swings away and the next face comes round.
Page curl
Peels back like paper to show the next page. A page peels back from its corner and folds over, revealing the next page beneath.
Pixelate
Turns into coarse blocks, then switches. The picture turns into coarser and coarser blocks, switches at the coarsest point, then sharpens again.
Shatter
Breaks like glass and the shards fly off. The picture cracks like glass, the shards fly off and the next scene is revealed.
Exploded view
Parts separate to show the structure inside. A phone separates into its layers to show how it is built, then assembles again.
Split screen
Divides the frame to show scenes side by side. One full-frame scene splits into two panels, then three, each with its own scene moving.
Timeline on scroll
A timeline line grows as you scroll. As the page scrolls down, an orange line grows down the timeline; each dot it reaches fills in and its year and event slide in from the right. Scrolling back up reverses it.
Scroll text reveal
Text darkens letter by letter as you scroll. A light gray headline darkens one character at a time from the top left as the page scrolls, and fades back from the end when scrolling up.
Stacking cards
Cards stack on top of each other on scroll. On scroll, the next card rises from below and stacks over the previous one with a small offset; the cards underneath shrink a little and darken.
Background color change on scroll
The page background changes color by section. Each time the scroll moves into a new section, the whole page background blends from cream to navy to light blue; on the dark background the text turns white.
Hide-on-scroll header
Hides on scroll down, returns on scroll up. Scrolling down slides the header up out of view to free the screen; scrolling up even a little brings it straight back.
Scrollspy
Highlights the current section in the menu. As the article scrolls, the table-of-contents item for the section being read lights up, and the highlight moves on when the next heading comes in.
Back-to-top button
Appears lower down and returns you to the top. After scrolling down, a round arrow button appears at the bottom right; clicking it takes the page straight back to the top.
Zoom on scroll
An image grows to fill the screen as you scroll. As the page scrolls, a small photo in the middle grows to fill the window, the text around it fades away and a headline appears over the photo.
3D tilt on hover
The card tilts in 3D following the cursor. As the cursor moves over the card, the card tilts in depth to match the cursor position and a glare moves across its surface; it settles flat when the cursor leaves.
Spotlight hover
Only the area around the cursor lights up. As the cursor moves over the dark cards, only a circle around it is lit, and the edges of nearby cards glow.
Image swap on hover
Hovering swaps the photo for another shot. With the cursor on a product card, the front photo of the T-shirt cross-fades to a back view; it returns to the front when the cursor leaves.
Text roll on hover
Letters roll up and swap on hover. With the cursor on a menu word, its letters roll up and out one by one while the same word rolls in from below in orange; it rolls back when the cursor leaves.
Hover image reveal
Hovering a list item shows its photo. With the cursor on a row of a text-only list, that row's photo fades in beside the cursor and follows it.
Floating label
The label floats up when you start typing. Clicking the field shrinks the label and moves it onto the top border, leaving the field free for typing; empty and unfocused, the label moves back inside.
Inline validation
Shows right or wrong while you type. While the email address is half typed the field turns red with an "invalid format" message; the moment it is complete it switches to a green check and "OK".
Loading button
Shows loading, then done, inside the button. Clicking the submit button shrinks it to a circle with a spinner inside; when it finishes it widens into a green "Done" with a check.
View transition (shared element)
A list photo expands into the detail page. Clicking a photo in the list grows that same photo into the image at the top of the detail page while the rest changes to the detail page; going back shrinks it into place.
Lightbox
Opens an image large over a dimmed page. Clicking a thumbnail in the gallery dims the page and shows that photo large in the center; the × shrinks it back into its thumbnail.
Hotspots
Dots on an image open notes when clicked. White dots pulse on the product picture; clicking one opens a tooltip about that part, and clicking another dot swaps the tooltip.
Countdown timer
Counts down the time left to a deadline. The hours, minutes and seconds under "キャンペーン終了まで" (until the campaign ends) count down every second; only the digits that change slide up and out as new ones come in from below.
Animated shape divider
A wavy section divider that keeps moving. Where a blue section meets a white one, two layered wave shapes keep swaying slowly.
Like button animation
The heart pops with a burst when liked. Clicking the heart fills it red with a springy pop, small particles burst around it and the count beside it goes up by one; clicking again undoes it.
Scroll-down cue
A looping cue that invites you to scroll down. Below the hero, the word "SCROLL", a dot inside a mouse outline and arrows on either side keep repeating a downward motion.
Background video
A video plays behind the hero section. In the hero background, clouds and waves keep moving, while the headline and button sit still on top.
Pedestal
Move the whole camera straight up or down. The camera moves straight up without changing its direction; the horizon stays centred while the person and buildings slide down.
Barrel roll
Roll the camera a full turn on its axis. The camera rolls a full turn around its lens axis; the horizon goes all the way round and comes back level.
Hyperlapse
A time-lapse shot while the camera travels. The camera travels forward along a street while the sun, clouds and passers-by run in fast forward: a time-lapse that moves.
Long take
One continuous shot with no cuts. One continuous shot follows a walking person with no cut; the bar at the bottom stays a single unbroken strip.
Steadicam
Smooth, floating movement with no shake. The camera glides forward after a walking person with only a slow, gentle sway and no jitter, unlike handheld.
Follow shot
Follow behind the subject as they move. The camera trails a weaving walker along the same path a few metres behind; the person stays near the centre, seen from the back.
Locked-off shot
Camera fixed; only the subject moves. A person crosses in front of a tripod-fixed camera and a car passes behind; the camera does not move by a pixel.
Fly-through
Fly through an opening into the next space. The camera flies toward a wall with a window, passes through the opening and comes out into the place beyond.
Low angle
Shoot from low down, looking up. The camera drops to near the ground and looks up; the person looks big and the buildings tower.
High angle
Shoot from above, looking down. The camera rises and looks down; the person looks small and the ground fills most of the frame.
POV shot
See through a character's eyes. Seen through a character's eyes: the walking sway and the hands at the bottom say first person, and the person ahead waves at you.
Over-the-shoulder
Frame one person over another's shoulder. The back of one person's head and shoulder sit at the edge of frame and the other person is seen past them; the foreground is soft, the subject sharp.
Bird's-eye view
Straight down from directly overhead. Looking straight down from overhead: road, people, cars and trees appear as top-down shapes, and more comes into view as the camera rises.
Deep focus
Near and far all in sharp focus. From the flower in front to the person and buildings behind, everything comes into sharp focus at the same time.
Establishing shot
A wide opening shot that shows the place. A wide, high view of the whole town; the camera pushes in slowly and a location caption appears at bottom left.
Extreme close-up
Fill the frame with one small detail. From a close-up of the face to a frame filled by nothing but the eyes.
Insert shot
Cut in to a detail of the same scene. A big close-up of the watch on the person's wrist is cut into the scene for 1.3 s, then it returns to the same shot.
Morph cut
Blend two takes so the join disappears. Two takes of the same person are joined by smoothly interpolating position and pose, so nothing jumps as in a jump cut.
Fade to black
The picture darkens to black. The whole picture sinks to black, and the next scene brightens out of the black.
Iris out
A circle closes down to black. A circle closes down on the person until the frame is black, then opens again on the next scene.
Cutaway
Cut to something else, then back. From the speaker to the listening audience and back; what is cut in is a different subject.
Cross-cutting
Alternate between two simultaneous scenes. Two scenes happening at the same time, a runner and a car, alternate in shorter and shorter cuts.
Bullet time
Time stands still while the camera circles. Time nearly stops at the top of a jump while the camera circles around the person.
Montage
A run of short shots condensing time. Seven short shots show thirty days of training; straight cuts, with the date jumping at top right.
Motion Prompt by Shohei Ohtaki. This collection is MIT licensed and attributed to its author. Read the license.