Tilt shot
Also known as: tilt, tilting
Rotating the camera vertically from a fixed position, the other axis of a static camera and the move most often confused with a crane.
Updated
What it means
A tilt rotates up or down without moving. The camera pivots on the spot, which changes the angle rather than the viewpoint, and nothing about the relationship between foreground and background changes.
That is exactly what separates it from a Crane shot. A crane travels vertically through space and a tilt turns in place, and the two look nothing alike despite being described the same way.
Its usual job is a reveal. Starting on the ground and tilting up to a feature, or starting on the sky and tilting down to a rider, both deliver information in a controlled order.
How it works in practice
Slow and even is the only version that works. A tilt is a deliberate move, and any unevenness reads immediately because the frame has a horizon in it the whole time.
On a drone it is the gimbal rather than the aircraft. Gimbal pitch on a wheel produces a far smoother tilt than any attempt to rotate the airframe, which is why the control exists.
It wants a settled start and finish. Holding for a moment at each end gives an editor usable in and out points, where a tilt that is still moving when the clip ends cannot be cut cleanly.
What to watch out for
Exposure changes through the move. Tilting from ground to sky swings the brightness enormously, so Exposure lock before starting is what stops the clip pumping as it goes.
A fast tilt strobes like a fast pan. The frame content changes faster than the shutter can blur it, and the result stutters in a way no later processing removes.
It is frequently used where nothing needed revealing. A tilt across empty ground is a move made for its own sake, which belongs in Unusable footage rather more often than anybody admits.
How RawClip handles it
Deliberate vertical moves read as camera work rather than as action, so they tend to be placed at the edges of a sequence. A tilt that settles at both ends is straightforward to place against a music cue; one still moving at the end gets trimmed back.