Crane shot

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In motion picture terminology, a crane shot is a shot taken by a camera on a crane. The most obvious uses are to view the actors from above or to move up and away from them, a common way of ending a movie. But some filmmakers like to have the camera on a boom arm just to make it easier to move around between ordinary set-ups. Most cranes accommodate both the camera and an operator, but some can be operated by remote control--there are some spectacular shots using remote cranes in the car-chase sequence of To Live and Die in L.A..

The Western High Noon had a famous crane shot. The shot backs up and raises, and we see Marshal Will Kane totally alone and isolated on the street.

The television comedy SCTV uses the very concept of the crane shot as comedic material. After using a crane shot in one of the first NBC produced episodes, the network complained about the exorbitant cost of renting the crane. SCTV writers responded by making the "crane shot" a ubiquitous symbol of production excess while also lampooning network executives who care nothing about artistic vision and everything for the bottom line. At the end of the second season, an inebriated Johnny LaRue is given his very own crane by Santa Claus, implying he would be able to have a crane shot whenever he wanted it.