The Master Guide / 08 Cinematography · Camera and lens
Named locks and breathing frames
A still camera is an exception the plan names for one shot, and it is written out in full.
A still camera is an exception the plan names for one shot, and it is written out in full.
A locked-off or breathing frame [proven], only where the plan names the exception for that shot. A breathing frame is a handheld that sways in place with the operator's breath.
Write the lock out in full [official guidance], because Seedance adds a slow push to shots meant to be still. Say that the camera is locked off on a tripod and does not move, with no zoom and no push-in, and then say what in the frame does not move (the doorframe, the table edge).
Keep life inside the frame
a small event every second or two: the eyes, a breath, the hands, cloth, steam [best available, not yet validated];
the place's own motion as the plan counts it (decided): 2–4 natural motions outdoors or wherever the place has them, 0–1 in a quiet room, each with a cause, a direction and a rate (see Video with Seedance → The fixed set and the live place).
Exception | Typical use |
Reaction close-ups | A held reaction; a static two-shot that lets a silence sit |
Reveals | A reveal that ends on a single close-up that holds |
Comedy staged in the wide | A locked wide with timed reactions |
Visual effects (VFX) and live-plate shots | A static camera |
Long takes | One locked camera, with careful take selection |
Observational and emotional beats | A handheld that breathes in place, close to the person |
Speaking shots are not on this list. They move gently through the words by default, Arabic included: a breathing frame or a very slow push, written large enough to show, with bigger moves before or after the line; a lock only where you choose it for that shot (decided). See Speaking shots and lip sync → The camera during speech.
A named lock is judged as a lock, with the talent and the place still alive (the motion standard).