Camera Movements and Motor Cognition

This chapter addresses the role of camera movement in generating the spectator’s immersion in the narrated film plot. The subheadings are “Style,” in which the origins of the notion of style are explained, with a review of how filmic style has been addressed by film scholars; “Moving the camera,” addressing the stylistic role of camera movements in film history; “Intermezzo,” dedicated to a discussion from the authors’ perspective of a selection of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpieces, including Barry Lyndon, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket, and introducing the Steadicam; and “Moving mirrors,” in which the empirical results concerning the role of camera movements in generating the spectators’ immersion, empathy, and identification with film characters are presented.