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Visualizing Camera Movement in
Scene I of Sherlock’s “The Six Thatchers”

Camera movement is one of the most basic aspects of cinematic storytelling and when you notice it, it’s usually because you’re meant to. The kind of camera movement I’m mapping in my Sherlock video above is extremely subtle. It’s not the kind of camera work that will win awards or accolades because it’s as fundamental to cinematic (and now television) grammar as as my first person writing style is to this meta. You’ll see a restless camera everywhere now that I’ve brought it to your attention. 

In the case of Sherlock the first of six similar shots in T6T’s introduction is the only completely static shot where the camera doesn’t move at all, and it’s the shot that establishes Sherlock’s boredom. His total disengagement from Mycroft’s proceedings has gone unnoticed for a spell until Mycroft realizes his little brother has been too still, too quiet for too long-  while silently and flippantly tweeting.

Here are some examples of more obvious camera work. It’s a short video and worth a gander.

Interesting! It’s striking that the director would make this choice, given that I assume a static camera would be the easiest, most intuitive choice. Why bother with a moving camera for such a subtle effect? But it’s true that it does make the scene just a bit more visually interesting, even when we’re not consciously aware of it.