Rolling camera work is usually about creating one a of a few feelings...
sickness of characters
drug or alcohol fuelled disorientation (being drunk or drugged up basically)
Other disorientation experienced by characters
The movement of a ship (space/sea) or otherwise
To just disorientate the viewer - for example with Alice falling down the hole into Wonderland etc
'Adrenochrome' from 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'
- caution content shows mild drug use and some disorienting effects
This extract uses colour and light as well as camera movement to create
its effects - look at how the increasing disorientation experienced by
Johnny Depp's character is increased and heightened using these
techniques!
Other disorientation
This is from 'Warehouse 13', an American TV Show. The characters have just entered a special 'vault' that moves in time and space, based on Escher - a bit 'naff' but it illustrates the point well enough
Tilting and Canting
Tilting and canting are more or less the same (depending on who you talk to!) but you need to think about this in two separate and entirely different ways in terms of affect:
Canting left or right so the scene lists to the side is really about the same as the above list for rolling camera work - to show characters are sick, disoriented or that their environment is moving.
Here the camera is tilted to create interest and to put the audience off-guard.
Payback (starring Mel Gibson)
In this example, the tilt is used to signify the importance of the text received by the character and is designed to imitate how their world is literally upset/affected by the contents. The text is the code between the characters to collect together immediately to deal with a threat to one of the group.
Switch (TV Show, 2012)
The sequence repeats the motif to establish how the group communicates and literally uses camera movement as a direct reflection of character experience/predicament. It would be very easy to suggest that these movements are not rolling but tilting/canting...
Tilting forward or back creates HIGH ANGLE and LOW ANGLE shots - where the camera either looks UP to the subject (giving the subject being looked at more power and reducing the perspective/feeling of power of the audience - potentially making them feel small or vulnerable (and often inviting them to feel this alongside the character) or looking DOWN on the subject which reverses everything - here the audience perspective is one of power - looking down on the subject/person and the audience are, again, often being invited to feel this power along with the character.
Kindergarten Cop - Schwarzenegger is a cop assigned undercover as a Kindergarten teacher. Here he meets his class for the first time and they meet him!
There are always exceptions so look at what you're seeing and decide for yourself what effect is being created.
Remember also with the use of CGI that many camera movements are no longer actually made by a physical camera and are created in post (editing) by computers and so can perform what appears to be impossible. This is especially true of the examples on this blog from 'the fast and the furious'.
