Meaning & use
pan in
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Meanings
verbintransitivetechnical
To move a film or video camera slowly so that the picture shows a smaller area, making the subject look closer.
Grammar: No object; the camera itself does the moving, and the direction is often given with 'on': pan in on someone.
Patterns
- pan in on someone
- pan in on something
- pan in slowly
The director asked the camera operator to pan in on the singer's hands.
As the music softened, the camera panned in and the whole stage disappeared.
Pan in slowly here so the audience does not notice the cut.
verbintransitivetechnical
To move a camera sideways while also making the subject appear larger, combining a side movement with a closer view.
Grammar: No object; used when the movement has two parts, sideways and inward, and is usually described in editing notes.
Patterns
- pan in from the left
- pan in from the right
The shot pans in from the left until only her face fills the frame.
He panned in from the doorway, keeping the desk in view the whole time.
Word forms
| third person singular | pans in |
|---|---|
| past tense | panned in |
| past participle | panned in |
| -ing form | panning in |
Common combinations
- pan in on someone
- The camera pans in on the child at the end of the scene.
- pan in slowly
- Pan in slowly or the movement will look jerky.
- pan in from the left
- The opening shot pans in from the left across the empty room.
- the camera pans in
- The camera pans in while the narrator finishes the sentence.
Synonyms and how they differ
- zoom in
- Use 'zoom in' when the lens changes to make the subject bigger without the camera body moving; 'pan in' usually means the camera itself travels closer.
- move in
- This is the everyday, non-technical way to describe the same movement, and it works outside film contexts too.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: pan in or zoom in?
pan in vs zoom in
'Zoom in' changes the lens setting so the subject looks bigger from the same spot; 'pan in' normally means the camera physically moves closer.
Practice
The director wants the camera to show only the actor's face, so she says: "______ the face as the lights go down."
Choose one answer.
'Pan in on' is the standard pattern when you name the subject: the movement comes first and 'on' introduces what we see. 'Pan out on' is wrong because 'pan out' means the opposite movement, and 'Pan on in' puts the words in the wrong order.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pan in”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.