Pan

A movement where the camera stays in one spot and only turns left or right. Like turning your head from side to side, the frame sweeps sideways across the space. The camera position stays the same; only the direction it faces changes.

Camera seen at an angle from above. At eye level, it stays in place and only its view turns left and right.

Camera view. The character slides from the center to the side and then comes back.

How it feels

Scanning
Connection
Wide space
Following
Urgency

When to use it

Sweeping across a city skyline or landscape
Turning in place to follow a walking character
Linking two places or two people in one shot
Rushed, time-pressured scenes (fast pans)

In the movies

Rear Window (1954) · Source: Movieclips (YouTube) · Original video

Traffic 2000
Yale’s film analysis guide explains that most of the pans are very fast, giving the sense that the characters have no time to waste.
Hour of the Wolf 1968
Columbia’s film glossary gives it as an example of a circular pan, where the camera turns a full circle in place.

Not to be confused with

Truck: A pan is a rotation, the camera turning in place. A truck is a move, the camera itself sliding sideways.
Whip Pan: The same left-right turn, but so fast the frame smears. It is also used as a transition between scenes.
Orbit: An orbit moves the camera around the character; a pan turns the camera itself in place.

Prompt

Keyword

slow pan right

Descriptive

Slow pan right. The camera stays in place on a tripod and turns horizontally, sweeping across the street beside the character.

Try these combinations

Wide shot + pan: sweeping across a city at dusk
Wide shot, slow pan left across a city skyline at dusk, warm evening light
Eye level + pan: turning to follow a passerby
Eye level medium shot, the camera stays in place and pans right to follow a cyclist passing by

Pan