Swish Pan

Swish pan is an extremely rapidly executed panning movement, which briefly causes the picture to blur. For example, the camera moves quickly from one character to another, whom we could not see before.

The swish pan usually begins and ends with the camera at rest. It often functions as a transition without a cut. However, this use of such a pan generally requires careful planning of the mise en scène.

In contrast to the common transitions that are standardly used in the style of continuity editing, swish pans are always very striking and thus immediately draw attention to themselves. Sometimes they are used in combination with an adjacent cut, thereby covering this cut. This kind of usage may suggest the passage of time or a change of location.