crane shot

  a camera shot taken from a large camera dolly or electronic device (an apparatus, such as a crane), resembling a extendable mechanical arm (or boom), that can raise the camera up in the air above the ground 20 feet or more; the crane allows the camera to fluidly move in virtually any direction (with vertical and horizontal movement), providing shifts in levels and angles; crane shots usually provide some kind of overhead view of a scene

  Examples: the opening, long-take sequence in Altman's The Player (1992) was shot with a crane, as was the classic 3-minute opening credits sequence of Touch of Evil (1958); also, the shot in High Noon (1952) where the Marshal is left in the empty street prior to his confrontation with the four gunman, to emphasize his isolation, rejection and vulnerability; and the spectacular shots using remote cranes in the car-chase sequence of To Live And Die In L.A. (1985).