Pan and scan, also known as pan and zoom, the Ken Burns effect, or simply just zooming into an image, is an extremely straightforward concept in video production with a surprisingly gripping legacy behind it.

What is panning and scanning? How is it best utilized? Read on for a glimpse into how one of the simplest possible video editing techniques made it possible for an entire nation to enjoy the biggest blockbusters of the day right from the comfort of home.

What Is Pan and Scan Used For?

A man in the studio.
Image Credit: Maddie Beloia

Panning and scanning, in a general sense, is used to accomplish one of the following goals:

  • To make a static document or image on-screen more exciting to watch, usually as somebody explains the image or teaches the audience something about it.
  • To adjust the framing of a shot either for aesthetic or for technical purposes; cropping in to focus on something in the scene more intently, for example, or to remove something like a boom mic or a crew member from the edge of the frame.
  • To create entirely new assets out of existing footage or images, such as in the case of a filmmaker who needs to create an insert shot or a VFX plate out of a still frame.
  • To treat the image as an output of an aspect ratio that differs from its native one—this is actually how pan and scan came into being in the first place.

Basically, any time that you're punching into a shot, you're panning and scanning. It's less about the action of the rove and more about the changing frame, finding a picture within a picture.

Sure, it's a simple concept; the simplicity of this notion is what makes panning and scanning such a widely-applicable solution in the world of video production. When exactly did the practice catch fire and fall into common use?

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Where Did Panning and Scanning Come From?

A television with static on the screen.

As with many of the most important central tenets in the world of film production and videography, we have our forefathers in broadcast media to thank for pan and scan.

To put things simply, pan and scan was the technician's way of specifying which part of the image should make it over to the other side. The field of the signal, in a traditional broadcast setting, needs to be complete without exceeding itself in order to fly—no holes, no overhang, no nothing.

One approach at this juncture is to letterbox the image, barring it between two horizontal buffers above and below, filling the void definitively in this way. The other involves simply cropping in so that the middle part of the image fills the screen entirely. This second technique is the textbook definition of panning and scanning.

The newly-defined perimeter of the frame wasn't swooping and soaring necessarily; this was actually an adaptation of this treatment, applied whenever the entire widescreen image was imperative to the enjoyment and understanding of the audience.

Pan and Scan: Aspect Ratio and the Integrity of the Image

Pan and scan, when you boil it all down, really is a matter of aspect ratio. A modern interpretation does emphasize this technique's application to reinvigorating a static image or document on-screen. However, the term was originally born out of the need to pare away at a widescreen signal when broadcast at a narrower aspect ratio.

Pan and scan reduces the original signal by up to 52 percent visually—thus, the invention of something called title safe followed shortly after, a way of framing each shot so that all of the most vital on-screen elements are kept squarely in the middle.

When you shoot with a title-safe overlay in mind, you avoid the edges of the frame entirely, keeping anything of interest right where everybody can see it.

Related: What Is Interlacing?

Panning and Scanning Keeps Our Eyes on the Prize

Nowadays, many platforms of consumption are adaptive to this sort of thing; every YouTube upload, for example, enjoys a viewport that adheres to its dimensions as uploaded by the user. You don't even have to dial them in.

Despite this undeniable progress in technology, it's still worth knowing what makes panning and scanning useful, especially if you're in the business of media creation. The next time you've got a random hiccup to iron out or a compelling piece of evidence to share with your audience, let your inner Ken Burns shine with the perfect pan and scan.