Camera movement is language.
Handheld is a heartbeat. Steadicam is a predator. Dolly is inevitability. Lock-off is judgment. Movement is not a decoration you add because you're bored. Most people move the camera out of insecurity. That's not movement. That's fear, stabilized.
The camera should move because it wants something. Desire is what makes movement sexy. Desire is what makes a push-in feel like intimacy instead of a gimmick. Desire is what makes a pan feel like suspicion instead of laziness.
Modern tools make movement easier than ever: gyro stabilization, virtual tracking, AI-assisted smoothing that turns chaos into grace. Useful. Dangerous. Smoothness isn't intention. In fact, smoothness can hide intention. It can make everything feel "professional" in the worst way—like a commercial for a product no one needs.
If you want movement with meaning, decide what the audience should feel physically. Pursued? Seduced? Trapped? Elevated? Judged? Then choose the movement that delivers that sensation. Treat it like choreography. A camera move is a sentence. It needs a subject and a verb. If you can't name the verb, you probably don't need the move.
And here's a filthy little secret: sometimes the sexiest choice is to hold still. A locked-off frame can become a trap. The subject has nowhere to hide. The audience has nowhere to look away. Stillness, when intentional, is dominance.
Move less. Mean more. Walk like you mean it.