After last week’s screenings of various student’s action sequences I was inspired to shoot a secondary version. Unlike my rushed original attempt I spent some time planning this sequence and feel it’s a much more technically sound clip.
My second attempt of the action sequence depicted me hanging up a coat.
After reviewing my original action sequence, I noticed my shot selection and basic framing was very poorly executed. The POV shot of me looking down at my shoe and the wide/mid shots of me walking basically had my shoe completely out of frame and basically looked terribe. I wanted to shoot this sequence with as little amount of shots as possible and ended up using only four.
I started my new version with a wide shot of me walking through the door. Despite my incredibly dark south facing house, I thought this wide shot would create a sense of location and basically made sense for the sequence’s narrative. I wanted to start the shot with a close-up of the door knob moving but due to a lack of tripod height, light and the zoom on my phone hardly working I settled for a longish shot of me opening the door. I also contemplated opening the sequence with a dirty wide POV shot that had the coat stand in the corner of the frame but when I tried to execute this shot it look more confusing than anything else.
I really love using dirty over the shoulder shots and was pretty happy with my attempt at one with the second shot in the sequence. Despite this shot only being two seconds long which I feel messed with the overall continuity of the clip, I was still happy with it. From my few attempts of doing a dirty over the shoulder with my phone and $7 tripod I have noticed it is basically impossible to shoot one with someone else there to tell you when you are in frame. The shot I used was my only successful attempt at the shot so I felt obliged to use it.
I feel the third shot in my sequnce was probably the worst. The camera placement did not correlate with the other shot selection that featured in the clip. My body place was also about a foot off where I should’ve been. I feel I should have shot the clip of me removing my jacket from the same position as the original wide shot. I think this would have worked with the clips overall continuity and would’ve been less random than the shot I chose. Despite the shot not really fitting in with the others shots in the sequence I feel I could’ve placed the camera a little bit higher so instead of it show the top of my pants it only showed my jacket, hands and head.
I think my last shot in the sequence is a great example of someone who didn’t make an ordered list shots. I feel if I spent a little bit more time working out what to shoot at each camera position I would’ve been able to create the same dirty POV camera position as the the initial POV shot used in the sequence. Despite this lack of continuity I was still happy with this shot it worked well with the shots before it. I also thought that despite showed my whole torso I thought the the high mid-shot still worked well in making in depicted the sequence.
Overall I thought that this attempt at action sequence was much better then my original video, but after examining my shots whilst writing this post, I feel that I could again do a lot better. I think that I need to focus a lot more now on continuity, camera position and general organisation. Which are just a crucial as camera position and length of shots.
RULE OF THIRDS
After making my second version of the action sequence I decided to apply the rule of thirds to some of my shots to see if they were composed correctly.
Looking at this shot I feel that I could’ve positioned the camera a little higher, so eyes would be a little closer to the centre of the frame. I also feel like I should’ve made this shot a little wider to include the coat hanger. If the coat hanger was where the bike helmet is in the this frame I feel it could’ve been way more effective.
I am way happier with this shot to finish my sequence. Despite me outlining the lack of continuity with this particular frame I still think that it was framed quite well. My face is positioned well in the frame and the coat hanger being right in the middle of the picture also adds good emphasis on the action and importance of object.