Camera Movement Task

In the following video, I have carried out the task of using 3 different shot sizes to film a person walking into a space, sitting down, standing up, and leaving the space, using the knowledge that I had acquired prior to the task being set, involving that of panning and tilting. I used a medium long shot, a medium shot, and a close up and allowed myself 4 attempts for each shot.

When I first started, I didn't feel like I could get the anticipatory framing right as I was not yet familiar with Megan's movements. However, as I saw her move to and from the chair over and over, I began to replicate her movements in that of the camera.

I found that the medium long shot was easiest to film, because it was fairly simple to keep Megan within the frame, and I think, on most attempts, I left enough lead room and kept the framing about right for the medium long shot. There are some points in which I began tilting the camera upwards before Megan moved, however, I did not at any point cut her out of the frame. Overall, I think this set of shots was the most successful, although it could be criticised that I wasn't panning quickly enough to match Megan's walking pace.

Next, I completed four attempts whilst framing Megan in a medium shot. I feel that, by this time, I had familiarised myself with her movements, and that I was able to keep the amount of lead room more consistent than the previous four shots. I also think that I was able to use anticipatory framing a little better than before. However, as it was zoomed in more than last time, it was much easier to cut Megan out of the frame by moving too quickly or slowly. Compared to the medium long shots, they were a little trickier to carry out, although they became fairly simple once I had taken note of Megan's movements.

The close up shots were definitely the most difficult because there was so little space in the frame that it was hard to mimic the movements of Megan, as she moved so fast through the frame. This made it extremely easy to cut her out of the frame, and so I found it most difficult to keep a good, consistent amount of lead room. I found that the tilting was the hardest, and I was moving the camera up or down too much, cutting Megan out of the frame on every attempt that I did. Considering that this was the most difficult shot size to carry out, I think that my panning was significantly better than the tilting, yet it was still not as smooth as specified in the objective. Overall, it was not the easiest, although I feel that with more attempts, I would be able to achieve a better take,

To conclude, I feel that the closer the shot is to the moving object/person, the harder it is to follow their movements. This is reflected in my attempts at all three shot sizes. Despite my close up attempts not being as good as I'd hoped, I think that I now have a good idea of anticipatory framing and lead room, and this task was helpful in understanding camera movements, especially when I will come to film my social realism intro.