Film the location where your character is walking (hallway, courtyard, street). Capture 10 seconds so you can choose the best section in editing. This sets the scene and shows where the story is taking place.

Character walks through the scene, scanning the environment. Keep rolling for the full walk so you can intercut inserts later. This establishes the character’s pace, posture, and baseline emotion.

Close up of the character’s face while walking. Show their anticipation or mood. Match the Master Shot performance to make editing seamless between shots.

The character’s phone vibrates or pings. They stop, pull out the phone, and react.
Student Choice: decide what type of notification appears (e.g., blocked, liked photo, group chat, unexpected message) and how the character’s body language changes (slump, freeze, smile, frown)

Close up of the character’s face as they read the notification. Show initial emotion clearly (shock, worry, happiness, relief).

Student Choice: your performance should reflect the notification you chose in Shot 4.

Close up of the phone in hand, showing the notification. Use a tripod or table to keep it steady.
Student Choice: ensure the phone clearly displays your chosen notification for the audience.

We cut back to a close-up of our character as they look up from their phone after reading a notification. They look around, still unsure where to go. They glance back at the phone and then put it away. This shot helps avoid continuity issues between the POV and the next wide shot. Focus on capturing their anxious expression.

Character glances around for a friend, teacher, or exit. Start and end with a clean frame. This demonstrates how environment can influence emotional storytelling.

This is a bridging shot of clouds in the sky. Film around thirty seconds and speed it up in post to show time passing. Avoid having people in the frame.

This is the master shot of Scene 2. The character arrives, checks their phone to confirm the location, looks at the room number or door, sighs with relief and walks inside. Keep recording until the door closes, then hold for a few extra seconds for a fade to black.

This close-up focuses on the character’s reaction to arriving on time. Direct them to walk into frame, glance at their phone, sigh with relief, and walk out of frame. Capturing the full action gives more flexibility in the edit.

We cut back to the master as the character finishes sighing, puts their phone away and walks towards the door. As they reach for the handle, we cut to the next insert.

This is a close-up of the character opening the door and walking through. Film the entire action from start to finish to demonstrate cutting on action and allow for clean edits.

Cut from the exterior shot of the door opening to this interior shot. If you cut when the door is in the same position, and the performance is matched, it should create a smooth transition. Film the full action — start with the character out of frame, have them walk into frame, sigh with relief, walk towards the door, open it and walk past the camera. This gives you maximum flexibility when editing the cut.

Character finishes their movement, adjusts to the environment, or shows final emotion. Fade to black to signify the scene’s end. Include subtle gestures or glances to emphasise emotional resolution.