Good tool for matching action between two clips.
You will create and film a scene about a character who is walking along when they notice that their shoelace is untied. They give a sign of frustration, kneel down, tie their shoe and then continue walking.
You will work as a group up until the editing process. Each member of the group will edit the video and add their touch to it. (music, sound effects, titles, end credits, editing style, etc.)
The purpose is to develop an understanding of how to block and shoot a simple scene.
This exercise demonstrates important filmmaking concepts, including:
Establishing shots: Used at the beginning of a scene to let the audience know where the action is about to occur.
Shot size: Even a simple story like this requires the use of different shot sizes to clearly convey the story.
Action/Cut calls: Press record, count to 3 then call Action (pre-roll) - Press stop, count to 3 then call Cut (post-roll)
It's important to make sure that your actors don’t break character or look at the camera until you call, “CUT!”
Marks: This indicates where actors need to stand for particular shots, usually done with tape.
Coverage: When you’re shooting a scene like this, it’s important to get plenty of coverage (shot sizes) of the scene so that you have the maximum amount of freedom when you’re cutting it together.
Continuity Editing. Continuity editing, or matching on action, is one of the most important lessons you can learn. When you film something from two shot sizes or angles, recreating the performance of the actor both times, you will be able to cut seamlessly from one shot to the other as the actor performs a particular action. Cutting on action creates a seamless bridge between two shots that your audience won’t notice. The motion will flow smoothly from one shot to the next. When shooting action from different angles, it’s important to make sure that the actors recreate their performances precisely. If your actor is standing in the wrong place, or has a different expression on their face, cutting between two different shots will create jarring lapses in continuity.
Designate a camera operator, a director, and someone who will "act" in the scenes. These roles can change during filming.
Use Framing and Composition techniques in all your shots (Rule of Thirds, headroom, and lead room)
Use a tripod for steady shots or handhold the camera.
Press record, count to 3 then call Action. (pre-roll)
Press stop, count to 3 then call Cut. (post-roll)
Download the video files from Drive, unzip them, and place them in your Download or Video folder.
Create a New Project, give it a name, and set the location to your video files folder.
Your movie should have a title at the beginning and credits at the end.
Your finished movie must be exported and uploaded to your ASM Hapara Folder and then inserted into your website.
Click on the wrench icon
Uncheck Composite Preview During Trim
Notes: Capturing establishing shots is an important part of shooting a scene.
Establishing shots are used at the beginning of a scene to let the audience know where the action is about to occur.
They are also an important way of letting the audience know that you’ve moved to a different time or place.
Shoot a five to ten-second EWS or WS of a place that gives your audience a sense of the location you’re shooting in. Although we won’t use ten seconds of footage for an establishing shot, it’s always better to shoot more just in case.
Notes: This is your master shot which features all of the action that occurs in the scene.
When you set up other shots, such as a close up of your character, it’s important that you direct the actors to match their performance from your master shot as closely as possible. This will allow you to cut the scene together seamlessly later on, cutting at the precise moment your actor performs a particular action.
In this shot, the character walks into frame, notices that their shoelace is untied, gives a sigh of frustration as they look at it, kneel down and tie up their shoe, stand and walk out of frame.
Notes: Here we’re going in for a close up to show the frustration on our character’s face. It’s important when you’re filming this to match the performance from the master shot precisely.
In this shot, your character walks towards the camera, stops in a close up, looks down at their shoe for a second or two, gives a sigh of frustration, then kneels out of shot.
When you’re filming this, it is useful to put down a mark to indicate where your actor should stop walking, so you can precisely match the action from the previous take and your actor knows when they have reached the close up.
Notes: In this shot, we’re going to film a POV shot showing the untied shoes. Rather than using the tripod for this shot, it’s probably best to get your actor to simply hold the camera, pointing down at their untied shoes.
If you film the shot from another angle, the audience won’t perceive this as a point of view shot.
When you are filming this, ensure you keep the camera steady and film for at least five seconds, this should give you plenty of footage for a nice insert.
Notes: In this shot, the actor will start standing up and when you call action, they will kneel down and tie their untied shoe lace.
When they’re done, they will stand up again. To get this shot, you will need to get the camera low to the ground by collapsing your tripod all the way or removing the camera entirely and placing it on the ground.
This is one of those moments where you want to show the action clearly for the audience.
Notes: In this shot, we’re going to film another take of the shoe being tied from a different angle. The actor should start standing up and, after you call action, they kneel, tie up their untied shoe lace and stand again.
When we cut this scene together, we’ll cut from Shot 5 to Shot 6 at the precise moment the character ties the first knot. Matching the action between shots like this creates a seamless bridge. Audiences are so used to this style of continuity editing that they don’t even notice you’ve changed angle or shot size.
Notes: In this final pick-up, we’re going to get some coverage of the actor concentrating while they tie their shoe.
It’s important to create a connection between your character and the audience. This can be achieved using close-ups of the actor’s expression.
Once again, film the entire action. Your actor should start standing up, kneel to tie their shoe and stand up again. As the character is standing, we’ll cut back to our original master shot.
Notes: The final shot in your sequence is the final part of your master shot.
It begins as your character starts to stand, matching the action with the previous shot. The character walks out of frame.
Hopefully you filmed for a few more seconds so you can fade to black!