Independent Research 1 - Handheld Camera Movements

In our opening sequence, there will be an action scene (running scene), so it is important that we know how to use the handheld camera movement correctly. In addition, I also researched into how to do a shaky camera movement as we might need to use it to create more impact and tension during the chasing scene.

 

How to make the running scene more intense and effective in handheld camera movement?

 

1. When doing the handheld shoot, don’t do extra camera shake we can just lock in on the actor. We can try to follow the person’s movements and try to get a stable shot, it will move in a natural way still. If the camera moves shakes too much, it will make too distracting. When the camera moves as the actor’s movement, it allows the audience to be more immersed in her situation and emotions which will create a better impact. 

2.  When shooting the running scene, we can use camera movements to control the speed. For example, we can include lots of foreground objects such as trees or cars. They can swipe across the camera quickly, giving the viewer the illusion that she's running faster. Because running very fast in several times will be painful and also a very high speed is not very safety. In addition, another way to make the actor running faster is to control her position in the frame. So we can put the actor in one side of the frame and while she is running, we can slowly adjust the framing to another side. This simple movement can make the audience feel that the actor is running faster and faster that the camera can’t keep up with the action. We can also use this method to show that the bad guy is about to catch up with the girl. The camera follows the actor from behind and by the time she is keep running, make the camera closer to her. This creates more pressure and tension. 

3.  Change the focal length of lens while shooting. When we zoom in or shoot really close to the actor, it gives the audience more pressure and can show more emotion. Moreover, if we cut a long focal length to a short focal length, it gives an impact that the actor is moving closer to them.

4.  Change the shutter speed. Because we are filming an action scene, we need to make the fast movements clearer and more realistic. We can do it by changing a faster shutter speed. This can create more intense atmosphere for the audience.

5.  The last method is to make the shot closer after each cut. So for example, we can shot the wide shot first and then mid shot and cut to close up. This simple trick can build the tension of scared and nervous.

 How to do shaky camera movement correctly?

    The shaky camera technique can condensed effect of the movements, it is really effective and creates a sense of instability. However, if we do the shaky camera all over the action scene, it will becomes very poor standard as it can’t show clear what has happened and it will make the audience confused. The most important rule is to combine a stable tracking shot and the shaky shot. The contrast between the two movements can create tension.

In the ’28 weeks later’, they use a stable tracking shot for the protagonist but a shaky shot for the zombies which emphasise the dangerous atmosphere and shows how crazy and fast the zombies are. For our opening sequence, we can start with a tracking shot of the girl but as the motorcycle gets louder and closer, the girl's movements may become more jittery and nervous. Here we can use a little shaky camera movement to increase the audience's sense of fear and tension. But we must remember to use the shaky camera sparingly.