I shot my third and final experiment with a handheld camera to get more dynamic camera movements and more severe reframing effects. When trying to experiment with reframing on a tripod, you relay on actors moving exclusively on a certain plane. But when the camera becomes handheld, the range of movement possible for both camera operator and actors becomes far more dynamic. Ideally I’d be using some sort of steadicam device for this shot, but seeing as though it’s only an experiment, I think the focus is on the conception of the coverage rather than the steadiness of the shot.

And I am happy with the coverage. In my opinion, exercise three is the most interesting exploration of reframing I’ve done, and it has the most solid coverage. I’m particularly pleased with how I followed Luke to the wall after he got up from his chair. That move feels very fluid but also decisive to me. I’m also pleased with the first and last frames. I think I often struggle to find good places to start and end the shot, but in this particular scene it feels like suitable opening and closing frames. For a shot with so much movement of the actors required, I was worried that by the end of it their pacing around all over the place, back and forth, would look tired, but I think I chose appropriate camera movements to cover that movement without making it boring.

Of course, nothing’s ever perfect and in this case, there was no sound recorded for the shot. I’m actually entirely unsure how I managed to record without sound, because Matt was using the same camera on (I thought) the same settings as me and his shots turned out fine. But, it is what it is, and filmmaking is definitely what it is. Just one more thing to make sure of next time.