Our group was given the task of shooting two very different scenes. They were almost as different as it was possible for them to be. One was a single take, with three characters and a camera moving fluidly and continuously throughout, and the other was a scene with lots of different angles and shots, with little movement apart from a few very deliberate actions.

I directed the scene from Kurosawa’s High and Low. I actually intended to try the other one, as the style of the scene is similar to pieces I’ve shot in the past and I wanted to try making something different, but someone else claimed the other one before me. Because I have experience shooting long takes with camera and actor movement, I actually found my experience as an actor on the other piece more revealing.

Particularly interesting was how Ryan dealt with the challenge of collecting a large number of shots in a relatively short time. He directed the scene well in that he chose to shoot each individual shot in a sequence that made sense, moving the camera as little as possible in between shots. My instinct in shooting scenes tends to be making them sequentially, and despite being told to shoot scenes in a logical order, I always forget. Seeing it in action was very helpful and going forward, when I’m pressed for time and need to gather a bunch of shots, I’ll look back to this experience.