During class we completed a ‘three shot’ exercise. We chose to take a series of three shots of a girl tying up her shoelaces – walking into the elevator – getting out of the elevator.

While undertaking this task we took well over three shots to capture this sequence, this served the purpose of having multiple options in post production when editing the sequence. We also chose to do this as a precaution for the unexpected issues that arise when bringing an idea into practice. These extra shots acted as fill in shots such in between shots e.g. as the elevator button being pushed and the level numbers on the elevator that go up.

When looking back on these in post production it begged the question as to how necessary these shots were. It did cover our bases in terms of the content needed and were great to have on hand but these shots are not going to be included in the final edits. It taps into what I was discussing in my post making meaning where I deconstructed the meaning behind a series of shots in a short film. Through this discovering that every shot taken needs to be motivated and contribute something to the premise. These ’fill in shots’ lacked motivation and meaning, it was clear that these shots served the purpose of meaning only if another shot had failed in some way.

In taking these shots it also allowed us to practice alternative ways of setting up a perfect frame and practice some of the skills we had learnt in our abstract exercise. I specifically focused on the skill of panning through following the subject to the elevator. After a practice run of panning, starting to pan too early and starting my pan too late I was able to perfectly time the shot and follow my subject as intended.

It’s clear that I need to further practice this skill of movement with the camera, but today was a good start.