Test Shots - Hand Held Technique

In preparation for the creation of my music video I felt that practising the hand held camera technique was necessary as if it is not carried out correctly then it will look very bad. For this reason, I arranged for my friend who will be playing the protagonist in my video to come round to my house so that I could practise at filming certain shots used in my video. Some shots worked much better than others such as the tracing shots whereas the high angle shot looked very clumsy when it zoomed in. I added songs to the video clips that are by Arctic Monkeys who I am using for my actual music video; this is to get a better idea of what effect the shots have.

 

• Upwards Pan Shot -
  This looks slightly wobbly and I don't think that using the hand held camera for this shot would complement my video in any way. I think to do this shot it would be steadier if I used a video camera attached to a tripod to ensure there is more balance during the filming of the shot.
• 
  High Angle and Zoom Shot -
  In my storyboard I planned to use this high angle shot in this particular location, I think that this works well as the high angle implies she is vulnerable which follows the narrative however it would look better if it was filmed further away. However, when I was filming I thought it might look interesting to encorporate a zoom into the shot, unfortunately this did not work as it was difficult to maintain a steady hand as I was filming whilst walking down some stairs. From this I have decided that I won't change the original shot desicion. 
• 
  Tracking Forwards -
  There are many tracking shots that I have planned to film in my video and I felt that the hand held technique could add a portrayal of confusion of my protagonist. I found that I had some slight height problems as my friend it taller than I am which caused some difficulty, in future I will use the tripod so that the shot is more steady and I am not cutting out any of the actor. I found the speed also quite hard to maintain and need to ensure that I don't get too close to the actor.
• 
  Tracking Backwards -
  I think that this was the most successful shot. Apart from the camera tilting downwards when I stepped backwards the shot maintained a medium shot and I followed the same pace as the actor.