My name is David Burns
I am a professional videographer, editor and media production professor.
I have also been a judge for the past ten years for the
prestigious Emmy Awards in the United States.
In my years of judging the one thing that remains consistent among Emmy Awards winners
is the effective use of basic sequencing of visual clips
The sequence is the foundation of all video storytelling. Sequences
one, help the editor compress time and create an interesting peace in the story
two, sequences satisfy the viewer basic human need for context and detail and
three, sequences allow the storyteller to efficiently and effectively
reinforce the narrative elements in his or her video story
To incorporate sequences in your stories should a variety of wide, medium and tight shots
this helps move the viewer through a story while keeping the viewer's interest
by changing shots and shot angels. Here is how to do it
Sequencing helps compress time in a video
you can condense something that take several minutes, hours or days into a very brief time
Shoot a few establishing shots of the action to provide context
use medium shots from different angles to give the viewer a variety of perspectives
then, shoot about four times as many close up's as wide shots or medium shots
to produce the detail necessary to satisfy the viewer desire for detail
As its name imply, a close up shows a small portion of the larger scene
that means close ups help avoid continuity jumps in action
also known as jump cuts which confuse the viewer
Here is an example of a jump cut
You see can how it disrupts continuity and disorients the viewer
Another way to condense time and avoid jump cuts in your stories
is to make sure that people performing the action leave the screen
once a person leaves the frame you can show them again doing something else
or even show them in a different location without breaking continuity or creating jump cuts
Here is a suggestion
when shooting visual sequences avoid using camera movements like pants, tilts and zooms
Keep the camera still and let the action occur within the frame
Don't feel compelled to follow the action
remember it's ok to let the action leave and enter the frame
One reason to avoid camera movements is a camera movements
take time to present and they can disrupt the pacing of your story telling
once you take these shots to the edit room to assemble these visuals together
The best film makers, documentarians and news videographers utilize sequencing to tell stories
since you can make a video sequence as long or as short as you want
a series of ten shots oryou can tell the same story in two or three shots
video sequencing allows the editor tremendous latitude
We will talk about editing the visual sequence together in a different tutorial
but now you know the fundamentals of shooting a sequence of video shots.
Good luck and have fun.