Following the Action

Following the Action

This is a technique which captures every movement of a character when they are moving from location to location. These techniques are often used in action films where fight scenes are more likely occur often.

Usually there is more than one camera filming the actions in each location.

This will then provide the editor with a variety of footage to choose from when the entire sequence is put together.

At editing stage, the editor will switch between camera angles depending on what the character is doing and what coverage the director and editor decide best advances the narrative, making the scene more believable to the audience.

The effect of varying distances and angles will bring shape, texture and depth to the scene rather than using just one shot.

The editor uses action matches to preserve continuity, making cuts invisible, and the audience gets a multi-faceted perspective on events which engages them in the action.

In this extract from Kill Bill, the high angle gives the audience the opportunity to see who is surrounding her and how many people, again when the main character raises her sword the audience sees that she is surrounded. In this fight scene there are mainly wide camera shots, progressing into close ups, to show destruction and weapon use on a number of people at the same time as well as showing each of their injuries.