How to shoot multiple camera angles with movement by yourself (& under pressure). Part1: Setup and Technique

What do you do when you know you will be in front of an awesome scene, you’re all alone, and you have little time to capture it? Here’s the catch . . you don’t just want to capture it, you want to knock it out of the park!

So one thing I make sure to do is to incorporate some nice movement with the use of my trusty slider. But those suckers take time to get in the perfect position. And then to get perfect framing and of course to get a nice smooth slide that you can actually use. While you are doing all of that you lose out on getting the many shots that you will need to put a nice edit together of this scene.

Besides that you also want to have some time to be free of most equipment and get the perfect angle you want without anything bulky getting in your way.

And time is ticking!

Watch this video and see how I tackle getting multiple camera angles, lots of beautiful movement, different focal lengths and whatever else I need to capture a scene as if a 3 man crew was filming.

Examples of different shots I was able to quickly get (many were with a slider move)

Screen shot 2014-05-22 at 6.27.30 PM

Screen shot 2014-05-22 at 6.27.53 PM

Screen shot 2014-05-22 at 6.28.06 PM

Screen shot 2014-05-22 at 6.28.29 PM

What tricks do you use to get amazing footage when under the gun?

Would you have approached this scene differently?

  • manoj

    sir thanks for the tips

    • Aviv Vana

      You’re welcome Manoj!

  • As always, great material Aviv! Hadn’t thought to use a ballhead but that’s so much more dynamic..! I have that monopod and it’s magical.. Really impressive shots you got with a run and gun style.. beautiful! Thanks for sharing..

  • coachaviv

    Thanks Yosef! The ball head on the tripod and the one the camera sits on are essential. Happy shooting!

  • Louise

    Hi Aviv,

    what about the sound – did you record one whole track before or after you whizzed around getting the moves?

    • coachaviv

      Great Question! The first slider take I simply moved back and forth for the duration of the entire song. He played the song a few more times and that is when I began to move around. If I had only one take to do it then I would make sure to get a wide shot of the beginning and end and, while not stopping the recording, I would move around with the slider making sure to get shots where you don’t see his fingers all the time so that I can use that in the edit anywhere I want. Remember, the edit does not have to be the full song, but rather 30-60 seconds is plenty to have an enjoyable scene. So you can splice the music up and make it work in the edit with the close ups of things that are not his hands. Plus often you can show the fingers playing even though it doesn’t match the music perfectly and it goes unnoticed 🙂

    • Aviv Vana

      Hi Louise,

      Check out the follow up post which answer your questions: https://bigleaguefilmschool.com/angles-movement-alone-part2/

  • Wayne

    Great to see – opens a lot of ideas and opportunities.

    • Aviv Vana

      Thanks Wayne!

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  • MANO

    What is the name of the guy playing the guitar- loved his musc much.

    • Aviv Vana

      His name is Shir Nash

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  • Hi Aviv, thanks for the video. What kind of tripod are you using in the video? I am considering to buy a tripod with a ballhead and a fluid head that can hold my slider. It would give me tons of new possibilites. But it is hard to find suitable tripods that have a maximum price of, let’s say $800,00.

  • Chris Q

    hi Aviv,

    i’m confused. there are a couple of details that it feels like they were just glossed over in this

  • Victor Teixeira

    Great tutorial. From Portugal, thank you 😉

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  • Great Angles!