Pace & Balance – Camcorders

On 10.09.09, In Video & Photography, by me

Pace and balance in video work are hard to define precisely. They imply a pleasing flow of images, with no sequence being unduly longer than any other. Pace and balance are also achieved by contrasting sequences perhaps by following an introspective moment with frenetic activity and by gradually increasing the tempo. But there are no hard and fast rules for achieving this aim. You have to develop a feeling for it, as when getting the balance right in composing a single shot.

As you are filming, remember this important need for pace and balance (it helps if you look at the scene in the viewfinder as if it were unfolding on a television screen).

Obviously, if you are going to edit the tape, you will be able to fine-tune the pace of your sequences at this later stage. But even if you are limited to in camera editing, you can still achieve balance by thinking about the length and content of your sequences beforehand. (A useful tip is to write down the intended duration of each sequence to be covered.)

Let’s consider the example of a day’s outing to a nearby town. The coverage will include scenes of the family at the local market, a sequence on the beach, the afternoon meal, and places of local interest. A shooting plan would allocate three minutes to the market, five to the beach, and a minute each to the meal and local scenes.

Or maybe you shot some people on the beach that seems highly relaxed. That does not mean you can stop thinking about your techniques. The shots of a young child engrossed in playing on the sand can give a pleasing change of pace from the faster action of a football game.

Don’t forget that there must be a sense of pace and balance within each individual sequence, as well as between sequences.

Also, avoid the temptation to install pace into sequences by changes of camera angle and by moving from long-shot to close-up and viceversa, particularly if the action you are recording is relatively commonplace. As has already been stressed, too much intrusive camera action is distracting for the viewer.

And finally, ensure that within sequences shots are of equal pace. So, for instance, you should never cut from a fast long-shot pan of a scene to a slow pan of an individual walking in close-up: the difference in pace will merely confuse the viewer.