Match On Action

Match on Action

Match on action, also known as cutting on action is an edit technique. it goes from one shot to another which portrays the action in the first shot.
This creates continuity which draws the viewers away from any cutting.
The continuity gives the shots a flow rather than cutting from one to the other.

Below is a video we created which demonstrates match on action.

Evaluation of demonstration

To demonstrate Match On Action we filmed Mary Thompson walking through a door into the common room and then sitting down on the sofa.

We decided to position one of the cameras far back from the door and another facing the door from the inside of the room to film her walking inside.
We chose to keep it far back so when she walked into the room the audience would not see a camera behind her.  This meant we filmed her from a side angle rather than behind her.
We then imported the footage from both cameras onto iMOVIE.
I then edited the footage from each camera separately so it flowed from one shot to the other, creating continuity.
When editing I chose to slow down the footage so that i could clearly see when she walked in the door making sure it flowed when it cut from her walking inside to opening the door.
A more challenging part of the activity was getting the balance perfect on the tripod when filming. This involved adjusting the tripod which took a while to perfect.
Although we were able to create continuity, when Mary walked inside the room she looked at the camera and was smiling. We now know that when filming again that the actor should not acknowledge the camera.