The moving camera provides a unique tool to filmmakers that no other visual artists possess. Yet it is one that most amateur filmmakers never use. And when they do try walking down the street to follow a subject, the results are usually less than impressive.

1 hour

If you have access to a video camera, try your hand at a meaningful or otherwise interesting tracking shot. (Simple follow shots don’t count.) If you have a wheelchair, skateboard, or skates, you can probably do a good job on this shot. Even if you don’t, modern motion-stabilizing electronics should allow you to walk the shot and get an acceptable level of quality.

If you don’t have a camera, try designing a "virtual" tracking shot on paper that you’d like to see.

1. If you have the technical savvy and the equipment, compress your movie to something less than 5 MB and upload it to the board. Describe your filming experience and tell us what you think of the end result.
2. If you don’t have the necessary software (or don’t have a camera), just describe what your shot looked like on paper.