The Ultimate Transition!

 We executed a transition that was very hard to label and that I'd seen in movies before. It's called a "wipe" transition, where one shot replaces another by moving from one side of the frame to another, usually on a horizontal plane. This kind of transition is usually pulled off in the post-production process, but we had a plan to make the transition look like it hadn't been edited.

Previously, we planned to use an axial cut for our film, where the camera would get closer to our character after something moved in front of it to cover the screen. This was the shot we'd planned to use originally, before all of the footage from that day of filming was scrapped.

Our director had the idea to use the same technique for the transition from one area to another, instead of having a fade transition (that our sound designer suggested). So, we used the axial technique so an object - in the case one of the pillars present in the plaza - covered our camera, and we could move to the other location to continue the shot.

The shot ended up mixing a lot of different techniques, from tracking to the axial technique, which I was very proud of and I learned a lot from. I had trouble in the beginning with maintaining the level of the camera to make everything look parallel, which is a problem I frequently have when filming tracking shots. I corrected myself quickly, however, as I remember I could use the tripod we had as a handle for the camera, so it remained level. I also had trouble in the first couple of our takes with keeping up with the pace the characters were walking (that was an issue in our last film, too), but I eventually got the hang of that as well.

These were just some of the failed takes

After everything, this is how the shot turned out, and I've got to say I'm very impressed with what we accomplished.