Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demostrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.
Continuity Definition
www.dictionary.reference.com/browse./continuity
The state or quality of being continuous.
A continuous or connected whole.
A motion-picture scenario giving the complete action, scenes, etc., in detail and in the order in which they are to be shown on the screen.
The spoken part of a radio or television script that serves as introductory or transitional material on a nondramatic program.
Continuity Production Techniques
180degree rule
The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.
Match on action
Reference: David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction, Sixth Edition. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001).
A match on action, a technique used in film editing, is a cut that connects two different views of the same action at the same moment in the movement. By carefully matching the movement across the two shots, filmmakers make it seem that the motion continues uninterrupted. For a real match on action, the action should begin in the first shot and end in the second shot.
Shot reverse shot
Reference: Bordwell, David; Thompson, Kristin (2006). Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill
Shot reverse shot (or shot/countershot) is a film technique wherein one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.
Following this research, the information I found out about Shot reverse, Match on action, 180 degree rule helped me film the preliminary task because
Camera Movement
Framing
Shot sizes
Plot of Preliminary Script
The day after a party, at Emma's flat. Tom is asleep on the sofa after staying at her house, she comes and asks for his help with tidying up and when he refuses she threatens him with something he has done the night before, after denying it he then realises he has cheated on his girlfreind and Emma is right, the scene ends with Emma leaving and Tom getting angry.
Script
Shot List
Storyboard
Location Recce
Risk Assessment
Mise-en-scene
Lighting- We will only be using the natural sunlight that comes through the big window, so we will have to film in the morning, possibly on a sunny day. If it is too dark we’ll use a small lamp.
Make-up and hair- Messy hair and no make up, as both characters will just have woken up.
Costume- Because the scene is set early in the morning, EMMA will be wearing pyjamas and TOM will of slept in his clothes.
Props- Around the flat will messy so we’ll need beer bottles, wine bottles, takeaway packaging; pizza boxes and burger boxes, cigarette packets, lighters, bin liner, rubbish, a quilt cover.
Character Movement- At the beginning of the scene TOM has just woken up so he will be tired, EMMA is angry when she walks in but then at the end of the conversation TOM is frustrated.
Set design- The room will be a mess (Props) and TOM is asleep on the sofa. EMMA is sat on the other sofa and the rest of the furniture is as normal.
Evaluation
Evaluation
We edited the film and then watched it through to see what was good and what we could do better next time. We used the techniques, the 180 degree rule and shot-reverse-shot which worked well where we use them to show the conversation. However the technique we didn't use was match on action next time we will make sure we use this, it will probably be used in the middle of the conversation. The television sound in the background worked well as it was just the right volume and didn't over power the voices of the characters. We use natural lighting, so that made it easier as we didn't not need to turn on any lights or place them around the room, we use natural lighting as it was set in the morning. I think we worked well as a team as Charley and Toby who done the acting played their part well and Natalie and me who done the camera work, worked together to make sure we got the right shots of the characters and used the camera correctly also used the camera techniques. Things we could change in the film next time are, we could experiment with the lighting more as the only thing we used was natural lighting and didn't use any thing else so we didn't know if natural lighting was the best type for our film, if we was to film again and the only time we could film it was in the evening in the dark we would have to use different lighting and see what was best for the type of light we needed so we would need to find a light that looks like it was being filmed in the morning. Also we could film it in a bigger room so we have more space for camera movement and for the actors to move around in. The thing i thought worked well was the props that we set out as they were relevant to our story line and also were placed in the right place making sure they didn't get in the way of acting or when moving the camera around. Another thing we could change was as we done a extreme close up of one of the character their head moved out of the frame a bit, so next time we need to make sure we keep within the frame. This was a good experience as its good to try new things and it made us think about how to construct a film by ourselves with no help, and we worked well together as a team to put our film together.
At the start of the project i found the definitions of the Continuity Production Techniques, 180 degree rule, match-on-action and shot, reverse, shot. With these techniques we had to learn how to do them and find out how we could use them in our film. We had to look at our storyboard and see where we could use the techniques and if they would work in the sence we put them in. Overall i think where we use these techniques they work well and made the film flow well. Also we did not cross the line (180 degree rule).
Depth of field
