Continuity Editing

This (continuity editing), is making sure that the piece of film runs smoothly and it looks natural. -There is no gaps in between shots and it makes the piece of film, "seamless". We had to include eyeline match: a shot of someone looking at something off screen, then shot of object that the person is looking at. 180 degree rule: if you are filming a conversation between two people, there is almost a line going through the two people and the camera can't go to the other side of that line (or 180 degrees) unless the camera pans around... Match on action: if there is a shot of someone drinking a half full glass of water, the next shot must show the glass as half full (or as it was at the end of the last shot) and in the same position as it was at the end of the last shot. Shot reverse shot: this is when you are filming a conversation between two people and you switch looking between the two people.

Pictures of where we shot our opening sequence.

The first pic is where I filmed the character playing a video game.

The next is where the friends walked down and the camera pans from a shot of some grafiti.

The next pic is where the friends are walking down together, going to school.

The next and the last pic is where we filmed the dead character (Scott).

Tast Set

In Our group we were asked to create a short film and were given things we had to add in. We were asked to film somebody walking through a door, sitting down in a chair and having a conversation with someone else. However we had to add in many shots and shot types to make this more effective. Also each shot had to flow into another shot to show continuity editing.

Through what I have done now, this has set me up very well in ensuring that my opening sequence will have good continuity.

Planning the sequence

I found it quite easy to include continuity editing into the plan. It only took a long time. I also just DID follow the rules, they were not that hard to follow for the continuity editing. The equipment i used was just a storyboard with a pencil, (drawing out the sequence and writing the sound that would be in it and the shot types and angles). I thought of a person running through a door, down a corridor, into a room, pushing someone in a seat, shouting at them that they set him up, then the person that was running getting killed.

Filming

I found it quite easy to include continuity editing into the short film clip. The only thing was, that it took, and still is taking a long time to make sure that every shot flows as smoothly as possible from the shot before it. It just takes a long time to edit the whole short film clip. I made sure that everything from the previous shot is in exactly the same place in the next one. i made sure that the end of one shot slightly overlaps the start of the next shot. (So if there is a shot of someone running down a corridor and then at the END of the shot, he/she bursts through a door into a room, the next shot STARTS with the person when they just about get to the door to burst through) -so that i have a few seconds to play around with the editing to get the best "natural" cut to the next shot. I just used one camera with possibly a tripod for this. This was located in a corridor and a dark room that will have the lights switched on. We filmed it in order of the storyboard.

My preliminary task

Evaluation

I think that the filmming and planning of the clip was very easy and was made well. I could have either edited the film better or reshot a few shots as sometimes, the props and the person are a couple of centimetres in a different place and sometimes, slightly in a different position. I understood all parts of the continuity editing that we had to include in the clip.

What I learnt and did last lesson.

I learnt about a new brief. This said: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of 2 minutes.
We also got a mark scheme which i am aiming for excelent (Level 4). It is split into 3 sections:

1) Research and planning:
Excelent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
Excelent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
Excelent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
Excelent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning.
Excelent time management.2)

2) Practical work (Video):
(Everything excelent):
Holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
using a variet of shot distances as appropriate;
shooting material appropriate to the task set;
selecting mise-en-scene including collour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
using titles appropriately.

3) Evaluation:
Questions:
-In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
-How does your media product represent particular social groups?
-What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
-Who woulld be the audience of your media product?
-How did you attract/address your audience?
-What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
-Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I learnt, also, the conventions of a thriller film. these could be:
-nightmare
-tension
-shock
-suspense
-eerie music
-scream sound effect
-dark
-mist/fog
-possiblle fight/chase scenes
-violence
-complicated storyline/twist
-unexpected events
-makes you jump
-crime
-police
-sophisticated/clever characters.

I also learnt some of the differences of Horror and Thriller. these are:
-thrillerrs make audience work harder
-thrillers make you think about what is happening
-thrillers are more sophisticated and are aimed at a higher age group audience than horror.

Kiss Me Deadly

This has close ups of someone's legs, running. The music is also quite strange and dramatic. This is very dark and it makes you feel uncomfortable. These make this a good thriller opening sequence but it also has many mid shots which are often not used.

Se7en title sequence

I watched this opening sequence and had my inspiration by the small flashes of light here and there.

Opening sequence to Brick

Brick fits into the thriller genre by having:
- Many close-up shots to make you think about what has happened, where the place is, who are the people... We see many close ups of things like the girl's arms with the wrist bands, the man's shoes- which we see later on in the sequence and then for a fact, know that that man is the same man as before.
- There is a slightly reversed storyline, where you see the girl dead, then walking in the next scene.
- We are given little clues about small things and not given the whole story to start off with. For example, we see the dead girl's arm with the wrist bands on, then we see, what we think, is the same girl walking in the building as we see her arm with the same wrist bands on.
- We are asking different questions like who is the girl? Why is she dead and in this place? What has happened?
- We know that there is a link between the girl and the man as we see the girl put a note in his locker.

Most of these things are in all thriller films and so this shows that Brick is a certain thriller.

Brick's opening sequence

We know that this is an opening sequence because it has many close ups which do not show all of what is going on. Also, it is quite confusing, as an opening sequence only really "opens" the film up to make you sit down and watch the rest. We also know that it is an opening sequence (of a thriller) as it shows the last part, first. (A dead girl lying in a waterway, then going back to when she was alive, giving a note that sais the place name of where to meet her, to a boy).

Main shots

Main shots

Thriller opening sequence work

Shot list (rough):
1) Close up of face (dead boy)(looking down)
2) Close-mid shot of body of dead boy (on floor sideways)
3) Close up of blood (down)
4) Close up of gun, blooded at tip (diagonal down)
5) Close up of his phone vibrating and ringing on the ground (same)
6) Extreme close up of phone screen showing caller's name
7) Mid (mid angle) shot of 2 boys with phone, calling boy
8) Close up of one boy's face looking at phone (straight)
9) Close up of phone/screen and answerphone heard (down)
10)Mid shot of boy talking to toher boy )short reverse shot
11)Mid shot of other boy talking to other boy ) (over shoulder)
12)Mid shot of boy talking to other son )
13)Mid/long shot of the boys walking away to find friend who they first called, hearing them saying things about him (eye level shot)
14)Long shot of field in eyes of 1/2 of the boys
15)Long shot from behind dead boy looking at friends coming.

MAIN POINTS:

1)See dead boy -close ups (mid shots
2)See phone - extreme close up/close ups
3)See friends calling him - mid/close ups
4)See them walking to find him - Mid/long shots
5)See them calling for friend, knowing he was going to be somewhere there, and finding him.

SECTION 1

- Close ups of speckles of blood (looking down) moving up
- Close up of bloody-tipped gun (looking sideways) moving down
- Close up of dead boy's face (looking sideways on floor) moving up
- Close/mid shot of body - moving down
- close/mid shot of body from side in blood - moving sideways

SECTION 2

- Mid shot seeing phone in pocket - no movement
- Mid/close up of pocket and ground with phone virbrating and falling out of pocket to floor (phone now facing up and ringing now heard) - slow motion
- Extreme close up of phone screen showing name of caller with blood on screen, then it goes to answerphone - no movement
- Close up of phone coming away from one friends ear, shoving other friend to the right - no movement
- Extreme close up of phone screen and friend ending the call. Movement as in eyes of friend
SECTION 3

- Mid shot moving round from shoulder of friend that didn't call, looking at other friend then down at phone in his hand - curves round and then down
- Mid shot of other boy talking to boy with phone - no movement
- Mid shot of other boy talking to boy with phone - no movement (shot, reverse, shot)

SECTION 4

- Mid shot of 2 boys from the side, panning left, following them as they start to walk forward - left move
- Long shot looking from behind them, showing them walking (we hear them talk badly to each other about him - "Never answers the phone, hasn't been anywhere ....")
- Mid shot of path behind wall, seeing them come around the corner.
- Close up of blood still dripping from dead boy

SECTION 5

- Long shot of filed in the eyes of one of the 2 boys - left and right
- Mid shot of 2 boys talking to each other about where he might be
- Close up of a friend's face, ("He has been acting kinda wierd, he normally gets here about this time.")
- Close up of other frind from behind other shoulder saying, ("Innit, where the hell is he?")
- Long shot from behind dead boy, showing the 2 friends spotting him (start off as close up, zooming out/moving back, so we can see dead boy in in foreground and friends in background)


Either section 1 or the whole of the opening sequence shows the opening credits

Thriller Story

Title: Behind it All

Plot Synopsis:

There is a group of three friends. One of the friends, Scott Gregory seems to be behind the other two, (Norman Allen and Brandon Feonix). He seems to be the 'tag-along' of the group. Norman and Brandon lead quite good lives. both have a fair bit of money, both have girlfriends, they live in a slightly higher class area and they don't do very much at home as they both have a mother and a father there if they need them. Scott has only one person at home, his mother, as his father died shortly after he left his old school (which was not a very good school) to go to a better school in Sutton. As his friends keep on bragging about what they have and how well they're getting on in their school, Scott gets very angry about this and tries to keep his anger to himself. His friends, however, keep on going on about their fantastic lives and Scott just goes along with everything they are saying. Norman or Brandon might say what they have done recently. For example, going to places like the 02 or even just up to Croydon. Scott just answers them by saying "Oh, yeah. Yeah, its good there". -Even when he has never been to any of the places brought up by his friends. His friends say things like "Oh, my dad got me this I-phone for my birthday. You can do like, bare things with it, you know!". Scott would just answer, "Oh, yeah, my mum got me toast earlier" (or something along those lines). Eventually, Scott gets too frustrated and, really, looses it. He gets his hand on a gun, planning to kill his friends and hopefully take some of their things. He then saw how happy they were with everything and decided to turn the gun on himself.

How 6th sense is a thriller

1) Darkness throughout. We first see complete darkness, then a lightbulb glowing slowly on. We also see a dull screen when the light is fully on as it is not a strong light. There is also a door which goes into a very dark room and is slightly ajar. This is meant to make us feel uneasy/ frightened as we are waiting for something to come out of the dark.

2) Eerie music is played. At the start, before we see the light bulb glow and light up, there is a strange piece of music played. This makes us uncomfortable but sits us down ready to watch it, waiting for something to happen.

3) Never a full shot of the room. We never see the cellar in a whole, throughout the opening sequence. It is mainly close/ mid sshots of it. This is done so that we are unsure about what the whole place looks like. It makes us want to see what is around the room so we feel better about the situation.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I have learnt that there is a lot of work in the research for making a new film. I have also learnt about more of the affects you can use and how to upload music or sounds from another source. Also, i have learnt that keeping the camera still is very important for certain shots that need that feeling of calmness.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learned that it is quite easy to film a few scenes and cut them and move them into the order you want in the film. I also found that adding the different effects onto parts of the film is easy and quick to do, for example the peephole efect, that makes the screen have a circular boarder around it, and the earthquake effect that shakes the screen, but getting the right effect for the feel I wanted and getting the continuity in the filming and the editing is quite difficult. I found that Imovie is a quick and very easy way to make a good looking film. The cameras used were not brilliant but they did the job of filming and filming in the different light and weather conditions, along with the tripod for the stil shots.

How did you attract/ adress your audience?

I attracted my audience of mainly male tenagers by having a few flashing and black and white shots of a teenager/ teenagers in modern times, in their rooms, doing what any other tenager would be doing. The music starts off very eerie, which draws the audience in by that unsettling feeling and makes that certain audience interested in what is going to happen next. The music then calms down a bit later on, making the viewing a little more comfortable, and draws the audience into what's going on, visually, in the scene, so they can make some sort of sense of it all.

What would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my product would be teenagers, mainly male of most social backgrounds. Even more for the slightly lower class people and for most people that have religious beliefs. This is because the sequence, and film is about a male tenager, with his friends, or "friends" who has died because of constant pestering because of his class and background. The storyline will certainly get to the target audience as they would be of the same generation and would be able to associate with the characters and the actions the characters take and do.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Many institutions that make films, espcially thriller type films would distribute my product as my product is a thriller film (or opening of one). Also, a reason why would be that the film has most or all the conventions of a thriller and has the shots and action of quite a realistic movie opening. A specific example of an institution that would distribute my film would be spyglass as they already distribute thriller films.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product shows the lower, poorer class of people as being picked on or discriminated as they do not have the same things as many other, slightly richer people have. It also shows teenagers as a rude, not caring much social group. It shows some male teenagers like they are very casual in what they do and what they wear. It also puts across that the poorer teenager wants to be like the richer teenagers in how they act and what they do in every day life.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My product uses many realistic forms and conventions such as the shot types and the different effects used to create a certain atmosphere. (Close ups, black and white...). Also, it uses a soundtrack throughout most of the opening composed by myself, which real media products use and it gives the sense of being very authentic.

My Film Editing continued

I have now made a 'peephole' where all of the flashbacks with the friends walking are. This now fits my shot list and storyboard even more. I have also changed a title so that it is correct.

My Film Editing

I have now taken out most of the transitions and only kept the transitions in where there is no speech/ little sound. I have also added different visual effects, such as "Earthquake", on the titles and some of the black and white scenes (which are flashbacks). I have also added a soft focus effect so that you can just see the flashbacks, as if it were a memory.

My Film

I have edited the film even more now. I have added black and white to some of the shots and put some transitions in, which fade the shot in and out. However, putting some of the fade transitions in make some of the audio repeat for about 1/2 to 1 second so I will need to look at that and put that right.

What has been filmed so far

We have finished the whole piece of film. We shot everything many times so that there will definitely be something that is perfect to go to the next shot while editing. I have also started editing and more or less finished the cutting and making the whole thing look smooth and natural. Most of the filming was very good except for some shots where the camera is either shaking, or on a tilt which I don't want. This was okay as we shot a few of those same shots and at least one of them would be good.

Shooting updated

I have now filmed the shot of me on my XBOX and TV (which shows a part of Brandon's wealth as he has these things but Scott does not). I filmed it three times as two of the times, I was in the wrong position in the screen. The last time I filmed it, I was in the correcct position, (to the right of the screen), and each time, I shot them a few seconds longer so as to get the best edit later.

What i got done today

We managed to film about 5 or 6 shots that we could only do with all three of us. We filmed each shot many times so we had a lot of chances to make the editing perfect. We need, however, to re-shoot some shots as the continuity is quite a bit off in a certain part. Paul from our group is filming his room today (Tuesday) and is of him on his laptop and phone...

My Thriller Opening Sequence

Double Indemnity

The opening sequence has a few close ups and the overall look is very dark. It has strange, possibly eerie music and the main person in the dark jacket, we do not see well so that makes us ask questions about him. (Who is he). There is also a quick car chase type of thing going on in the first part. This makes this a good opening sequence for a thriller film.