Continuity Task

James Fitch

The Task

• The task involves 2 characters, one character will open the door towards the other character and the 2 will exchange some dialogue between each other, the task should demonstrate match on action, shot reverse shot, and the 180 degree rule

Rules To Remember

• The 180 degree rule is a rule used in film making, it states that in the same scene the camera would stay on the same side the whole seen, like the diagram

• Shot Reverse Shot – it’s a technique where the camera focus’ on a different person each time they speak, giving the illusion the character is talking into or just beyond the camera

• Match on Action – Showing continuity between shots, for instance if a man in opening a door in one scene in the next they will be opening the door in the next scene.

180 Degree Rule

• As explained in the first slide, the 180 degree rule, dictates where the camera man can stand when filming for the purpose of continuity, the scene looks unprofessional if one shot Is shot from the left side of a person and then the next shot is on the right side of the person

180 Degree Rule ExamplesAs you can see these are all shot on the same side in this scene, the shot at the bottom left shows the audience what side the shot will be on, and although it is not first evident to the audience that it’s the same side as the first show, you subtly notice it.

Match On Action

• As previous explained the match on action is showing action continuous throughout two shots in a scene, again to show continuity

Match On Action

Examples

This shows how in one scene the women is pushing a scrabble board and in the other she is also pushing the scrabble board

Shot Reverse Shot

• The shot reverse shot allows the audience to see the face of the person speaking in a conversation, this not only shows the reader the facial expression of the person talking, this also makes the audience feel as if the character was addressing them.

Shot Reverse Shot Examples

You can see in these shots that Shot Reverse shot allows the audience to see the persons facial expressions when they are talking, it also at points makes it feel as if they’re addressing the audience to get them more involved.

Our Idea

• Our idea was to do the famous ‘Nativity’ with a modern twist, we had myself playing one of the wise men, and Dec playing another wise man, Dec is searching for me, and eventually finds me, he tells me the news that the Baby Jesus has been born, he then phones the 3rd wise man to inform him too, I tell him I am going to get my things, and bid him farewell

Dec receives a phone call from ‘God’ the audience are unsure of what was said, but Dec puts the phone down and runs down the stairs, while tension building music plays

Dec runs past here while the tension building music is still playing

Still running, just a change of location, he storms through these doors and meets another wise man, in a room, where they discuss the birth of the baby Jesus, the dialogue is short and quick, then Dec gets on the phone to ‘Keith’ the 3rd wise man.

How each rule will be used

• The way we will stick to each rule is by having our cameraman Ewan to always stay on one side of us during filming therefore we will not cross the line and our work will still look professional

• We will stick to the shot reverse shot, by filming all of Dec’s lines, and then filming all of mine and editing them together to make them look good.

• We will stick to the match on action, but having a few shots of the door being opened to show that we understand the rule and having these shots in a scene

Dialogue

• Dec – You heard the news about the Baby Jesus being born?

• Me – Yeah!• Dec – We need to get down to Jerusalem now, you got

Mur?• Me – Yeah, you need to get Keith on the phone now!• (Dec calls Keith)• Dec – Yeah Keith, its me, look he’s been born, we need

to get to Jerusalem now!... Yep…Yep…Yep…Yep…Alright got it, cya soon.

Photographs

Actors, Props, Costume

• Actors – Me – Wearing, a Grey/blue Blazer with a blue round neck cable jumper, white shit, with black dots on it, and a burgandy tie with dots on it. Black trousers and black shoes, looking presentable, and gorgeous.

• Dec – Christmas Jumper, Black Trousers, Black Shoes

• No need for any props or any other costume

Filming Log

• First day of filming went well, it appeared we all the shots done with enough time to take pictures of location, etc, we then took our work back looked at it, and I decided it wasn’t quite good enough, I personally felt we could of done some more work to make it better, so the next day we went out and re shot our work, yet again I felt we were lacking something, I felt that we had a little more to give, I didn’t want to settle for a poorly shot piece of media.

Filming log, continued

• I decided we should re shoot 1 or 2 scenes, to improve our work, it was okay, but wasn’t quite there, I decided that when we re filmed this time, I would direct correctly, in order to get everyone to do the correct thing, otherwise I knew it would not work correctly.