Continuity Evaluation

The Encounter

For my groups movie, I used the 180 degree rule, rule of thirds, match on action and shot reverse shot to make the scenes look realistic and efficient. The scene had to consist of a character opening a door, crossing the room, and sitting down in a chair. The character is greeted with another character in which they exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. Myself and my group chose to do a thriller movie consisting of the three exercises to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of match on action, shot/reverse shot and 180 degree rule. Our aim was to create a suspense/interest through the setting and performance of our actors as well as the dialogue taking place. 

180 degree rule

With the 180 degree rule, we had to make sure the camera remained on the same side of the imaginary line which established the shot of the scene. If the 180 degree rule didn't exist then the characters looked like they changed positions. Example;

We used the rule where the two characters were having a conversation.

Match on Action

Another rule we had to accomplish was match on action. This technique conveys a cut in which two parallel actions mirrored in order to suggest the strong relationship between two shots. This particular technique fitted well in a scene where my group member, Jasmeet, was running into a room. This is an example of the scene…

  The technique here shows the character getting ready to open the door, and then in the second scene we see her entering the room.  

Rule of Thirds

The third technique we had to use was rule of thirds. Imaginary lines are formed dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. You place important elements of your composition where these lines intersect. Here is an example…

Throughout our piece, we used the rule of thirds to get a good perspective of an action. This scene where she is running, we made sure we used the rule of thirds to get a good action shot.

Shot Reverse Shot

The final technique we had to make sure we used was the shot reverse shot. A shot reverse shot is where 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. Here is an example of how we used the rule…

The shot reverse shot is being used where the two characters are conversing.

Overall, myself and my group made sure we used the four rules to makes a successful movie clip continually throughout the whole piece. The whole point of using the rules was to make sure the audience wouldn’t be baffled with the 180 degree rule, making sure our scenes were balanced when using rule of thirds, and having match on action and shot reverse shot to make the scenes look more convincing.

The first plan to make a good movie was to create a storyboard with my group, Jasmeet and Farhana, in which we thought carefully about to have a wise and precise scenario. The storyboard was to guide us with a certain outlook. It gave us a head start in how we wanted to break things down such as shots, camera movement, the lighting and costume. We also needed to make sure that we had continuity in the type of day, costume, appearance (glasses, accessories, hair), and of course, the location. Having three in a group was a positive as too many people can cause too much hassle. Filming the movie consisted of calm and good communication skills to get what we wanted as a group. Jasmeet was one of the characters (the one running), Farhana and I shared the camera and took roles in being a ‘director’. Once we filmed a scene, we would check back to see any mistakes and would give feedback as to how we could resolve the problem.

As a group, my thoughts during the making of the film were that we worked well as we worked hard and didn’t mess about. We kept to our deadlines meaning we was up to date and made sure we didn't waste time on not filming. Myself and my group shared many opinions meaning we wasn't afraid to contribute ideas which is a key thing when working in a group of people. If I had a choice in moving groups or staying, I would definitely stay with the group that I have as we all know we want the best outcome.

As our aim for creating a piece where it had to consist of a character opening a door, crossing the room, sitting down and is suddenly greeted by another character in which they exchange a couple lines of dialogue, we thought of making ours more entertaining and thriller-like by adding more action. We initially thought for our idea of someone chasing Jasmeet, but because we couldn't find someone to participate as that character, we decided to make it look like someone was still chasing her when in fact no one actually was. The main story of our film is that Jasmeet feels a presence as if someones chasing her so she runs away to find a safe place. The location of the first scenes that were outside, we wanted to make sure looked gloomy which in this case was as there were grey skies to imply there was something mysterious going on. Her clothing throughout was casual to give it a realistic, everyday feel. As she travels, she looks back worriedly to see if the 'chaser' is there and at one point falls over. She gets up and walks until she gets to a dark room to symbolise the foreshadow effect of someone already being there. She walks around the room and senses someone in the room so she turns around. As she turns around the chair swings around and so shes greeted by a person in a hoody. We chose a hoody for the person to wear to make them look more intimidating and so the audience would understand that they're a bad person. She asks the person, "What do you want from me?!" in which they reply, "You made me suffer, and now it's your turn!", and is then ended with a piece of paper with the word 'Confidential' on it. We used as many shots as we could to make it a really good piece rather than having basic shots all throughout. We made sure we used a wide range of camera shots and angles to make our piece look as visually impressive as possible, for example we used POV, long shot, mid shot, close up, reaction shot, low angle, high angle and many more.

While filming The Encounter, creating a storyboard was a big help as it gave us an estimate on what we wanted our shots to appear as and how we wanted to film these particular shots. Unfortunately, a few of our shots didn't come out as well as we wanted them to as the camera movements/angles were disorderly. We decided to stick to the footage although we went back and filmed a couple of shots to make it flow. Although we had to re-do/change shots, using a storyboard was profitable as we got straight into filming without us having to think on the spot and waste time trying to figure out what type of shots or acting we were planning to do. Here is my storyboard...

 

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