Continuity Task - Reflection and Analysis

Our short film with the title of the package did meet most of the criteria we wrote down with only slight changes to it and the removal of some things, but overall we stuck to it. The overall product was really good, better than my expectations actually. All of the planning, filming and editing went really good without a argument or problem arising from either me, Peter or Luca, we worked really well together and were able to agree on everything.

This is one of the scenes from our short film, the scene is at the start of the film and we can tell from the start that this could be the main character of the narrative, as this is what most films do in order to tell the audience who is the main character. The main character is wearing a red shirt which symbolizes danger or anger, which is foreshadowing the events that take place later on in the plot. The character body language tells us that he seems frustrated or bored at what he is doing at this time. and the environment he is in is an isolated one from what the camera tells the audience, that the main character is by himself. Later on in this scene we see the main character reach for his phone, after it gets a message and as the main character reaches for it we did a match on action to an over the shoulder shot and looking at his phone, a match on action is when a character is about to do an action and the camera switches to a different shot and the character finishes that action on the different shot. The lighting was also a big thing in our short film as we hardly used it, unless it was a scene that was outside, but we only used natural light in the short film, but in this scene the light

was coming from the skylight that was above the main character. The light that came from the skyline gave the scene a nice look and made it look brighter and crisper and with the light you get a clearer view of the main character. The light also hits the main character which could symbolise that he is on the good side and the other person is in the dark meaning he is on the bad side instead the lighting is successful in this scene because it allows the audience to recognise the main character and the villain by the main character being shown with the light and the villain being in the dark. Also we used a camera angle of an eye-line match angle, which is when the camera stays level with the character in the scene's eyes. In this scene also it begins to become a shot reverse shot between the main character and the villain, a shot reverse shot is when the there is two characters and if they were communicating then the camera would switch to show the character which is talking at the time and then switch to the others for their reply, but in our film we weren't allowed any dialogue and still needed a shot reverse shot, we made it so that instead of dialogue, we made the two characters just stare at each other intensely and each trying to look intimidating and during this scene we also didn't break the 180 degree rule that most films follow and so we made sure that we didn't go passed the metaphorical line, in order to make the narrative make sense, the 180 degree rule is a rule that also all film makers use in their films and it when two or more people are having a conversation and it starts with an over the shoulder shot on the character's left shoulder making the character be on the right side of the screen and the person who is talking to them is on the left and now that they are on the left of the screen that cannot change during the shot reverse shot so the character who was on the left of the screen stays on the left side the screen and the same with the other person but on the right side instead, there is an exception of changing sides and that is when the camera changes sides in the shot so that the audience can see the change and not get confused and see that the characters have moved places after the last shot. In the short film we also used different angles, but mostly they were eye-line match.

But we did use others as well like in this scene we used a low angle shot as we can see the from the previous shot that the main character was jumping to be able to attack the villain, as the villain is taller than the hero and we achieved this by like I said before we used a low angle and the sun glare made the main character look more heroic and that justice was coming. Also in the short film we also used a canted angle as well at some scenes but it was hardly noticeable in most

scenes but you can notice in one or two and we used the canted angle in the scenes to make in more dramatic and serious, a canted angle is when the camera is slightly tilted and in most scenarios its slight. For instance in this scene, it is the beginning of the chase scene in the short film and so we wanted it to be more dramatic so we used it show that the main character means business. These different angles were successful as it got the audience more interested and invested into the short film and they were never confused about the narrative and were able to keep up  it. In the short film we also used different camera distances as well, like mid shots, long shots, closes ups and also extreme close ups. For the start of the short film we decided to have an establishing shot to show the audience the place that the short film is set
and filmed at and so they don't get confused on the setting and don't have to keep questioning where it is set. We mainly used mid shots in the short film as to show detail of the scenes and not so much detail and if their was anything on the floor that we didn't want the audience to see and it keeps the audience also focused on what happening with what the main characters is doing and not anything happening in the back ground. Also in our short film we used a continuity scene called an eye-line match, an eye-line math is when in a scene the character looks out of frame and the camera changes to a POV of what the character is looking at. We used the eye-line match when the main character's eye looks down at the package during a extreme close up shot and the camera then changes to the a shot of the package. We also used another POV shot of when the villain is running from the main character and we done this to make the audience feel more involved in the plot and to let them have some emotion towards the villain as well.

Overall I learnt quite a lot about planning, filming and editing, for instance I know more about the different shots and angles and when to use them, like using a canted angle to make a scene sad and I also learnt the techniques when planning that in order to succeed, it is good to allow everyone to say their ideas and see if they are good and with I editing i have a better understanding and can use the programme easily. But out of it all i enjoyed filming the most as with Peter and Luca, we were able to have a laugh and have fun and still get the job done and complete the project before the deadline.