HW3a - Continuity Task Evaluation

1) What was the story of your video?

The video shown above was our continuity task. We had to record the video so it was line with the brief which was to have 6 shots in which we show an accident and we could could only cut and record on the camera - no editing was allowed. The story begins with myself and Michaela walking down the stairs discussing homework with the camera following us over 2 shots. Near the bottom of the stairs I unintentionally push Michaela down the remaining steps, in the next shot you see Michaela leaning up against the wall in pain before her friend comes along to see if she's okay. At this point my character runs away in an attempt to avoid any blame.


2) How did you attempt to create 'narrative flow' (continuity)?

We attempted to create continuity by varying the camera position a lot throughout the 6 shots as well as following the thirty degree rule. The effect of this is that the audience see the whole shot from different locations as if they were moving within the shot thus creating continuity. We also attempted to start the characters in the same positions as they ended in the last shot and match the action between shots - though ultimately this was not done very well.


3) Did you achieve full continuity?

In the end, we did not achieve full continuity. The major issue that detracted from the realism and continuity of the video was that each shot began with the characters standing still. This simply ruins the immersion of the video as it becomes clear where the camera cut making the video seem more forced than realistic. Furthermore, at the end of the second shot you can see in the bottom right of the screen that I push Michaela down, however in the third shot you see me pushing Michaela again thus ruining continuity. Having said that I believe we achieved full continuity across shots 5 and 6 as I begin to run in shot 5, then in shot 6 I run into and out of shot.


4) In hindsight what would you do differently?

In hindsight, I would match the action better by having myself and Michaela moving before the camera starts recording. This would counteract the issue I spoke of in question 3 where the immersion and continuity of the video was ruined by the characters standing still at the beginning of each shot. To counteract another major issue we had where my push on Michaela was repeated in 2 shots I would tighten shot 2 a bit and have myself and Michaela simply walk out of shot, therefore keeping the push exclusively in shot 3. Furthermore, having watched the video back I noticed the majority of our shots were long shots, whereas in a narrative flow you would usually see a progression of different shots. Therefore, if I were to do this again I would include a wider variety of shots as is conventional of a good narrative flow.