Common features of continuity editing.

Establishing Shot

These types of shots are commonly used in film, they are good because as an audience we hardly ever used to them because the continuity is excellent.

Establishing shot:

This is used at the beginning of films and at the beginning of some scenes. This allows the audience to know where the action is happening.

Shot reverse shot: 

Shot Reverse Shot

This is mainly used in conversations in scenes. It allows the audience to see both characters communicating to one another.

180 degree rule:

180 Degree Rule

This term means where things are in a filmic space. The camera cannot cross over the imaginary axis connecting two subjects( crossing the line) ie: 2 people having a conversation.

Mise en scene

Mise en scene is a French term which means what is put in to a scene or frame. Whatever is put in or left out really does have a big effect in terms of the signals the scene is giving out. For example; a tree can made to look nice on a sunny day with bright green leaves and children playing underneath it. On the other hand, a tree can be made to look threatening if it has no leaves and the weather is dark. These different types of mise en scene are important in portraying a general mood/atmosphere in a scene. These aspects will add to our understanding as an audience to what is happening in the film or what may lie ahead in the upcoming scenes. 

Elements to consider in mise en scene:

- setting and props

- costume, hair and makeup 

- facial expressions and body language

- lighting and colour

- positioning of characters/objects within a scene 

Editing for our preliminary task.

Taking in to account what we learned in our theory media lesson, I applied my learning in to editing my preliminary film task. I learnt that even in a really short scene, a lot of shots are needed because it can be difficult to create good continuity if you have very few limited shots. Everything in editing and film shooting takes a lot of detail and precision so my group and I will ensure to present that through our task. 

Processes included in editing a film.

In today's theory media lesson, we learned about the directors and editors task in producing a professional looking final film. The directors role is to film as many shots as possible of each scene so the editor has a lot of footage to chose from. It is better to have too much footage than have hardly any footage to work with in editing. The editor must decide what footage they want to work with and which footage that they do not want to work with. Once that is completed, they must organise the chosen shots in to a coherent whole. Then the editor must make sure that shots follow on from each other and work for the audience for them to see a continuous story. 

Building blocks: 

-Editor looks at all individual shots available to create a particular scene 

- The film script can be used as a guide to help to construct the scenes how they should be 

- The scenes should be a continuous series of shots that show a moment that flows 

- Sometimes it is possible to shoot a scene in a single shot if the take is appropriate and flows very well 

- A sequence is made up of different scenes which fit together to present the story/narrative 

- Finally after all these processes re editing of the film will be completed  

A key term called 'continuity editing' means that the audience cannot notice good editing because the film is just so continuous. 

Some common features used in editing: 

- Establishing shot.

- 180 degree rule.

- Filming same scene but from different angles 

Some transitions: 

- Straight cut. 

- Dissolve. 

   

As a class we discussed how using lots of cuts in one particular scene can create a dramatic and snappy effect. For example, in horror movies when something bad is occurring.

Editing our preliminary task

In today's lesson, my group and I continued with editing our short film. We watched through all of our film footage to begin assembling a final piece (on Final Cut Pro). I noticed that continuity is extremely important in films, everything must be just right in each take in order for the scene to flow. We realized that our footage has continuity problems. This means that  we need to film certain parts again and this time make sure that they will have continuity. In order to make this work, we discussed and noted down the exact parts that we need to film again and how we would film them to produce good continuity. We also discussed how aspects such as lighting and clothing need to be exactly the same as in our other footage that we have. Another thing we need to include and show clearly is the 180 degree rule which we will be filming tomorrow. By taking all aspects in to consideration, this will hopefully help us to create a professional looking short film.

Different types of camera movements.

Setting and props in a film.

In Tuesday's Media lesson, we looked at analysing still images to see what the setting and props can communicate to the audience. The setting of a scene in a film is usually very detailed than that of a theatre.In terms of the process of film making, filmmakers can start and create their setting from scratch or an actual location can be found and altered if needed to suit the film. Props are also very important to the film as they can suggest the genre and time period of a film. For example if the film is set 70 years ago, the character may have a prop such as a type writer instead of a laptop which would be used in a modern day set period in a film. Props can suggest someones identity/job, for example a doctor would be in a setting which includes items which doctors use on a regular basis as part of their job. A key term that I learnt is 'incongruous', this means that something doesn't fit in with every thing else at all in a film.