To create my continuity video exercise, I was assigned the use of three aspects that I needed to put in my work. This included:
- 180 Degree Rule
- Rule of Thirds
- Match on Action
With the 180 degree rule, I had incorporated this by filming two versions of either side of the conversation. This consisted of the camera facing one actor, and then once the entire dialogue and acting of the scene was finished, the camera moved to the opposite side and recorded the same thing again, but from a different perspective. After I had both copies of the scene, I had to edit them as if they were all a part of one moment. This rule has been made for the sole purpose that without it, the audience may become slightly confused as to which character is on which side. By sticking to this rule, there is an obvious denotation as to who is talking to who and what position of the room/screen they are situated in.
The way that I had included the rule of thirds was by double checking the position that my camera was in. I had imagined where my guidelines would be and had placed the eyes of the actors in those particular sections of the screen; this allowed the viewer of the video to understand how the two people in the conversation were talking to each other due to the fact that their eyes were at the same level of the screen. This technique can be seen in many different shots of my work, for example, the scene where the two characters meet. The close up of character 2 (Muhammad) contains his eyes right on the level of the viewers, and so does the other scene where they finally see each other. By looking at the two scenes, we can easily denote from this that they are looking at the other person, meaning that the technique intended, has worked out.
'Match on action' is a technique that denotes continuity throughout a total of two or more scenes. I had incorporated this within my work by using it at the point where one character is opening a gate; here I displayed how within one shot, the gate was being opened, and in the next shot, it was still in the process of opening. I was asked to put this into my work so that my viewers have an understanding of what is going on and do not see any noticeable mistakes. The use of 'match on action' means that a continuous flow in movements is displayed, and this is exactly why I had intended to include it. As oppose to having the gate just being opened and then immediately being completely open, which is highly unrealistic, I had chosen to change shots whilst still displaying an act of continuity. This made the viewers understand that it was all happening at once, even though I had recorded it as two separate scenes.Challenges during production
When filming the video, I had faced quite a few problems. This consisted of lighting, shadows, people in the background and camera positions.
When it came to lighting and shadows, this had caused quite a few problems; one of these problems being the fact that production had panned between the length of two days. The fact that production was not filmed on just one day meant that the lighting would most likely have changed on the second. I had found this as a slight problem as when I compared the shots from the first day to the shots made on the second, the screen seemed a little bit different. If I were to film again, I would schedule all of the scenes to be done at a set time and to do them very quickly but also precisely. By sticking to this, the scenes that I would need to record would of had easily been pulled off as if they were recorded on the same day. Another problem with the lighting was that it sometimes recorded shadows. At one moment the camera's shadow was appearing in the shot, so I had to move the camera back and zoom in, so that the shot was perfect. This situation had occurred particularly in the shot of the shoes; as the scene was so low and close up, the screen had needed to be situated in that position. Unfortunately, it was impossible for the actual camera to be placed in that certain section of the setting, so, like I have already mentioned, I had to move the camera a few steps back, and zoom in.
A final challenge that was faced during production was deciding on where to put the camera in each shot. At certain points of the production, my group and I found it hard to put the camera in a suitable position that would record what it needed (sound and picture) as well as following the rule of thirds and 180 degree rule (if necessary). The main part where this was a major problem was during the scene where the first character is walking and the camera is behind them (over the shoulder shot). This was particularly hard as it was quite difficult for the one person to move at the same time as the camera man, whom, had to hold the camera steadily whilst walking. After a couple of attempts of going faster, slower, changing positions etc., we had finally reached the correct shot.This was also a problem during the conversation between the two characters. I had faced this situation as it was hard to record an over the shoulder shot where the two characters were particularly close to a wall. For the position of the camera, this was quite awkward as it was difficult to hold the camera in place and record the correct sound and image. To solve this situation that my group and I were in, we had decided to not use a tripod and to hold the camera very steadily. If I were to re-film, I would change the storyboard so that the characters do not meet by a walk, and so that they are in a good position for both the camera and the actors.Challenges during post-production
This part of the work was quite interesting as I had faced a variety of different situations. This included audio problems, continuity errors and lighting solutions.
As I had mentioned in the previous section, lighting was a problem that I had faced when it came to production. As there was not much I could do whilst filming, I had to resolve it within the editing stages. Fortunately, the scenes that were recorded on the second day were easily editable as when I had put them with all of the other clips, with the help of the 'clip trimmer' tool, the scenes went by so fast that it was virtually impossible to tell which scenes were filmed when. The only time where the length of the clip did not help was during the conversation. But thankfully, at this point of the video, the audience would not have a clue whether or not any of the shots were filmed on a different day, so these end clips made no difference either.As well as the lighting, I also faced the problem of audio. One audio situation was the fact that the wildcat soundtrack was initially much louder than the actual work. This, however, was not much of a problem as iMovie had a tool that allowed me to change the volume levels of each clip. Another audio problem was the fact that, especially in the conversation scene, the sound for one scene contained much more background noise than the sound in another. After debating on whether or not to just take out sound, or to quieten down particular scenes, I had come up with the solution of using the audio from one scene and placing it on top of both, meaning that as well as the visual part of the clip being continuous, the sound was too.
Another challenge I had faced was the whole continuity problem. Continuity is something that I was asked to do from the brief, so this was a great task as at one point, the second character's phone had switched hands. As the viewer may look at this, they might realise that there is a big continuity error that I have included, so, to stop this from occurring I had to stop the scene where the phone's position changed right before any noticeable differences were seen. This made me change my initial storyboard idea as I had set that scene to a little longer than it was in the actual video. At the end of post-production, I had found that this did not have much of a negative effect, so I was quite pleased with my end result.Strengths
When it came to the strengths of my work, I found that there were quite a few. This included an easily understandable storyline, successful lip syncing and a great understanding of rules.
Another strength to my work would be the clever use of digital technology during post production. The device that I had edited my continuity exercise on was an iMac, and I had used the iMovie programme. This newer version of iMovie was very useful as it had many great aspects of it that allowed me to edit my video the way I had initially planned to. For example, there was a great tool that granted me the technique of adjusting the audio. This was very useful as there were times when the wildcat soundtrack was much louder than the dialogue, and also, when the background noise was too much. To avoid these two situations, I simply had to lower the sound and then it was complete. With the audio, another issue that I had accomplished was the lip syncing. Due to the fact that the sound of both clips that included dialogue were different from each other, having them both being included would remove the continuity that was asked for in the brief. To get rid of this problem, the audio adjustment tool took the sound from one clip, removed the sound from another, and played only one of the audio on top of both shots. Also, this programme allowed me to trim the clips so that if one of the shots I had recorded was too long, I simply had to shorten it by using the "clip trimmer" tool. Both of these aspects of the programme were very useful as they gave me the chance to stick to my original storyboard (time wise).Weaknesses
As well as some strengths to my work, I also faced a fair share of weaknesses. These weaknesses were things like planning that was not quite so apt, an understanding of the allocated time and a lack of creativity included.
Also, when it came to planning, the work that I had put was not as good as they came out to be on camera. When I had drawn out the cutaway shot, I had imagined it to be much more effective and realistic than it looked. But during the production, I felt that the realism and effects intended were not apparent. To solve this I had to include a very sharp cut during post production, but even then, it did not look as professional looking as I had wanted. This weakness was not very big, but it is a great disappointment that I wish to be changed in the future.A final weakness that I had encountered was the amount of time set. When given my workshop allocation, I believed that this was the only time that I could edit. After finishing this session, I had to include my wildcat soundtrack, but did not know that I had more time. Because of this, I seemed to rush some scenes, resulting in them not being quite as apt as I had wished. But, as I had soon realised that I did have more time to edit, I worked on these scenes and fulfilled the details that I had missed out on earlier.
Overall Improvements
Concluding all of these aspects that I have pointed out, I have realised that to improve my work, I would change quite a few bits.
One of these things would be something that I did not mention already, music. After watching my video a few times, I realised that it was quite boring. A way to remove the uninteresting aspects of this, a great tune in the background may have lightened up the viewer's mood. The wildcat soundtrack, as asked for, seemed to not be enough as when watching it, it does not feel as if it is very apparent. Nonetheless, I believe that my work has met the requirements, but I feel that music in the background could of had helped more.
Another aspect of improvement would be the quality of the edits. For example, the cutaway. I have mentioned this a lot, but if I were to improve this, I would test it out before including it in my storyboard. I felt that because of the lack in quality of the cutaway, the professionalism of the entire video was damaged. If I could take out this edit and replace it with a much better one, then maybe this coursework could be improved.A final improvement I would include would be the use of dialogue. Although there is not much speech in my work, the ones that I have incorporated in it are not very clear. For a viewer who has never seen this before or known anything about it, they may find that the dialogue is not quite so understandable. If I were to add some improvements, I would raise the audio quality to make sure that it is of the quality that is necessary.
