Continuity Sequence Evaluation

Above is my group's completed continuity sequence, for the past few days we have been planning, filming and editing a concise narrative.
We were given a list of shots that we had to accomplish, including one moving shot, P.O.V, extreme close-ups, shot-reverse shot etc.

This is an extreme close-up of the teacher's anxious hand. I think the shot works well because it highlights the character's feeling at this moment in time (and through most of the rest of the film). The lighting is very nonchalant, which makes it feel more natural.

Mise-en-scene - After finishing, I noticed there is a lot of white in most of the shots of the teacher, this makes you think of pureness and innocence, which juxtaposes to how the teacher turns out to be; a lazy criminal.

High-angle shot - I would say that this is quite a high-angle shot, the effect it gives is like you're looking down on this person. The viewer's position is a judging one. I think it works ok.

 

This image shows one of the different distances, in shot, that I used for the sequence. The reason for the pulling out of this shot compared to the last shot is for continuity purposes rather than anything artistic. Though on the tracking shot, the view is only showing the walking legs and hand (of which the package is grasped), I did this because it creates confusion through the anonymity of the deliverer, which was what I had in mind.

There is a tracking shot the comes in and out of the sequence. This unfortuneatly bends the rules, I thought that this would be ok as it was all shot in one, but apparently not. So I'm sorry for using is, BUT I do think that the shot works well. It adds 'something' to the narrtive and makes the pacing better. If there was just stationary shorts of the deliverer walking through a school corridoor, it wouldn't be as interesting.

This is a screenshot, of a shot, that's fading out. We used this fade to show a fast-forwarding in time. It then fades back up and shows the teacher sitting back at her desk, opening the folder with the exam answers inside.

The Continuity System:

                                    

180 Degree Rule: Overall I think we kept to the 180 degree rule, though there was one shot that did not work. You can still understand where the characters are in relation to eachother but it just goes over, which is a bit annoying if anything else.




Establishing Shot(s):


The establishing shot is nothing special, I just wanted it to show a teacher (shown by the classroom) waiting for something (shown by the tapping thumb). 

Match-on Actions: The use of match on actions in the sequence work quite well, for example when the teacher goes over to the window and opens the blinds. Or when she gets out of her chair and it carries on smoothly from another angle. Though, there is one shot that could have been a match on action and that is when the teacher opens the folder she gets given and looks at it's contents. 

Eye-Line + POV shots: I used four different eye-line shots in the film, they are all also POV shots. 1: Where she is looking out of the window. 2: When she looks at her phone. 3: When she looks up at the clock, and, 4: when she looks down at the contents of the folder (which I just mentioned). I think all of the shot work well. each shot does look like it is coming from the teacher's eyes.

Shot-Reverse Shot: There is just the one shot reverse shot in the sequence which is near the end where the DELIVERER gives the folder to the teacher. Unfortunately whilst film we accidentally crossed the 180 degree rule line, so in the editing process we flipped the shot that did cross the line and it then worked in the sense of continuity. 

OVERALL I think that the process was good, I learnt basic editing and about the 180 degree rule. If I was to do it again I would spend more time on finding better music and editing the music better as there are parts that go a bit jumpy and uneven. x