technical continuity - Billie

Technical continuity in film is so that the audience concentrate on what is happening in the film and not on the editing in the film. It makes the film run more smoothly.

Jump cuts: this is cutting out the parts of the film that are boring so that things can move along more quickly. This also stops the audience from losing concentration. This can be done wrong though as if it is not done properly is can make the film look jumpy or choppy which makes it noticeable and the audience will then see the edits.

180 degree rule: this is where you only film on either the left side or the right side of the characters. This is so that the audience can establish where everything is in a scene, you can’t swap sides half way through because this will confuse the audience. You can only swap from person to person but it must be at the correct side so that they look like they are standing across from one another not next to each other.

Match on action: this is when you cut one frame of film on an action to make it match the next frame of film where the action will continue, this makes the edit less obvious because our eyes naturally follow movement so this means the audiences eyes will follow the movement not the edit.

Shot reverse shot: this is where you shoot two people having a conversation but you shoot them one at a time and flip between them throughout the conversation. This is so that the audience knows who is talking in the conversation, it also means that the audience can see the reaction of the person who is not talking, it also means you can see their expressions when they reply.

Mood Board: Kirsty Griffiths.

Mood Board:Emma

Alice's idea 1

Alice's idea #1

In the heart of Yorkshire, dead people keeps appearing. The en-sub has completely gone over kill on the last 2 victims. The local police have called in a detective called Dr Reid, she is a well-known profiler. Dr Reid goes out to the latest crime scene, he notices something strange about the latest victim, and her mouth was sown shut. The women has dark brown hair and so did the rest of the victims. Dr Reid is young woman who has long dark brown. That night Dr Reid was walking back to her car, it was cold and wet and out of the shadows appeared a tall skinny man dressed in black, he grabbed Dr Reid hit round the back of the head with a hammer. Everything went dark and Reid was alone and scared. Reid woke in a pool of blood surrounded by other women, she was unsure of who’s blood she was laid on but she wasn’t in the cold damp cellar anymore she was in the front room of mental asylum, there were pictures of the asylum on the wall in front of her, she saw how beautiful the building was and what it’s like now. 

       

Reid awoke after 16 hours of being unconscious, she woke in a damp cell surrounded by 15 other woman. She tried to scream and break free but her hands were tied and her mouth was taped over. She saw the untouched kids toys on the floor, they were collecting dust, Reid looked around for a possible escape route and saw a small opening in the cell gate, she shuffled over to the gate of the call and opened it, as she did so the gate creaked and the en-sub came running down the cellar steps.

She stood up and ran, she ran as fast as she could through the dark cold forest surrounding the asylum, the en-sub was running after her, he soon caught up to her his eyes dark, his lips cracked and split, his skin was white. There was cold scream.  

The first 3 minutes of Billie's idea

The first shot in the film will be of four girls Alice, Emma, Kirsty and Billie walking down a street on their way home from college on a cold winter night. Emma will walk down another street to the other three and seconds after they leave her they will hear am loud scream. The three girls will turn aroud and run in the direction Emma went, they will then find their best friend lying on the ground with stab wounds. There will be a high angle shot of Alice, Billie and Kirsty all around Emma crying and frantically trying to call the emergancy services. As this is happeining the shot will fade to black and a title sequence will start, at the end there will be a black screen that will say 'one year later...' this will thenm fade back into the next year where the Billie, Kirsty and Alice will be walking back to where their best friend died, the killer has still not been found, they want to lay down some flowers in respect and memory of Emma. As the three girls decide to walk away from the area all of their phones go off and they have all recieved a text from an unknown number that says the same thing 'I know who it was', this frightens the girls but then they decide that it is probably just someone from college trying to mess with them. Rather than getting too worried the girls decide it is better to just ignore it and they all contuinue with their journey home.

Continuity in film

Continuity: Is a system of rules set in place to make sure a series of shots look natural and go together. This stops films from having mistakes from shooting the scenes at different times. These mistakes could be as simple as holding an object in the other hand. Continuity is a system of editing that ensures that in the final cut the scenes run continuously this is to give the viewer the impression the action is unfolding consistently where in actual fact it has been edited to look that way but shot out of sequence. Continuity refers to the degree which it is cut to without error. A continuity error is known as a blooper.

Match on action- Is cutting when there's action. Match on action is where two different views of the same action are cut together e.g. a conversation filmed over the shoulder. This makes the viewer believe the action runs without being interrupted.

Jump cuts- Cutting out parts that are boring to make it more entertaining this is done by cutting out parts of the film this makes the film more interesting for the viewers. Jump cuts also help shorten the footage and show the passage of time in some cases.

180 degree rule- Is that two characters in a scene should always been on the same left/right of each other. You must stay on either the left or the right and not change as this can cause disorientation for the audience. The 180 degree rule is often used in conversations but cannot be broken however you can do shot reverse shot to switch from person to person during the conversation.

Shot-reverse-shot: In a conversation the camera flips from person to person from the same side of the line. When using shot-reverse-shot you shouldn't zoom as the eyes do not zoom so it can cause the audience to be uncomfortable. Shot-reverse-shot is often used to show reactions during a conversation.

First three minutes: Emma

First three minutes
An image of a ringing phone slows fades onto the screen then a hand abruptly picks it up. The camera zooms into the face of young woman looking confused whilst talking on the phone. The screen fades to black then the camera zooms out to show a small car travelling on a country road heading towards the mansion on the hill in a storm. A close up on the only window in the house with a light on showing an elderly man with a look of fear on his face as he watches the car pull up to the house. A doorbell sounds and an elderly woman greets the young woman then shows her to her room. The camera shows the outside of the house through the bedroom window to show that there is nothing but woods surrounding the house. The final thing to be shown is a door covered in dust that has been left untouched for years until Jess goes to try the handle then the screen cuts to black when footsteps can be heard.

Billie's idea 1

Four best friends, Emma, Alice, Kirsty and Billie are walking home from college on a cold winter night, when they leave Emma to walk the opposite way to her house the other three girls hear a loud scream. The three girls run back around the corner where they find their best friends lying on the ground with stab wounds, there is no sight of any other person just them and Emma. The three girls are all kneeling around their friend in tears, panicking and trying to call the emergency services. The film fast forwards to a year later, the killer of their best friend has still not been found. The three girls decide to go to the area where Emma died to remember their best friend and lay down some flowers in memory of her. When the girls decide to walk away and go home all of their phones receive a text at the same time with a text that is from an unknown number, they all get the same text that says 'I know who it was'. They decide to ignore it thinking it would be someone from college trying to mess with them, and carry on with their journeys home.

Over the course of the next few weeks the three girls receive many texts from the unknown number, some the same for them all and some different. They begin to become frightened and worried that someone may actually be out to get them just like they were out to get Emma. They think about calling the police but ultimately decide not to because they still are unsure on if it is just someone  playing a prank on them. The day after they receive a text that says 'it was me, I killed Emma', they decide to call the police as they want to know who did this to their best friend, they were terrified. 

After almost another year of fear, worry and upset, the police finally managed to track down the number the texts were coming from and the location of the mobile phone, this made the girls even more worried but also happy that they were finally going to find out who did this to their best friend. The three girls and the police went to find the location the phone was at. The location was hours away, the girls just wanted to know who murdered their best friend. They finally got to the location of the phone, there was nobody there just a mobile phone. The police looked on the phone and the only thing that was on there were messages sent to the girls and a picture of Emma, Alice, Kirsty and Billie walking home from college just minutes before Emma's life was taken, this photograph had a caption saying 'it is not over yet'.

First three minutes: Kirsty Griffiths.

First 3 minutes of the film

In the beginning of the film it shows a young girl, running away from something through a dark wood. The trees towered over the young girl and stared at her as she spirited in panic. The camera shows a high angle shot of the girl to make her look hopeless and timid. The camera then skips to a over shoulder shot so the audience feels like they’re being chased too. The tempo of her breathing increases dramatically as she is out of breath from running. The camera shows the girl hiding from something behind a tree and frantically trying to dial on her phone. Her phone has no signal. The girl peers around slowly as the camera continues to show a point of view shot. The girl turns back around and the camera shows a medium shot of a black figure. The girl screams as the music increases to create tension. The girl accidentally trips over a large log that was camouflaged by autumn leaves. The camera fades to black again and shows the director of the film. Precipitously, the strange dark figure towered over the helpless girl’s body as she screamed in fear. The strange figure said ‘I watched you sin, so I have to watch you die, as I am The Watcher’. The camera fades back and the girl is lying on the floor, dead. The camera cuts to black. A title shot flashes on the screen in bold, red writing as a drone sound increases to create tension.

The Watcher: By Kirsty Griffiths.

The Watcher

Genre: Horror

Beginning

In the beginning of the film it shows a young girl, running away from something through a dark wood. The camera shows lots of different shots of her running to create tension. The tempo of her breathing increases dramatically as she is out of breath from running. The camera shows the girl hiding from something behind a tree and frantically trying to dial on her phone. Her phone has no signal. The camera fades to black again and shows the director of the film. Suddenly, a strange dark figure towered the helpless woman as she screamed in fear. The camera fades back and the girl is lying on the floor, dead. A title shot flashes on the screen in red and black as a drone sound increases.

Middle

In the middle of the film a woman, called Lucy, is driving through the countryside to visit her friend from school, Helen. She is going to spend a few weeks with Helen in a log cabin in the woods through the summer. Lucy is meeting Helen’s husband, Daniel, for the first time and is extremely excited. She is observing the beautiful nature as she drives a long the rocky road to the log cabin. The camera fades to black and shows a name of an actor/actress who is starring in the film. But suddenly, the woman’s face drops dramatically as a strange man unintentionally fell into the road. The camera fades to black a shows another name of an actor/actress who is starring in the film. The brakes of the woman’s car started to shriek as she slammed on the brakes. The camera fades to black and shows the name of the director of the film. A close up of woman’s face defined horror as she slowly stepped out of the car and watched the deep, red blood poor from the strange man’s head. The woman burst out crying in panic. The screen fades to black and shows the names of actors/actresses who are starring in the film. The camera then shows a close up of Lucy’s phone as she is typing 999 in her phone very slowly. The phone rings once, then the camera fades to black, and shows the name of the writer of the film, then the phone rings again and the screen fades to black again to show the name of the other important people in the film. Lucy thinks she sees somebody creeping through the woods and stops crying and looks around rapidly to see if anyone saw her murdering the strange man. The ringing stops. Music starts at a slow tempo. The camera fades back and shows Lucy quickly dragging the body in the back of the car and slamming the car boot. Lucy starts driving dangerously towards a dark, mysterious wood. The camera then pans across the floor to show the blood from where Lucy has dragged the strange man into the woods. Lucy sits in her car and her breathing is emphasise in the audio. The music tempo increases. The camera shows a long shot of the woman driving through a bendy lane towards the log cabin where she is staying with her friend. She arrives towards the log cabin and is greeted by her delirious friend, Helen. 

End

At the end of the film, Helen says to the woman that Daniel won’t be long as he just left to the shop to buy some wine for them all. The woman slowly takes her shoes off as the dirt falls onto the dull, red carpet. The woman walks to the bathroom when Helen takes her bags of her to put in her temporary room for the summer. The woman stairs at herself in the foggy mirror and notices a picture of a strange man in the background. The woman turns in shock to observe the picture and realises that she just murdered Helen’s husband. The woman believes she has two choices: run away now, or kill Helen too before she finds out. The woman smashed the mirror and snatched a large piece of glass and opened the bathroom door slowly. Helen was standing in the kitchen facing out of the window speaking to the woman as if nothing was wrong. The woman steadily creeped up on Helen as she blatantly ignored the fact that the woman wasn’t replying in the conversation. The woman clenched the piece of glass, took a deep breath, and swung her arm towards her neck. The camera turns instantly black as a large bang alarms Helen. The camera fades back from black and shows the woman lying on the floor with a high angle shot of a strange black figure in the background. Helens savour. The unknown savour approached Lucy’s body and creepily smiled. He said ‘I watched you sin, so I have to watch you die as I am The Watcher’.  

Emma's idea 1

Idea 1

A young woman named Jess is home alone and receives a phone call from an elderly woman about a job opportunity that has come up. Jess is next seen travelling on a country road to the house in the middle of a storm and the house is in the distance on a hill. The house is shown up close in the dark.

Jess pulls up at the house and takes a deep breath then slowly steps out of the car as the camera pans round to the house. A close up on a window with an elderly man is shown. The elderly woman greets Jess and invites her in then shows her to her room in the attic. After unpacking Jess goes downstairs to explore the house and finds a room with the locked door then she manages to open and it is full of infant’s toys and a crib with the name Edward engraved on it. Jess here’s footsteps so she rushes out of the room and bumps into an elderly man.

Jess soon discovers that Florence is trying to kill her husband so she tries to leave but Florence won't let her because Jess knows her secrets. Jess tries to get help from the elderly man but when she finds him he is already dead so she screams but nobody is there to help. A shot of Jess's back with a knife in is shown and the film ends with Florence on the phone offering someone else a job cleaning for her then once the phone call ends Florence starts laughing.

Continuity- Alice Smith

Continuity
technical continuity: this helps the audience focus on the film instead of focusing on the editing of the film, it makes sure the film runs smoothly.

Jump cut: a jump cut is editing something to make it less boring for the audience, you cut out the more boring parts of the footage so what is left is interesting for the audience to watch. It also makes the film or video shorter or otherwise you could have a film that was 6 hours long instead of 2 hours long.

180 degree rule: when using this rule you need to establish where everything is, for example a person is talking to someone else you stay on either the left or right side you don't swap half way through the footage, as swapping can confuse the audience. You can swap from person to person, for example you can you do an over the shoulder shot and swap from one persons shoulder to the other persons shoulder, but you need to make sure you stay on the same side.

Shot reverse-shot: when doing shot reverse-shot you do not want to zoom in and out on things as your eyes do not zoom in and out so this can be uncomfortable for some people, you can also change the angle of the shot but you need to stay on the same side of the people who are talking, you can chose different angles for example you could choose to do a close up of peoples faces switching from person to person as they talk to show peoples reactions to what ever the other person is saying.

Match on action: 

Preliminary exercise

The group