Filming and editing for continuity
What is continuity?
In moving image production, it is the creation of the illusion that time and space are continuous.
The conventional approach
When storyboarding your scenes, please remember the following guidelines. They are not be slavishly followed, they merely provide a set of general rules that can guide your practice:
Shot 1: MASTER or ESTABLISHING SHOT
This shot establishes spatial relations within the scene – where everything is. It is often also a shot of low tension.
Shot 2: MID SHOT
Cut in to the space. This is usually done to reflect the growing tension within the scene.
Shot 3: CLOSE UP
Continue to cut in to the space. At the point where tension is greatest – the climax of the scene, it is common to use the closest angle.
Shot 4: Cut back to MASTER
After the scene has climaxed, the choice of shot can show the audience that the tension is now easing. Cutting back to the master shot can signify this.
Finally, when storyboarding and filming on location, you must remember to establish:
1. Match on action
2. Eyeline match
3. A match of Mis-en-Scene elements between shots.
In moving image production, it is the creation of the illusion that time and space are continuous.
The conventional approach
When storyboarding your scenes, please remember the following guidelines. They are not be slavishly followed, they merely provide a set of general rules that can guide your practice:
Shot 1: MASTER or ESTABLISHING SHOT
This shot establishes spatial relations within the scene – where everything is. It is often also a shot of low tension.
Shot 2: MID SHOT
Cut in to the space. This is usually done to reflect the growing tension within the scene.
Shot 3: CLOSE UP
Continue to cut in to the space. At the point where tension is greatest – the climax of the scene, it is common to use the closest angle.
Shot 4: Cut back to MASTER
After the scene has climaxed, the choice of shot can show the audience that the tension is now easing. Cutting back to the master shot can signify this.
Finally, when storyboarding and filming on location, you must remember to establish:
1. Match on action
2. Eyeline match
3. A match of Mis-en-Scene elements between shots.
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Levi's advert. You might remember that we looked at shot choice in this commercial. Rather than starting wide and cutting in, this piece starts very tight (it's set in a prison and, as one of you perceptively pointed out, in a space that's very confined and oppressive) and then, when he's finally released, goes wide to reveal the irony of his freedom within a parched, remote desert.
As an alternative to the scene from Thelma and Louise (which is not available from YouTube), in which we traced the application of this set of guiding principles, try this scene from Goodfellas. We can't embed it into our site, but if you click on the screen grab below, you'll be taken to it. Check the opening two shots; first is an exterior of the location, the second is a reveal of sorts, starting with a close up of the juke box and then panning round within the bar to show us the general view and one of the key protagonists within it. As the scene unfolds, look at how Scorsese's editor (Thelma Schoonmaker, check her out) cuts in to the space, but also makes very powerful use of the slow zoom/dolly in. What do you think of this?