Blink Murder

The Main Task

Blink Murder is the name we gave to the film that we made the opening sequence for as part of our main task. The brief was to create a 2 minute opening sequence for a film of any genre, including titles and a soundtrack, with no copyrighted materials. Please click the HQ option at the side to view in high quality and improve your viewing experience! Enjoy : )

The Prelim - Ugliest Jumper Ever

The Preliminary Exercise

This is our preliminary exercise, which we called Ugliest Jumper Ever. The aim was to create a sequence demonstrating good continuity techniques, and had to show match on action, shot/reverse-shot, and the 180-degree rule. The brief stated that it had to be 30 seconds long, and comprise of a character opening a door, crossing a room, and sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom s/he exchanges a few lines of dialogue. Again, please click the HQ option for a better viewing experience!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Continuity Editing Techniques - 'Fight Club' scene

This is a clip from David Fincher's film 'Fight Club' (1999), where the boss of the anonymous protagonist, played by Edward Norton, confronts him about a suspicious set of rules he finds...
The first shot of the clip, a MCU at eye level, we see the protagonist sitting at his desk, looking preoccupied. He is also the narrator of the film via a voiceover, which is present in this clip and starts it off. As the protagonist (let's call him Jack) stares into space, a new character, his boss, enters the shot from audience right, stops in front of Jack's desk, and turns to face him. Because of the shot distance we can only see the middle of his torso.
There is then a motivated matched cut to a HA OTS MS with the focus on the second character, Jack's boss. The shot then cuts back to our original view of the situation, a MCU of Jack. As the conversation occurs between Jack and his boss, the shots cut between the two we have seen. This is the shot/reverse shot technique, and is employed up to 0:37 seconds into the clip. The shots of each character within this time frame also work as reaction shots, predominantly the reactions of Jack as his boss reads out the rules of Fight Club, for example at 0:07 seconds, and 0:13 seconds. However, at 0:33 seconds we get a reaction shot of the boss, still a HA MS, though the back of Jack's head and shoulders are no longer in the shot. This is good continuity, as 10seconds earlier Jack leans back in his chair against some cabinets, and, therefore, out of the reverse shot.
At 0:38 seconds we see a change occuring. Whereas before the camera was static, there is now a tilt as Jack gets up out of his chair, with a constant matching eyeline to his boss, and a pan as he walks round the desk towards him. The shot distance starts at a MS, and as Jack gets closer to the camera, becomes a MCU. There is then another motivated reaction shot, an OTS MCU of the boss, showing his expression of shock, confusion, and disbelief. The camera zooms in slowly and very slightly as Jack moves slightly closer to his boss. There is then a matched cut, following the 180 degree rule, back to a MCU of Jack. Throughout their conversation, their eyelines are always matching. As before, this shot/reverse shot technique between these matched shots goes on till 0:59 seconds into the clip.
There is then a jump cut to a medium long two-shot, with Jack's back to the camera, but so that we can see the boss's face.
This distance allows the audience to see the action of the shot - Jack snatching the paper from his boss. It lasts for just under two seconds, before cutting back to the OTS MCU of Jack from the previous sequence. There is a shot/reverse shot back to the boss as we hear a phone ringing, and they both look down (presumably - it's out of shot) at it, and Jack seems to be picking it up. This is confirmed when the scene cuts back to Jack with the phone in his hand, talking into the receiver, but still looking at his boss.
Although in this sequence there is not a great range of shot types, continuity techniques are successfully used in helping to create a sense of rising tension, especially when it gets to about 0:37 seconds into the clip, and the camera positioning and movement finally changes.

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