What I learnt from the continuity task - 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Finished Film Project:

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Finished Continuity Task:

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You can see by the images above that there are similarities between them. When making the continuity project I learnt how to keep time when switching shots. This was practiced in Final Cut Express. The cutting of the footage so that it interlinked well with the next section. In the continuity task there was a scene where James is trying to close the door (which is a medium shot of him and shows his whole body) and a shot of Matt H staring on in disbelief and depression at how 'nerdy' he is (which is a close up shot of his face).

This is similar to the shot that I had in my finished Film Opening Project. When the thug stops to intimidate the cop. There is a similar sequence of shots. I used the knowledge that I gained on the continuity task to keep the time and make the sequence look better. 

Invoice Information Clouds

The characters

Character 1:


Main - Sebastian Fox. An undercover cop for several years, hardened by all the things he is seen. He is very good at what he does and keeps himself to himself. Is very quiet, but unusually clever. Is good with words and has a way of working himself out of situations. At the beginning of the film is in a relationship with a woman whome he cares about very much and would die to protect. He doesn't tollerate anyone who throws their weight around, uses weapons to intimmidate or is impolite. He has a strct moral code which he finds he may have to break in the course of the film. Is working undercover for a terrorist organization run by Max Scarr, the most notorious criminal/terrorist in the city.



Character 2:


Bad Thug - Kirk Smithson (Viewer never finds out name.) A man who is everything Fox isn't, and all he hates. Enjoys intimmidating people and loves to execute people who show fear towards him. Is a hired grunt and is easily distracted. Hired by Max Scarr to assasinate Eli Matterson. Unknown to Fox about the connection, Smithson is killed at the beginning of the film by Fox. This sets off the course of events which leads to Fox being discovered.




Character 3:

Good character - Eli Matterson. A buisnessman who has been handed with a brefcase containing a deadly toxin. He is asked to take the breifcase to a specified location with a aid of a convoy. The two thugs hit the convoy and kill everyone escorting him. This gives him time to make a breif getaway but is followed closely behind by the two thugs. This is when the film starts. He becomes friends with Fox and is seen a bit in the film helping him to bring down Scarr. Below is the only photograph taken of him. It was taken by a terrorist agent trying to discover his identity. He snapped the photograph and tried to run. He was killed but not before he wired the photograph into Scarr's possesion. With this photo he tracked down Matterson, and sent two ment to kill him. (The thugs)

Character 4:

Bad/Good Thug - John Hughes. Quite a tall person. Hughes starts off the film as a hired thug working with Smithson to kill Matterson. He is shot by Fox, but Fox spares him. After the event he is re-hired by Scarr and told to kill Fox. When the opportunity presents itself he shows more compassion than him profile suggests and pays Fox the same respect he showed him by saving his life. He continues to work with Fox to bring down Scarr, is killed near the end of the film by one of Scarr's men.

Evaluation

Some of the shots I included in this film were inspired by; 28 Weeks Later (The short tracking shots), Shoot 'Em Up (The slow zoom of man sitting down) The Usual Suspects (The side track of the feet), James Bond films (The style of music. Guitar heavy and powerful riffs) and some shots that I can't remember where I got them from, but I know some of which were inspired by a program/film that I have seen. (Such as the bullet flying into the screen and the zoom in on the police badge).

I have clear social groups in the film. The first being the man in a suit. He is represented as a buisness man because of his dress, and the breifcase he is carrying confirms this whilst also creating intruigue for the audience by the fact he is holding it in a protective stance. (Arms wrapped around it).

The second social group being the thugs chasing him. I have given them a bouncer type look by placing them in casual trousers, but putting shirts on their top-half therefore giving them that casual/smart look. The actors for those parts were chosen as they are the fastest sprinters. This makes the scene where you see the man in the suit and the thugs chasing him all in one shot have more tension.

The final social group is the cop. He is off duty and looks run-down and scruffy. His leather jacket represents him as being quite tough and the hat he wears so he can hide himself, and give him more of an 'undercover' look. His braveness in the face of danger is represented when one of the thugs comes up to him and cocks his gun. He reveals no trace of fear and stares him in the eyes with a dead pan face.

My target audience for the film are all males. Between the ages of 15 and 50. The film was designed to take the mickey of its own genre. A hard-nut cop who has to make the hardest decision of his life whilst getting involved in a copious number of gunfights along the way. It if a film made just for fun, and for people to enjoy and laugh at, whilst bringing some emotion into the madness. The film industry I would imagion to distribute would be one that focuses just such a genre.

My audience is attracted primerily by the fact that a gun is fired and someone is killed within the first three minutes of the film. Also by the form of editing style making the fast cuts from loud noise to silence and then back to loud noise exciting for those watching. It makes the audience see that something is about to happen and that their thirst for action will be satified soon.

I have very much improved my skills with Final Cut Express and After Effects in the making of the film. I was helped by some and worked some things out for myself in the editing process. When working things out for myself I found I gained a much better insight into how to do it, however from lack of time, sometimes I had to ask someone who knew how to help me.

From the continuity task I learnt a lot. I realised that in the footage on it's own there were some bits that didn't work with the flow of the sequence and I cut out. Such as I found I had a bit of footage which showed the thugs running from right to left rather than vice versa. I got rid of this footage as it completely destroyed the continuity of the sequence.