Affiliation - Short Film - Continuity Edit

Affiliation - Continuity Edit - Evaluation

The continuity edit of my short film relies heavily on the master scene script and storyboards, which it remains faithful to for the majority of the time. When comparing the final continuity edit of my film with my final storyboards, this is clearly noticeable. The combination of both camera and editing techniques alongside the solid planning that has gone beforehand, enabled the film to appear as professional as possible. In this evaluation, I will go on to break down the process behind the camera and editing techniques used during the creation of this particular cut of the film.

The edit begins with an extreme close-up shot of a central character’s pocket watch, this shot also pans slowly to the right, as noted in the storyboards. The amount of techniques used within this very first shot hopefully establishes the level of professionalism that is to come from the use of such innovative shots. A long establishing shot follows this, which introduces the audience to the three characters present in the location, with the shot being lined up in perfect unison with the bar itself. The lighting here is noticeably yellow tinted and off-coloured to give the vibe of an old western aesthetic, with the seemingly warm environment giving the idea of a closed and isolated space to the audience.

An example of continuity is shown when one of the characters is escorted out of the bar by the barman, with the shot changing angles midway through his departure, in order to further illustrate the layout of the bar in the audiences’ minds. The reason that this is an example of good continuity being that the characters remain where the audience would expect to see them, without any unnatural teleportation between shots - as this would be an example of unintentional non-continuity, which shows a lack of professionalism.

The standard medium close-up shots of the characters are now introduced, which remain relatively consistent throughout the edit and should flow naturally and go unnoticed in the eyes of the audience. Mis en scene helps to give the next character a sense of threat, due to the dark atmosphere that surrounds him as he makes his entrance - with the close-up tracking shot of Spencer’s feet being one of the most notably stylistic in the entire production.

The low angles that this particular character is shown from should be noted, as this is an intentional detail to make the audience feel as though they are below him. This contrasts with how the previously introduced character; Benjamin, is portrayed - as he is intended to be a relatable character, as opposed to Spencer. The production was shot using the Single Camera technique, as opposed to the multi-camera technique, meaning that “shot reverse shot” was used frequently, although the actual effect is completed during editing.

During the film’s midway flashback sequence, a wide shot showcasing all the relevant characters is once again employed, acting as an establishing shot for this short sequence. This was done in a similar manner to an earlier shot in the film, so that the audience can follow the sequence of events clearly. The next notable shot is a tracking over the shoulder shot, which is used to great effect in order to reveal the film’s supposed antagonist; being the character of Anthony, whilst also showcasing the reaction of the other characters.

Another notable camera technique used throughout the film is a shift in depth of field, a primary example of this is when Pete the barman has a realisation, he faces a board on the wall (mis en scene), before the focus shifts from him to the object - as does the character’s thoughts. This effect was also employed during other moments of significance throughout the film, generally between two or more characters during conversation. The effect was put to good use in my opinion, as it emphasised the importance of the dialogue being spoken to the audience.

During the editing process, I put my past experiences and knowledge of the editing process to good use. The overall aim of this particular edit was to maintain a steady and realistic pace that would appear satisfactory in the eyes of a general audience, perhaps even being comparable to a professional and fully funded production. Therefore, I ensured that my edit stayed in line with the established storyboards that came before it, with techniques such as the aforementioned “shot reverse shot” method being used consistently throughout my continuity edit of the film.

Affiliation - Progress Post #3

Day 3 was the last day of filming for Affiliation, overall I feel as though the filming was a success as we wrapped up all necessary shots in ways that we were satisfied with. Due to the use of the dolly slider occasionally throughout the production, we were able to capture striking shots that will end up being portrayed in a dramatic and imposing style to the audience. Evidence of this experimentation can be seen in Day Three's video diary, as well as the previous two, as multiple members of the crew familiarise themselves with the setup. In regard to camera settings, the ISO value was consistently kept around 1600-2000, with values closer to 1600 coming in handy upon filming in front of the bar (due to the higher amount of natural light sources), whilst during darker scenes (generally shot from behind the bar) we increased the ISO value to around 2000 to compensate.

We were cautious as to not take the values too high, in order to avoid severe amounts of grain - which is especially common in atmospheric conditions such as the bar, due to the lack of visible light. This final behind the scenes video is significantly shorter than its predecessors, due to the fact that we were filming for the majority of the time, leaving less time to shoot behind the scenes footage during the preparation stage and breaks - as such resting periods were generally abandoned on the last day and instead postponed until the completion of the filming, as to further motivate the cast and crew. We also experimented with the frame rate of the camera, before eventually settling on the default 24fps, as this is the current industry standard, with higher frame rates seeming to speed up the footage unnaturally.

The resolution of the camera was set to a solid 1080p, whilst other elements such as the exposure and shutter speeds were maintained at realistic levels (1/250sec) in order for the footage to appear natural. Other elements such as the framing of a shot, angles and movement of the camera, along with shifts in the depth of field have been mentioned previously (using a wide aperture of f/2.8 to obtain a shallow depth of field for certain scenes, such as when Spencer is speaking whilst in the foreground to Benjamin, who is out of focus). Such attentions to detail help to focus the audience's attention on certain characters at the appropriate times.

Affiliation - Progress Post #2

On the second day of filming, myself and the crew were far more productive than we were on the first. The setup of the equipment, make-up process and the process of changing into full costumes was significantly faster in comparison to the last shooting day. Later on in the day, we encountered numerous issues regarding how certain shots were intended to be captured. This was tackled through improvisation, which led to the production process still running smoothly as intended, in comparison to the potential collapse if the issues encountered were not resolved quickly enough.

I feel that the choices made on this filming date were completely justified, with this particularly lengthy behind the scenes video showcasing the interactions between members of the crew on set to back this up. There are multiple examples of people experimenting with the camera and its settings also, as we now have more of an understanding of what settings work best - such as particular ISO levels and how to achieve smooth shifts in depth of field, along with general stability across both slow and faster paced panning shots.

Affiliation - Progress Post #1

During the first day of shooting the short film, I ensured that the location we filmed at was a safe working environment for both cast and crew. Throughout this behind the scenes video compilation, it can be noted that there is constant communication between myself and everyone else on set - during these moments we acted on our previous planning, whilst also devising new plans on the spot that ensured we adhere to the schedule and get everything done to a good standard on time.

In the footage, myself and other members of the crew can be seen setting up and experimenting with the camera, along with its settings and other equipment such as the tripod and dolly slider. The lighting was even required for the make-up portion of the film, during which our knowledge of the equipment helped to pick up the overall pace of the production. On this first day in particular, myself and the crew were getting to grips with some of the production process, with multiple takes having to be taken for a variety of reasons, but mostly to ensure the quality of the produced film.

Shooting Schedule

Here are three of my stripboards used to plan the filming times and dates for my short film. This setup enables me to plan the logistics of shooting the scenes within my single camera production out of sequence. This can include; shooting shots at a particular location at the same time regardless of script sequence - this significantly simplifies the amount of time needed to set up shots etc. However, this will not be very beneficial to my production, due to everything being set in one location, although this method will likely be incorporated in terms of camera positioning as part of the "shot reverse shot" technique, which also ensures that lighting is consistent throughout the film. The first scene I am planning to shoot, being Scene 2's Flashback segment, has been purposefully chosen due to the large cast required for this particular sequence. This allows certain cast members with reduced roles to leave earlier, so that they don't have to hang around waiting, whilst they could also become unavailable. In terms of equipment, such as the camera, lenses, boom mic and dolly slider, I will ensure that it is available at all times, as they are all required at least once in every scene.

Planning for a Single Camera Production

My objectives in creating this short film are to make the end result appear as professional and industry-standard as possible. I also want to ensure that the planning process of the film (in other words Pre-Production) is thoroughly detailed, requiring all necessary elements. This, in turn, should simplify the actual filming of the production itself, as well as elements of Post-Production - such as editing. When the film was conceptualised, I first established a Proposal, which detailed important aspects of the film - notably the central plot, setting and characters present. The atmosphere of the film is important to the narrative, therefore great attention to detail was put into this aspect of the production, with the genre being crime / gangster esque, with notable callbacks to Old Western films. The Script itself was essential in establishing where exactly I wanted to take the film, with the intended audience response beginning to surface, being that of curiosity, a sense of thrill and great shock value. Perhaps the most helpful aspect of Pre-Production (besides the actual script itself) is the Storyboard, this will be used prominently on set, as it depicts every single shot necessary in a simplistic format, along with descriptions of each one; this makes the actual shooting of these scenes streamlined to a significant degree.

Development of a Shooting Script from Script / Storyboard

Script affiliation (av script) from J_Scott01

Here is my Shooting Script for "Affiliation". In order to create this, I took my original Master Scene Script for the film and added technical camera details - adapting it efficiently to the shooting script format (otherwise known as "AV", standing for Audio and Video). This is in order to prepare for the upcoming shooting of the film, during which this will be used prominently as a reference to the original source material, in combination with the Storyboards.

Single Camera Techniques Report

Understanding single camera techniques from J_Scott01